Dennis Brown

Iowa Church of the Brethren pastor pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor

In 2012, Dennis L. Brown (1944–2018), a pastor in the Church of the Brethren, pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony, for engaging in sexual acts with a 15-year-old boy in Waverly, Iowa, in May 2011. Brown had been serving as the pastor at Ivester Church of the Brethren in Grundy Center, Iowa, at the time of the offense. The Northern Plains District of the Church of the Brethren terminated Brown’s minister credentials following the charges.

In September 2012, Brown was sentenced to ten years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender. After serving approximately four and a half years, he was released on parole in 2017.

After Brown’s arrest, church leaders said in a statement, “Coping with these events is difficult. When we gather as a community, we earnestly pray for the victim and the victim’s family. We recognize that their pain must be much deeper than our own. We also pray for the Brown family.”

Mary Jo Flory-Steury, the executive director of the Church of the Brethren Ministry Office, told the Cedar Falls Times, “We have not made contact with the other districts,” referring to Brown’s prior pastoral positions. She also indicated that the arrest had been communicated through the church’s internal network. “We are trying to pay attention to various dynamics and the effect that it has on the whole community,” she told the paper.

Brown reportedly pastored in the Church of the Brethren for 45 years prior to his arrest, including in Virginia from 1972 to 1990.

Brown died in 2018.