Connecting the Generations in Excelsior
Excelsior Covenant Church sits just off Excelsior Boulevard in the small lakeside town of Excelsior, Minnesota, a few minutes from downtown and the lake. The congregation's own tagline, Connecting the Generations to Jesus and One Another, describes what shapes nearly everything that happens inside the building: parents and children worship side by side, students serve alongside adults, and the same Sunday morning room that fills with grandparents at 10:00 AM is busy with preschoolers, choirs, and basketball leagues by the middle of the week.
The church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, a denomination with roots in the Lutheran Church of Sweden, the Protestant Reformation, and the great nineteenth-century spiritual awakenings. Locally, Excelsior Covenant has built a reputation as a warm, family-friendly congregation that takes seriously both the Bible and the call to serve beyond its walls. Generations of young people from ECC have gone on to full-time ministry and missions, and the church partners with organizations like Feed My Starving Children, TreeHouse, and its own Pine Ridge ministry in South Dakota.
Sunday Mornings at 10:00 AM
Worship is at the heart of ECC's week. The Sunday service begins at 10:00 AM in the sanctuary and runs as a relaxed, come-as-you-are gathering with contemporary music, prayer, and a message rooted in Scripture. There is no dress code, and coffee, tea, and treats are available before and after the service. Greeters and a parking team are on hand to welcome visitors, and accessible parking spaces sit near the main entrance. The building is wheelchair accessible, and hearing assistance devices are available for those who would benefit from amplified sound.
The service is livestreamed on YouTube every Sunday at 10:00 AM, and past sermons remain available on the channel for streaming anytime. For those who prefer to give online, the Church Center app makes one-time and recurring gifts simple.
First 50 Sunday School
An hour before worship, from 9:00 to 9:50 AM each Sunday September through May, the church offers First 50 - its name for Sunday school across every age. Preschoolers, elementary students, junior highers, senior highers, and adults all meet in their own groups for Bible teaching, discussion, and activities designed to help faith grow. Nursery care is provided for birth through age 3 during First 50 as well.
Lighthouse Kids in the Service
Children are always welcome to stay with their parents in the sanctuary. Partway through the 10:00 AM service, the congregation sends its youngest members downstairs to the Lighthouse Room for age-appropriate programming: Lighthouse Littles for ages 3 to 5 and Lighthouse Kids for kindergarten through 6th grade, with worship, Scripture memory, teaching, and activities. Nursery care for birth through age 3 is offered throughout the entire service.
Wednesday Nights from September to May
Wednesday is the second pillar of the week at ECC. From 5:10 to 6:30 PM the church hosts a shared dinner in the building, and programming for every age follows. Preschool-aged children (Lighthouse Littles) begin at 5:30 PM, while Lighthouse Kids and Blaze (kindergarten through 6th grade) gather from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, with teaching, gym time, and a monthly combined worship night for all elementary kids.
Junior high students (grades 7 to 8) meet Wednesday evenings for teaching and outreach that focuses on inviting friends into community. Senior high students (grades 9 to 12) arrive at 6:00 PM for a homework hour, then transition into youth group from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, with weekly gatherings, small groups, and events throughout the year.
For adults, Wednesday nights offer several Bible study tracks running 6:30 to 7:30 PM: a year-long study on personal Christianity led by David Paulson, a listening prayer and book study on Thomas R. Kelly's A Testament of Devotion led by Mary Studer, and a discipleship conversations group led by Steve Carley and Jaci Mrosko. The Lighthouse Kids Choir rehearses from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, the Worship Choir from 6:30 to 7:45 PM, the Handbell Choir from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, and the Worship Team and Tech Team rehearse from 7:30 to 8:45 PM.
Children and Students
Children's Ministry at ECC exists to disciple young people toward Christ - helping them know who He is, what He has done, and how to live for Him. Annie Potts serves as Children's Ministry Director, with Melissa Brown-Pinard as Preschool and Early Childhood Ministry Director and Hannah Barnes as her assistant. The preschool program runs on Sunday mornings, during the worship service, and on Wednesday evenings.
Each June the church hosts Vacation Bible School, open to children who are age 4 by June 1 through current 4th graders, with a limited number of spots for potty-trained 3-year-olds. VBS is described as one of the church's favorite weeks of the year, with Bible stories, worship, games, crafts, and activities.
Student Ministry is led by Katie Gardner, Senior High Ministry Director. Junior highers work through confirmation on Sunday mornings during First 50 and gather for outreach-focused evenings midweek, with special summer events like Boba and Bibles and Campfire Nights. Senior highers dive into Scripture together Sunday mornings, meet midweek for youth group, and take part in events like MEA Camp at Covenant Pines, a spring retreat in Wisconsin, an annual youth fundraiser, and a rotating summer program that includes a mission trip, UNITE, and a camping trip.
