Ephrata UMC has a solid impact through music, food, funds and love

 

When Ephrata United Methodist Church (UMC) was extensively damaged by fire on Palm Sunday in April 2021, its carillon was silenced. Although members began worshiping there in December 2024 and the building reconstruction was completed in November 2025, the carillon music was not restored until Spring 2026.

After the fire, community members asked the UMC to restore the carillon. It plays pre-recorded digital music on the hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for neighbors walking and working in town.

The repertoire includes familiar hymns and seasonal music.

The church started the carillon tradition nearly 50 years ago, so the equipment was too old to repair. It had to be replaced. Now the carillon is in a 22-by-20-inch box in the church office. Before the carillon was six feet tall, 2.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep in a storage room with an 18-by-12-inch unit in the church office. Now it is easily accessible so the music can be changed.

"We value hearing church music during the day," said Christy Price, a member who moved to Ephrata in 1992. "It's comforting."

"The community not only asked for it, but also made contributions to restore it," said Don Dunn, the pastor, who came to Ephrata in October 2014 to serve Memorial Christian Disciples of Christ (DOC) Church.

In 2017, he began serving both the DOC and UMC churches half time. After the fire, the UMC worshiped at Memorial Christian until it closed in April 2024. Then, they worshiped at the Adventist Church until December 2024. During rebuilding, they prepared and served monthly community meals at the Bread of Life church kitchen.

Don and Christy described the fire and reconstruction.

The 2021 fire caused extensive damage throughout the building. The sanctuary was saved but flooded and had to be emptied to remove the ceiling and walls containing asbestos. Pews were stored in the Memorial Christian basement to be cleaned and refinished. Pew cushions were thrown away, along with anything porous, fabric, wood or plastic because of smoke damage. The sound system had to be replaced.

The fire gutted much of the Sunday school building. All but two classrooms at one end were stripped to the studs.

Christy, as the reconstruction project manager, was liaison between the trustees, contractors and insurance adjustors. She was an educator and then director with Washington State University's Grant County Extension. A United Methodist all her life, she is active in the church.

"I help keep things going, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir and serving as treasurer," said Christy, who also coordinates the church's community dinner with her husband, Camille.

While dealing with the UMC reconstruction, Don was helping Memorial Christian close. The DOC building was sold in 2025.

"We had a memorable service to close the DOC, knowing the ministry would continue. We spent months deciding where to make contributions from the sale and investments. Funds went to various ministries and foundations in Ephrata and at the regional and national DOC.

"It felt like a resurrection moment to see gifts of that church's stewardship continue to serve the purposes of God's ministry through other avenues of mission," he said.

Don then reflected on his journey in ministry.

Until seventh grade, he lived in the Seattle area, attending an American Baptist Church. After his family moved to Southern California in 1960, they attended a fundamentalist Bible church.

He met Bobbi in high school. They married in 1966 after he went a year to a Bible college in Tennessee. From 1973 to 1983, he worked in aviation refueling at Denver's airport, finishing a degree in education and missions in 1976 at Denver Baptist Bible College. He wanted to continue seminary studies. After some struggle, he became open to other denominations. From 1985 to 1988, he completed a master of divinity degree at Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

"I found grace and affirmation as my faith grew through conversations, reading, learning, praying and discovering theologian Walter Brueggemann's emphasis on hospitality, generosity and forgiveness," said Don.

During seminary, he was an associate minister at South Broadway Christian Church Disciples of Christ (DOC) in Denver for three years.

Ephrata UMC is Don's 12th church. He ministered at DOC churches in Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, Texas, Missouri, Idaho and Oregon, and in Prosser and Desert Air (Presbyterian), Wash., before coming to Ephrata to serve Memorial Christian DOC.

Sunday attendance now at the UMC averages 20 with different people each week. Some are homebound. Members give and help in many ways.

"Many members and leaders have died or moved away to be cared for by their children," he said.

"As I look to the future, faithfulness is important. We need to see moments of joy in a church's life through changes and challenges we face," he said.

Along with worship, Don leads a Bible study and a book reading group. With several pianists and a guitarist, the church has strong music for worship.

For 21 years, the UMC has  provided a community dinner for about 50 people monthly before COVID. Then they doubled the number of meals they made and delivered. Now the dinner serves 120 meals once a month including to homebound and homeless people.

The church assists people in need, helping with electric and water bills, and providing food and lodging for those coming through town.

Since 2025, the church has shared its building with the Hispanic Apostolic Assembly, which has about 25 attending. Because they worship Thursday evenings, as well as Sundays, many join the community meals served in the church on Thursdays.

"There is a growing Hispanic population in Ephrata," noted Christy. "When our children were in school in the 1990s, there were a few Hispanic kids in a class, and now 46 percent of the children are Hispanic. Their families work on farms and for the county, schools and hospital."

"Influenced by Brueggeman, I see immigrants from a perspective of Christian hospitality. I see less fortunate people from a perspective of generously sharing resources," he said. "Forgiveness is hard for Christians to practice because we live a lifetime adjusting to a God who is above all gracious."

Don has also added insights to his preaching from two-week visits to Palestine and Israel. In October 2022, he joined 20 others on a bus tour to sacred sites. In May 2025, Bobbi joined him, traveling in a small van with five others, meeting Palestinians and learning of their struggles to navigate life amid government restrictions.

The wife and son of a Palestinian political prisoner said he studies from high school to a doctoral degree while in prison, where he teaches other prisoners.

In an Arab community of Israel, they met Father Elias Chacour, who runs the Ibillin School for Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian children.

They also visited the Tent of Nations, a farm belonging to a Palestinian Christian family whose ancestors have been there since the Ottoman Empire.

"I continue to pray for the people and keep informed on what happens and how difficult life is for Palestinians," Don said. "Even though I am sometimes crying inside, it's refreshing to realize there is more to our faith than our one little locale," he said.

He continues to find ways to serve the people of Ephrata, a town of 9,000 surrounded by many farms, where families for generations have tended orchards and grown wheat, hay, corn, potatoes, onions and vegetable seeds.

In town, people work for the Public Utility District, jail, courthouse, county offices, railroad, schools and the hospital that includes assisted living, a nursing home, a rehabilitation center and a clinic. Many shop 20 miles away in in Moses Lake.

Ephrata is growing with about 200 homes built since Don and Bobbi came.

There are 20 churches—including Adventist, Apostolic Assembly, Assembly of God, Baptist, Catholic, Community, Episcopal, Foursquare, Jehovah's Witness, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran (two), Nazarene, Non-Denominational (three), Presbyterian, Reformed Christian and United Methodist.

"Previously, if someone changed churches, the pastors knew, because they got along," said Don. "About 20 years ago, Ephrata had a ministerial association, and pastors were respected for cooperative leadership until it disbanded after a few pastors wanted to establish a doctrinal standard for it.

"While conversation and cooperation narrowed, our church is inclusive to people regardless of race, gender, gender identity or voting record," said Don, adding that other congregations in Ephrata also "share a message of encompassing God's love for the world, proclaiming peace and justice, countering racism and violence and showing compassion for all God's children."

For information, call 754-4664 or email pastor@umcephrata.org.
Phone for Bobbi: 660-232-1203