A Family of Families on East 57th Street
Linwood Wesleyan Church sits on East 57th Street on the eastern edge of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a stretch of road lined with schools, neighborhoods, and the kind of community buildings that anchor a city. Darrell and Ruby Wagner founded the congregation in 1963, beginning with a small meeting in their home. Sixty-plus years later, Linwood still calls itself a family of families, and the motto tucked beneath that name says what the church is about: reaching people for Christ, giving them a place to belong, and helping them grow in their faith.
The congregation moved into its present building in 1989 and grew again in 2005 when a gym and south addition opened. Today the campus is busy seven days a week, hosting Sunday worship, weekday ministry programs, support groups, and dozens of community events booked by people outside the church through Linwood's rental program.
Sunday Mornings at Linwood
Two Sunday morning services are offered at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. The atmosphere is intentionally casual. Greeters hand out coffee for the whole family, the dress is whatever a guest wears on a Saturday morning, and the sanctuary includes special seating for families and fragrance-free sections for those who need them. A Mother's Room just outside the east sanctuary door, off the KidsWay hallway, lets parents of infants watch and listen to the message while caring for their children.
Worship itself is blended. Each Sunday mixes contemporary and traditional selections in a service flow designed to make room for engagement with the Holy Spirit, and the team says no two Sundays sound the same. Teaching is rooted in Scripture and applied directly to everyday life. The 10:30 a.m. service is also broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube for those who want to join from home.
KidsWay: From Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Linwood is called KidsWay, and it stretches from infants through fifth grade. On Sunday mornings during the 10:30 service, kids move into the KidsWay hallway for age-appropriate Bible teaching, worship, crafts, and games. Parents can pre-register their children through the church's app or stop by the Kids Check-In Station when they arrive, where a team member will walk them through the process and give the family a brief tour.
Safety is built into every layer of the program. Every KidsWay volunteer passes a background check, and a check-in system tracks every child in the building. A second gathering runs on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. during the school year, using a high-energy curriculum called Hyfi that focuses on identity in Christ. Sunday mornings use the Wonder Ink curriculum, built around four key values: God Knows Me, Jesus Loves Me, The Holy Spirit Leads Me, and I am a child of God.
Sandy Guffin serves as Children's and Care Pastor, with Lynee Welding as Children's Director. The church notes that 80 percent of people come to faith before age 18, and a steady stream of volunteers serves in the nursery and pre-K through fifth-grade rooms each week.
Linwood Student Ministries (LSM)
Middle and high school students gather through Linwood Student Ministries, or LSM. The Wednesday night rhythm runs during the school year: doors open at 5:00 p.m. for an open gym and cafe hangout, and the service, called LSM Live, kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Students are welcomed by adult leaders and a student leadership team and then move into breakout groups organized by age, gender, and grade. Worship, interactive teaching, games, and small group discipleship are all part of the evening.
First-time visitors do not need to be church members to attend. Check-in happens on the church app in advance for an easier arrival, and all volunteers are pre-screened and interviewed for a heart for students. Zach McConnell, the NexGen Pastor, oversees the ministry along with the residency track for emerging student ministry leaders.
Adult Discipleship and the Shalom Prayer Ministry
Adult ministry at Linwood is built around discipleship groups, small gatherings of three to five people that meet weekly either in person or online. The model rests on the church's understanding of the Great Commission: a disciple is someone who makes other disciples. To support that, Linwood developed the Banding Together Journals, a daily reading plan paired with a personal journal and a group meeting outline. Several trained leaders run groups at any given time.
Alongside the small groups sits Shalom, a prayer ministry in which a small team of two to five people prays over an individual for about two hours of uninterrupted time. The team reads Scripture, intercedes, and helps the person invite Jesus into past or present wounds. The Hebrew word shalom carries the meaning of complete restoration and healing, and the ministry is named for that fuller sense of peace. Anyone can request a session through the church.
Care for Grieving and Single Parents
Linwood hosts two support ministries that meet weekly in thirteen-week cycles. Each session opens with a short video from grief recovery experts or single-parenting experts, followed by discussion and friendship-building with people walking similar roads. GriefShare also begins with an orientation meeting, and two group schedules are available so newcomers can pick a time that fits. The Single & Parenting program runs Wednesday evenings with on-site programming for kids from birth through fifth grade and for students in sixth through twelfth grade, so no parent has to choose between caring for themselves and caring for their children.
