The tiny congregation continues to meet for morning prayer at 9:30 a.m. on two Sundays a month and to have a visiting priest celebrate Eucharist on alternate weeks.

"I think we have a lot to offer people," Noah said.

Church membership includes conservatives and liberals, he said.

"What brings us together is the liturgy," he said.

Of the 62 Episcopal congregations in Iowa, about 10 are approximately the size of the Charles City congregation, said the Rev. Warren Frelund, a deacon in the church from Mason City, who works with development of small congregations within the Diocese of Iowa and the national church.

At Calvary Episcopal Church in Sioux City, about 30 people meet for worship on Sundays, Frelund said. A year ago, attendance was only half that number.

"It's my hope that within the next year, the same kind of transformation is going to happen in Charles City," he said.

The people of Grace in Charles City "have a lot of energy," Frelund said. "They have the potential to be a real force in Charles City" and offer a worship setting that will attract others.

Without a priest at present, lay people at Grace in Charles City need to actively call on those in nursing homes and the hospital, he said. They may eventually identify someone from among the congregation to be considered for ordination.

Members of the laity need to step forward to serve, Campbell said, who still serves the Church of the Saviour in Clermont and a church in Dubuque. No priest can do all the work of a congregation.

Although the 11 Episcopal seminaries in the country are currently full, there will be a priest shortage for some time, Frelund said.

An e-seminary is being developed in Iowa that will utilize the fiber-optic Iowa Communication Network (ICN) to provide education for people preparing for lay and ordained ministry beginning in January, Frelund said.

Similar programs have also been developed in other states, Campbell said.

Most congregations are small, but "they have dynamic people in them, she said.

Although the majority of Episcopalians belong to large congregations, many congregations in rural states are shrinking, Frelund said.

When St. Andrew's closed in Clear Lake in the 1980s, about a dozen members joined the Mason City church, he said.

"It was a blessing when they arrived because it was a shot in the arm for St. John's," Frelund said.

The Episcopal Church is "an aging church," he said.

According to a recent Lilly Foundation study of 2,500 Episcopalians, only 8/10 of 1 percent were young people school-age through college.

The church has a proud heritage and tradition, but needs to find ways of attracting young families, he said.

Part of "the fabric of the Episcopal church, in my opinion, is its diversity and its welcoming diversity," Frelund said.

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2005/08/27/feature/doc430fd15eebf77343792957.txt

END