For over half a century, Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community has provided a loving, caring, Christian home for senior adults. The Bartels Chaplaincy program anchors this treasured service.

Spiritual Life

A Commitment to Christian Service

Ministering to the spiritual needs of all residents, regardless of their church affiliation, the Bartels Chaplaincy helps fulfill the overall mission of the retirement community: Enriching lives through quality services and Christian care.

A Responsibility for Spiritual Growth

We are committed, at Bartels, to the health of body and spirit.  This commitment to improving the spirituality of our older adults sets us apart from similar organizations.  It’s an essential part of the glue which holds the Bartels community together.  A fully-funded Chaplaincy Endowment will allow continued devotion to:

  • An understanding of the unique joys and concerns of aging adults.
  • A successful extension of our residents’ home church ministries.
  • The over-arching Bartels mission and commitment to serving the spiritual needs of all our residents.

Sunday Worship

  • 9:30 a.m. Eichhorn Haus Dining Room
  • 10:30 a.m. Good Shepherd Chapel
  • 11:15 a.m. Evergreen Arbor
  • LC-MS Worship & Communion 10 a.m. each Thursday, Good Shepherd Chapel
  • Catholic Mass – fourth Thursday each month at 3:30 pm

Special services are held for:

  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas Eve
  • Christmas Day
  • Celebration of All Saints
  • Ash Wednesday
  • Wednesdays in Lent
  • Blessing of the Years Sunday
  • Palm Sunday
  • Maundy Thursday
  • Good Friday
  • Easter

Chaplaincy Endowment

A Commitment to Future Generations

The Bartels Chaplaincy Endowment, created in 1997, ensures continuous full-time Chaplaincy services at Bartels.

Our Endowment funds are invested in perpetuity, to forever earn interest income for supporting the Chaplaincy program. These earnings will help ensure these services, the very heart of our Christian mission, do not become vulnerable to operational budget challenges.

Donors who support the Chaplaincy Endowment Campaign may make their donation through an immediate or pledged cash gift, or by a planned gift such as will bequests, trust fund, life insurance, real estate, or other planned gift.

For more information, contact the Development Office at 319-352-4540

Exceptional Dedication

The Bartels Chaplain provides a full time chaplaincy ministry to all residents in many ways:

  • Serving all locations on the Bartels campus including: Eisenach Village, Eichhorn Haus, Linden Place, Woodland Terrace and Evergreen Arbor
  • Leading Sunday ecumenical worship services in the Good Shepherd Chapel, as well as other worship areas.
  • Conducting Bible studies
  • Leading daily meal time prayers and noon devotions in the dining rooms
  • Visiting residents through one-on-one visits
  • Visiting residents in the hospital
  • Attending to residents and their families during the end of life process, funerals and celebrations of life
  • Coordinating programs involving Wartburg students, church groups and area clergy
  • Acting as liaison between residents and representatives of residents’ home church

The Bartels Chaplain also ministers to staff and their families as well as carries the Bartels message to church and community groups.