Plymouth Magazine-Fall26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 42
The Plymouth Church Story
Expanding Worship Opportunities
The Rev. David Ruhe brought youth,
energy, and a delightful sense of humor to
Plymouth’s pulpit, serving from 1994 to
2014. He expanded the pastoral staff to
include specialists in pastoral care, adult
education, and youth and young adults.
He carried forward the Open and
Affirming policies established by the
Rev. James Gilliom, speaking and writing
publicly in support of LGBTQ+ rights
in the community.
In 1998, Ruhe encouraged Plymouth
to become a member of a newly formed
Des Moines area faith-based ecumenical
organization now known as A Mid-Iowa
Organizing Strategy, or AMOS.
Saturday Night Worship was introduced
in 2000, offering a more relaxed and
intimate service in Waveland Hall, with
worshippers seated around tables to
facilitate conversation. The Rev. Angie
Witmer (now Angie Arendt), who was
the newly hired Minister of Youth and
Young Adults, helped to craft the worship
service for those not comfortable in a
formal Sunday setting. It evolved into
a “non-traditional space for people of
all ages to feel welcome, included, seen,
loved, and blessed to pay that kind of
inclusivity forward throughout the week,”
she said. For several years, a lineup of
bread machines in the Waveland kitchen
baked bread for communion. The aroma
of freshly baked bread was one of the
many ways worshippers were welcomed
to this non-traditional service.
The Rev. James Gilliom and Rev. Ruhe at
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Plymouth’s 150th celebration service in 2007.
Saturday worship is enhanced with
music from the Saturday Night Band,
which includes a changing ensemble of
guitar, drums, keyboard, an electric bass,
an upright bass, occasional banjo and
mandolin, and two to three vocalists.
Selections tend toward accessible and
familiar hymns, folk tunes, spirituals,
and popular music sung in simple and
moving harmonies.
In 2000, Ruhe also spearheaded an
$8 million fund-raising campaign
to build a major addition, allowing
enhanced programming and community
engagement. Dedicated in 2003, the
addition included a two-level parking
structure, a fellowship hall that could be
divided into meeting spaces, renovated
space for Plymouth Nursery School,
enhanced Sunday school classes, and
music and rehearsal rooms.
In 2013, the “New Day” capital
campaign raised funds to eliminate the
remaining debt on the 2000 building
expansion and refurbish the sanctuary.
Under Ruhe’s leadership, Plymouth
received a grant in 2006 from the Lilly
Endowment to develop a Transition
Into Ministry (TiM) program, assisting
recent seminary graduates to move
confidently into pastoral roles. The
program was prompted by the high
drop-out rate of first-call pastors, nearly
half of whom were leaving the ministry
within the first five years. As part of the
program, first-call Associate Ministers
The Rev. David Ruhe joins the 2011 Pride Parade.
serve on and are mentored by Plymouth
staff for approximately 27 months,
experiencing all facets of church life.
Since 2000, 19 TiMs have served at
Plymouth and have gone on to serve in
pastoral roles throughout the country.
From 2012 to 2020, Plymouth volunteers
operated Plymouth Grounds, an inchurch coffee shop and innovative
program to help young people with
intellectual disabilities learn on-the-job
skills, serving as baristas, bakers, waiters,
and custodial workers. The students were
selected for employment in cooperation
with area public schools and special needs
programs and trained in job skills they
could use in future employment. Before
closing due to COVID restrictions, the
program had a 92 percent employment
rate for students after they left the
Plymouth Grounds shop.
The Rev. Ruhe with former TiM Pastors (left to right): Anissa Bacon, Ruhe, Aaron James, Stephanie Haskins,
Jeanette Brodersen, and Anthony Livolsi.
