Multi-site Ministry

Ankeny First United Methodist Church, located in the growing Des Moines suburb of Ankeny, Iowa, is a multi-site congregation of around 2500 members. Our three buildings are:

• The Uptown site - we use this name due to our central location in the historic Uptown area of Ankeny.
• Faith Chapel - our smaller ministry setting in Southwest Ankeny which evolved from the former Faith UMC.
• The Christian Life Center - our newest worship site, is a multipurpose recreational complex in the northeast quadrant of Ankeny.

Each one of these locations offers vital ministries and provides a springboard for helping God grow deeply committed Christians who can help transform the world for Jesus Christ.

Solidly grounded in a Wesleyan approach to Christian belief and practice, the three ministry sites of Ankeny First United Methodist Church help persons grow in faith and then live out that faith in their everyday lives.

The larger Uptown location houses our central church office, large traditional sanctuary with pipe organ, chapel for prayer and meditation, welcoming Fellowship Hall for many special events, weekday preschool, youth center (J.C.'s Café), and many meeting rooms for classes and small groups. Four weekly worship services including traditional, blended and contemporary take place at this site.

At Faith Chapel, our worship and fellowship events create the more intimate atmosphere of "a large church home." Two smaller worship services, one traditional and the other "conversational" take place here. Faith's three acres of fields also provide space for a variety of ministry opportunities.

The focus at the Christian Life Center is recreational ministry, with full size gym offering a variety of non-competitive leagues for children, family-friendly events, and large space for youth ministry.  Contemporary worship is the focus at the Christian Life Center.

Sunday School and nursery care is offered at all three sites each Sunday.

While we have three locations, we are one congregation. Members and guests alike move freely between the ministry offerings of each site, and work together on major mission outreach efforts of the church, such as our June 2009 trip to the African nation of Malawi, and our varied on-going hands-on ministry opportunities in greater Des Moines community.

Our church is staffed by several pastors and a number of lay directors of ministry areas, but the real work of ministry is done by the congregation serving in ministry teams according to their individual callings to serve Christ. Our organizational structure of clusters of ministry teams and task forces makes it easy for each person to find the great joy that comes from using our talents to serve God.