Plains church celebrates 40 years

The Isrealites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before God brought them into the promised land. For Plains Alliance Church, they haven’t been wandering, but have had a home for the past 40 years in Plains and on Saturday they celebrated their 40-year-old home.

The Isrealites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before God brought them into the promised land. For Plains Alliance Church, they haven’t been wandering, but have had a home for the past 40 years in Plains and on Saturday they celebrated their 40-year-old home.

This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of when the Allaince Church set up a new congregation in Plains back in 1970.

Prior to 1970, Pastor Robert Mallary worked in Columbia Falls.  When a family in their congregation moved to Plains, the Mallarys got word that there was not a church of their denomination in the area.

Donna Mallary said that her husband, Pastor Mallary, loved children and wanted to implement a church in Plains that focused its attention on the youth in the area.

“He (Pastor Mallary) wanted a place for children to play and have fun and hear that Jesus loved them and so that’s what we’re doing today, remembering how he loved children and  wanted them to have a place to come, a refuge, which is so important these days,” said Donna.

Although Pastor Mallary has since passed away, Donna said the celebration of the church’s 40th anniversary is centered around her husband’s unwavering love for children.  The two-day celebration began on Saturday with a hot dog lunch with a plethora of large blowup toys, including a giant slide, for the kids to play with and enjoy.  The toys were set up inside the church’s gym and outside of the church as the congregation was given a beautiful, sunny day to hold the celebration.

On Saturday evening, the church held a luau with a traditional pig roast and music from the gospel group Blessed.

The theme of the celebration was “Celebrating God’s Faithfulness, past, present and future.”  Three speakers took the stage during the evening to touch on each aspect of the church; past, present and future.

Mallary was pastor of the Plain’s church for 12 years, and his legacy was evident in the events that incorporated fun for the whole family, but namely gave children plenty of activities, while teaching them about the Gospel.

“We thought we’d duplicate what his goals were, which were to have a place where people can come and have fellowship, lots of food and he also wanted people to enjoy each other, have good fellowship and hear the Gospel, love the Bible and the words of life,” said Donna.

The Mallarys not only began the church in Plains, but began two more congregations in St. Ignatius and Shelby.

When they first formed the Plains congregation the original 12 members of the congregation had to hold services in rented facilities in town for around six years until the new church, built on a purchased-five acres of land, was finally constructed from the ground up.

The church has a wide expanse with a gym that was built from money received from a Californian couple, who left Pastor Mallory their inheritance after hearing about all of the things he was trying to do to help children while teaching them the word of God.

The Plains Alliance Church is still going strong.  It recently welcomed a new Pastor, Randy Nielson, who tries to incorporate all facets of a family into the services.

“I love being in a small community.  We’re focusing on God’s faithfulness yesterday, today and forever. We’re focusing on God’s faithfulness to this church body. I think we want to administer to the whole family,” said Nielson.