About Immanuel
We are a caring family of believers of all ages who desire to share the goodness of God through the preaching and teaching of His word and the marvelous gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We identify ourselves as a fellowship called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the very presence of Jesus Christ in a lost and broken world. We desire to personally grow in our faith and that by our actions, through caring, personal contact, worship, fellowship and service, inspire others to also find the Lord. We identify ourselves as Reformed and so the question is often asked, "reformed from what?" We are being reformed to and not from. The full title that our church bears tells the whole story: The Church of Jesus Christ Reformed according to the Word of God. Therefore it is our desire to be continually reforming to the Word of God.
Our History
As more German speaking families came to America from East Friesland, Germany, several families settled east of Belmond. Being rich in faith in Jesus, they wanted their children to have the same opportunity. So they organized a new congregation of the Reformed Church of America. On September 17, 1884, 36 members confessed their faith in Jesus Christ and became charter members. They chose the name Immanuel – God With Us – as the name of the new church.
Shortly after the organization, many new members joined the congregation. Members with surnames like Pals, Mennenga, Dorenkamp, Braner, Stadtlander, Steenblock, Goeman, Barkema and Boelman became part of Immanuel; you’ll see those same names among the membership of Immanuel today.
For the first two years, the congregation of Immanuel worshipped in a schoolhouse located on the site of the present cemetery. Five acres of land was given to the church by Lambert Pals, Sr. to build a church and parsonage. The present church building was constructed in 1966, with a new parsonage built in 1984.
The Classis of Pleasant Prairie was organized and named at Immanuel on June 16, 1892. A committee representing 16 German-speaking communities met at the Immanuel parsonage for this purpose. As they sat on the front porch, looking over the farmland, the chairman of the committee commented “What a beautiful prairie land you have here.” The Pleasant Prairie Classis was born at Immanuel.
In 2023, Immanuel Reformed Church became a member of the Alliance of Reformed Churches.
