Pastor Celestyne C. DeVance

    Pastor Celestyne has been the spiritual leader of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Des Moines, Iowa since July, 2001. She is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and Asbury Theological Seminary. Her passion is offering Jesus Christ to a world that is hungry for truth and helping people deepen their spirituality.

    She believes that the marks of the Christian life are growth in love, grace, acts of piety, and the knowledge of God. A true disciple of Jesus Christ should be growing in Christlikeness through the channels that John Wesley called the means of grace which includes prayer, study of the Scriptures, receiving the Lord's Supper, fasting, and Christian conversation. 

    God’s people are her ministry and that ministry is fulfilled when God's people become what God intends each one of them to be. She understand her responsibility to be like that of the apostles who, in the sixth chapter of Acts, empowered faithful persons to do the work of ministry while they devoted themselves to the Word and prayer. Her goal is to preach biblical and relevant sermons that are faithful to Scripture, to pray earnestly for each of the members, to love them as she loves her own family, and to guide them spiritually as they grow as Christ's disciples, developing the fruit of the Spirit.

St. John's United Methodist Church  -  A Place to Believe....Belong....Become