- St. Stephen's Episcopal Church's Lively History in Newton, Iowa
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 Before 1867, occasional worship services using the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer were held in the old Jasper County Courthouse and Union Hall. Bishop H.W. Lee led a few of those services and was important in encouraging Episcopal mission work in Newton.
- In October 1867, the Rev. W.T. Currie, a priest in Durant and member of the American Church Missionary Society, commenced regular services in Newton, and the parish was duly organized on December 1, 1868.
- Prominent Newton citizen Thomas Arthur purchased the current lot, and Mr. Joseph Stevens, an English carpenter, began work on the current church building in 1871. The building is a lovely example of the “Carpenter Gothic” architectural style of board and batten siding, with wooden arches dominating inside and out. Beautiful and varied stained glass windows – English, Victorian, Arts-and-Crafts – were acquired over the years. St. Stephen’s parish church building is on the National Historic Register. The main sanctuary and original building (except the bell spire) was completed in 1874, with the first formal service being held therein on the Second Sunday after Easter, April 19, 1874. St. Stephen’s church building is the oldest church in continual worship in the same building both in Newton and in Jasper County.
- Twenty-nine priests have served St. Stephen’s from 1867 until 2005, and a strong tradition of lay leadership has been ever present. Ministry with youth has been a cord tying the years together; St. Stephen’s was sponsor of the first Boy Scout Troop in Newton and had an accomplished youth choir in the early decades of the 20th century. One of its priests was an important early Newton High School football coach.
- The parish has seen both times of plenty and times of want. The great Depression found the church struggling to financially support a full-time priest, but morning prayer services were carried out faithfully by lay leaders. Important turning p[points in the last five decades toward stability and renewal include the dedication of long-term pastors such as Joseph Gregori and Frederick “Fritz” Kramer, financial encouragement from Mrs. Ellen Maytag-Madsen and her children, and a successful building Restoration and Endowment campaign recently completed.
- In the midst of such a rich external history, St. Stephen’s congregation has been sustained through the even richer story of life lived in faith in Jesus Christ, a story reaching into the future.
- Composed by Cathleen Chittenden Bascom
- (29th Rector of St. Stephen’s, 2005) based on
- articles written by historian Larry Hurto
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