Adults at Every Stage
The adult ministry lineup at ECC is intentionally broad. A women's Tuesday morning Bible study runs from 9:30 to 11:15 AM in the Fireside Room or on Zoom during the academic year, currently working through Daniel: Resilient Faith in a Hostile World. Childcare and coffee are provided, lectures are recorded, and newcomers are welcome at any point.
Retired and semi-retired men meet Thursdays from 10:00 to 10:00 AM year-round in the Fireside Room for fellowship, devotions, discussion, and prayer, with leadership rotating among participants and a Zoom link available. Golden Girls, a women's group, gathers the first Thursday of each month from October through May in the Oakview Room to tie fleece blankets for New Life Family Services (First Care Pregnancy Center), enjoying treats and conversation alongside the project.
Thursday afternoons include a midweek prayer gathering from 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM in the Fireside Room and on Zoom. Tuesday nights bring men's basketball to the gym at 8:30 PM, year-round. Alpha, the church's introduction to the Christian faith, runs as a ten-session course and serves as a short-term on-ramp into Life Groups for anyone curious about belief or the Bible.
Life Groups and Care
Life Groups are the small-group backbone of ECC: gatherings of three or more people who meet regularly to explore the Bible, share their lives, pray for one another, and build supportive relationships. The church encourages visitors to either join an existing group or start their own with two or more friends, using a downloadable Life Group Leaders' Guide and resources from the staff.
The Care Ministry, coordinated by Parish Nurse Connie Volling, walks alongside people through some of life's harder moments. Take Them a Meal organizes meals for ECC friends dealing with health issues. Caring Friends pairs volunteers with members for visits or coffee. Stephen Ministry offers confidential one-to-one emotional and spiritual care from trained lay ministers, and GriefShare runs as a video-based support group with biblical encouragement and shared discussion. Prayer requests can be submitted online to be posted on the prayer wall (with or without a name) or shared privately with the pastoral staff and prayer team, which also gathers for special events like the Night of Prayer, the National Day of Prayer Luncheon, an Advent Retreat, and a Lenten Retreat.
Worship Arts and Production
Praise and worship are central to ECC's identity, and the Worship Arts Ministry offers many ways to participate. The Worship Team is a lay-led band that rehearses Wednesdays from 7:30 to 8:45 PM and soundchecks Sunday mornings; musicians serve one to three times a month on a quarterly schedule. The Worship Choir welcomes singers ages 13 and up (no sight-reading required) and sings SATB anthems about every other week in worship, plus a Christmas choir in December. The Handbell Choir, for musicians ages 15 and up, rehearses as scheduled and serves roughly once a quarter.
Behind the scenes, the Tech Team runs audio, video, and media for both in-person and online services, rehearsing Wednesday evenings during the school year and combining rehearsal and soundcheck on Sundays during the summer. A Visual Arts Team enhances the sanctuary and gathering spaces through art, décor, and media, with larger installations during Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter. Sara Bevis oversees worship arts, with Lynette Johnson directing the choirs and handbells and Iris Tungseth leading the Lighthouse Kids Choir.
The Preschool, the Building, and the Sacraments
Sharing the campus at 19955 Excelsior Boulevard is Excelsior Covenant Preschool, a longstanding early-childhood program with its own director, phone line (952-474-1684), and email address (preschool@excelcov.org). It extends the church's ministry of forming the next generation into the weekday hours.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month with gluten-free bread and grape juice, and children are welcome to participate when their families feel ready. Younger children may come forward for a blessing, and honey sticks are available. As part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, ECC practices open Communion, seeing the table as a gift of grace. Baptism is honored both as infant baptism and believer's baptism, recognizing faithful Christians hold different convictions. The church also offers child dedications for families who choose that path.
Beliefs and Mission
ECC joyfully affirms the core beliefs of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The Old and New Testaments are the authoritative Word of God, the perfect guide for faith, doctrine, and life. New birth through faith in Jesus is essential to enter God's kingdom, with ongoing growth in Christ vital for spiritual health. The church is committed to the whole mission of the church - the Great Commission to go and make disciples and the Great Commandment to love neighbors as ourselves - through sharing the gospel, planting churches, serving with compassion, and seeking justice.
The church is understood as a Christ-centered community, open to all who believe in Jesus and united by new birth through Him. ECC lives with a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, who calls the church into being, empowers its witness, and equips it to exalt Christ. And it embraces the freedom of Christ that, by grace, allows for differences in interpretation and practice within the bounds of biblical truth and historic Christianity.
That blend of conviction and openness - rooted in the Bible, expressed across generations, and lived out in a town on the lake - is what continues to shape Excelsior Covenant Church as it gathers, serves, and grows together.