Church in Pella, IA Logo01 Pella Nazarene

Who we are

Pella Nazarene is a Christ-centered community committed to loving people where they are and growing together in Jesus. 

About Pella Nazarene

We believe church should be a place where people feel welcomed, known, and supported—no matter where they are on their faith journey. Through meaningful worship, biblical teaching, and authentic relationships, we seek to help people experience God’s grace and grow in faith together. 

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Church in Pella, IA Member Group Photo 2 Pella Nazarene

We value community and create spaces for people of all ages to connect, serve, and belong. Whether you’re exploring faith for the first time or looking for a church to call home, we invite you to join us as we follow Jesus together and live out His love in our community and beyond.

Church in Pella, IA Communion Bread And Wine Pella Nazarene
Church in Pella, IA Sermon Preaching Gospel Pella Nazarene
Church in Pella, IA Member Group Photo 2 Pella Nazarene

Pella Nazarene Mission

Pella Nazarene exists to love people where they are and to grow together in Jesus.

Pella Nazarene Core Values

Honest Fellowship is a Christ-centered community marked by authenticity, vulnerability, and accountability. This creates a foundation of trust and support where we carry one another’s burdens, speak the truth in love, and grow together in faith.

 

Bold Prayer is an unwavering pursuit of God’s presence, seeking His will with faith and persistence. It begins with self-examination, inviting God to transform us before we ask Him to act. It honors God with Kingdom-sized dreams, trusting that He will answer in His perfect timing and way.

 

Faithful stewardship is the responsible management of the time, talents, and treasures God has entrusted to us for His glory and the good of others. We seek to steward these gifts wisely, generously, and with integrity, recognizing that all we have belongs to God.

 

Transformational Obedience is a wholehearted surrender to God that leads to on-going renewal, Christlike character, and active participation in God’s mission. It shapes our hearts, relationships, and communities. More than rule-following it is a life-changing response to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.

 

Authentic Worship is a genuine, continual response to God’s presence, rooted in truth and expressed in every part of life. It flows from hearts that seek to honor God through repentance and obedience. It is not limited to corporate gatherings but is lived daily as we align our lives with God’s Word, celebrate God’s love and goodness, surrendering to God’s will.

 

Compassionate Service is a visible expression of God's love and grace, demonstrated through selfless acts of kindness, generosity, and care. It calls us to serve others with open hearts and willing hands, meeting needs, offering comfort, and walking alongside those in difficult times. Compassionate service is not just about action—it reflects Christ’s love and grace in practical ways, fostering strong, supportive communities.

Pella Nazarene leadership team

Todd Olson

Co-pastor

Todd, who grew up in the heart of Central Wisconsin, has dedicated his life to serving in various church ministries. 

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Rob Hammann

Associate Pastor

Rob Hammann was ordained as a deacon in the Church of the Nazarene Iowa District in 2020. After 25 years in various roles . 

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Cindy Olson

Co-pastor

Cindy, hailing from Central Illinois, serves as co-pastor at Pella Nazarene. 

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Floyd Ware

Associate Pastor

Floyd Ware, along with his wife, Linda, has been part of the Pella Nazarene Church family since 2014.

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Statement of Beliefs

Church of Pella Nazarene

TRINITY
SCRIPTURE
SINFUL NATURE
ETERNITY
SALVATION
SANCTIFICATION
THE HOLY SPIRIT
CHRIST'S RETURN

Core Values

A Christian People

As members of the Church Universal, we join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in affirming the historic Trinitarian creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith. We value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage and believe it to be a way of understanding the faith that is true to Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.

We are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe that in divine love God offers to all people forgiveness of sins and restored relationship. In being reconciled to God, we believe that we are also to be reconciled to one another, loving each other as we have been loved by God and forgiving each other as we have been forgiven by God. We believe that our life together is to exemplify the character of Christ. We look to Scripture as the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church, which, as the Nicene Creed tells us, is one, holy, universal, and apostolic. In Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God the Father offers forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to all the world. Those who respond to God’s offer in faith become the people of God. Having been forgiven and reconciled in Christ, we forgive and are reconciled to one another. In this way, we are Christ’s Church and Body and reveal the unity of that Body. As the one Body of Christ, we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We affirm the unity of Christ’s Church and strive in all things to preserve it. (Ephesians 4:5, 3).

A Holiness People

God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a second work of grace, called by various terms including “entire sanctification” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit”-cleansing us from all sin, renewing us in the image of God, empowering us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and producing in us the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most clearly understood as Christlikeness.


Because we are called by Scripture and drawn by grace to worship God and to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, we commit ourselves fully and completely to God, believing that we can be “sanctified wholly,” as a second crisis experience. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills, and empowers us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a people of love, spiritual discipline, ethical and moral purity, compassion, and justice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God and produces in us the character of Christ.


We believe in God the Father, the Creator, who calls into being what does not exist. We once were not, but God called us into being, made us for himself, and fashioned us in His own image. We have been commissioned to bear the image of God: “I am the LORD . . . your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy”

A Missional People

We are a sent people, responding to the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of Christ and participating with God in the building of the Church and the extension of His kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1).


Our mission begins in worship, ministers to the world in evangelism and compassion, encourages believers toward Christian maturity through discipleship, and prepares women and men for Christian service through Christian higher education.

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Pella Nazarene Church history

Serving the Pella Nazarene

Church in Pella, IA Chuch Event Gathering Pella Nazarene
Church in Pella, IA Chuch Event Gathering Pella Nazarene

Pella Nazarene began with a simple handwritten question in November 1982: “Why can’t we have a Church of the Nazarene in Pella?” After prayer and conversation with the town’s only Nazarene family, District Superintendent Dr. Forrest Whitlatch believed the answer was, “Why not?” The church held its first worship service on January 9, 1983, in the Pella Memorial Building, with 41 people in attendance. Just months later, Rev. Dave Childers became the church’s first pastor, and the young congregation quickly became self-supporting and rooted in the community. In October 1983, Pella Nazarene officially organized with 27 charter members. On June 16, 1985, the church celebrated its first service in a new building—marking another milestone in God’s faithfulness. Since then, Pella Nazarene has continued to grow under dedicated pastoral leadership and committed laypeople, sustained by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

About Pella Nazarene Church

Pella Nazarene is a family-focused, bible centered church serving Pella, IA. Our heart is to serve all those who come through our doors every single week and lead them to Jesus.

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