Rooted in Faith. Growing in Life. Looking to the Future.
Life Church is the public ministry of New Covenant Fellowship, the legal nonprofit organization that owns and operates this church and this website. New Covenant Fellowship remains our legal organizational name; Life Chuch is the name under which our congregation ministers publicaly in Osage, Iowa.
Life Church has a rich history of faithfulness, generosity, and God's sustaining grace. Our story began in rural Osage, Iowa, in the 1970s, long before we became known as Life Church.
Our congregation was originally founded as Faith Temple Church, through the faith and generosity of George and Arlene Stang.
After marrying in 1972, George and Arlene made their home in Osage. Arlene had grown up in the Brethren in Christ Church, attended Bible school, and carried a deep love for worship and gospel music.
Together, the Stangs helped establish a new congregation. Although they were not its pastors, they believed God was calling them to help create a place where people could gather to worship Jesus and grow in faith. They generously donated the land where Life Church still gathers today and helped provide for the construction of the original church building.
Their faith and generosity laid a foundation that continues to bless our congregation.
Over the years, Faith Temple Church was served by several pastors and eventually became known as New Covenant Fellowship.
One of the most significant chapters in our history unfolded under the leadership of Pastor Jim Shelton and his wife, Arlene.
For more than thirty years, Pastor Jim faithfully shepherded this congregation. Arlene served alongside him, including many years as the church secretary. Together, they invested their lives in the people of this community.
During those years, the church became a thriving Christian fellowship where people came to faith, families grew together, friendships were formed, and generations learned to follow Jesus.
Following Arlene's passing in 2010, Pastor Jim continued faithfully leading the congregation through a season of grief and transition. As he later prepared for retirement, he began praying about who might shepherd the church into its next chapter.
In 2013, Pastor Jim invited Steven White to prayerfully consider becoming the next pastor of New Covenant Fellowship.
After several conversations, times of prayer, and meetings with church leadership, Steven accepted the invitation.
On September 15, 2013, Steven preached his first Sunday as pastor, arriving with his wife, Callie, and their three children, Branden, Aaron, and Acacia.
At that time, approximately fifteen to twenty people regularly gathered for worship. The congregation was small, with only two children and an average age of around sixty.
But those numbers did not tell the whole story.
There were faithful people who had prayed, served, sacrificed, and loved this church for decades. There was a spiritual inheritance to receive and a foundation upon which to build.
We did not start this church. We received it.
Over the years that followed, God graciously brought new people, young families, and children into the congregation. What began as a small, aging fellowship increasingly became a vibrant, multigenerational community.
During this season, the congregation began ministering publicly under the name Life Church, while New Covenant Fellowship remained the church's legal nonprofit organizational name.