Outreach Next Door and Around the World
Outreach at Linwood stretches in two directions at once: into the neighborhoods of Sioux Falls and into countries on the other side of the world. Locally, the church partners with non-profits and schools, including Center of Hope, Cleveland Elementary School, Lunch is Served, St. Francis House, The Community Outreach, and the Union Gospel Mission. Volunteers serve meals, mentor students, and lend hands to organizations that care for people facing hunger, homelessness, and poverty.
Globally, Linwood supports a wide network of missionaries and partner ministries: Aaron with Crescent Project, work alongside African Wesleyan University, Becca serving missionary kids, Ben in Singapore, He Sapa in South Dakota, John and Abby with Poetice in Zambia, Keith and Saundra in Nepal and India, Mark and Lauren in Northern Africa, Peter and Brenda across Asia and the Pacific, Regan with Poetice in Zambia, Tom and Grace in South Asia, Vivek and Darla in India, and Will and Jo in Japan. The church also plants churches, partnering with Resilient Church in Vermillion, South Dakota, the Awaken Network, and The Timothy Initiative.
The Linwood Residency
Linwood runs a two-year pastoral residency for emerging leaders who feel called to vocational ministry. Residents serve approximately twenty-nine hours a week alongside the staff, are matched with a personal coach for ministry-specific and personal growth, and receive weekly leadership development teaching. The program is offered in two specialized tracks, Lead Pastor and Student Ministries, and welcomes both men and women. Stipends begin at $1,300 a month in the first year and rise to $1,500 in the second year, with an additional $1,000 provided on arrival to help with deposits, travel, and home furnishings.
A unique piece of the residency is a partnership with The Ransom Church through the Awaken Network. Residents spend time immersed in the culture and programming of both congregations, learning different ministry styles and connecting with other residents in the Awaken cohort. The program qualifies as supervised ministry toward ordination within the Wesleyan tradition.
A Building Shared with the City
Linwood's gym, youth center, fellowship hall, and meeting rooms are rented out to members and non-members for sport activities, showers, graduation parties, business meetings, and more. The gym accommodates basketball, volleyball, and pickleball, and hosts Red Cross blood drives. The youth center, with its stage and kitchen, can be set up for ninety to one hundred and ten people. Fellowship Hall seats more than one hundred with either round tables or eight-foot white tables, and meeting rooms handle smaller groups. Rental fees, deposits, and tech fees vary by space, and the building is smoke-free and limited to service animals.
What Linwood Believes
The congregation identifies as Wesleyan and points to the Bible as the sole basis of its beliefs. Linwood affirms one true, living, holy God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It teaches that Jesus was miraculously conceived, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was fully God and fully man, died on the cross for the sins of all, was resurrected, and now sits at God's right hand as Intercessor. The Holy Spirit is received at salvation and empowers believers to walk in obedience.
Salvation is described as a free gift of grace, received by repenting and placing faith in Christ alone. A genuine relationship with Jesus shows itself in a life of holiness and obedience as believers yield to the Holy Spirit. Linwood teaches that all believers are members of one church universal with Christ as its head, that those who die without Christ suffer eternally while those in Christ enjoy eternal blessedness, and that Christ will return to judge the world. Scripture is the final authority in matters of faith and practice.
The Team
Marc Sundstrom serves as Lead Pastor, with Nate Tornow as Discipleship Pastor and Zach McConnell as NexGen and Residency Pastor. Sandy Guffin oversees children's ministry and care, including the GriefShare and Single & Parenting ministries, while Kristi Anderson and Brandon Duthler serve as Resident Pastors. Michael Thiry directs worship, Lynee Welding directs KidsWay, and Keith and Saundra Nash provide pastoral care. A Local Board of Administration and a board of Trustees share in the governance of the church.
Joining In
Visitors can stop by the church office at 1101 E 57th Street, call 605-332-9080, or email office@linwoodchurch.org. Sunday gatherings are at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m., the livestream runs on Facebook and YouTube, giving is available online, and the church's app handles event registration, group sign-ups, and the digital bulletin. The annual Classic Car Show and Community Picnic, the Global Leadership Summit, GriefShare sessions, and the seasonal Car Show keep the calendar full through the year, but the steady work of the church runs on a simple rhythm: believe, belong, become.