Resurrection United Methodist Church sits on the west side of Hastings, Minnesota, just across 15th Street West from Pioneer Park. Known around town as REZ, the congregation gathers under the motto "Celebrate. Worship. Enjoy." and describes itself plainly: no pretense of perfection, just people trying to live out God's love, grace, and mercy together. Sunday mornings bring two services under one roof, and Wednesday evenings turn the building into a community dinner table, a youth center, and a confirmation classroom. From nursery care to a wide network of mission partnerships, Resurrection casts a broad net for the Hastings area.
Two Sunday Mornings, One Congregation
Resurrection offers two Sunday worship services that share the same building but lean in different directions musically. The 8:30 a.m. service is the traditional gathering, while the 10:00 a.m. service is contemporary. Both services are offered in person and livestreamed, so a person who is traveling, or who simply cannot leave home, can still worship with the congregation. The 10:00 a.m. service is also where the children's ministries are based, with rezKIDS and the nursery running alongside the music and message.
Worship messages are preached in series, often with a creative hook. The fall message series "I Heard It in a Movie" uses famous movie lines as a starting point to talk about biblical lessons. Recent series have included "Real Life" (drawn from 1 John), "Dog Days," "Heaven's Kitchen," "On Fire," and many others. Messages are recorded each week and made available on the church's podcast on Podbean, with audio and video versions posted online so anyone can catch up later.
A weekly handout called the GPS - Grow, Pray, Study - accompanies each Sunday message. It offers a scripture reading and a short devotional reflection for every day of the week, designed to carry the message beyond Sunday morning and into the rhythm of a person's daily life. The GPS guide can be downloaded as a PDF each week.
rezKIDS: From the Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Children are central to the life of Resurrection. The tagline for rezKIDS is simple and direct: "Connecting the heart of a child to the heart of God." The children's wing runs alongside the 10:00 a.m. contemporary service, with programming designed for three age groups: nursery care for newborns through age four, and rezKIDS for children age five through fifth grade. Check-in happens at the rezKIDS desk in the lobby, where activity sheets are also available for younger siblings.
The nursery is offered free of charge during the 10:00 a.m. worship service and at noted events. It is staffed by volunteers who have completed background checks and Safe Sanctuary training, and the space is video monitored for security. Parents receive a three-part identification tag at drop-off - one for the parent, one for the child, and one for the bag or sippy cup - so the handoff at the end of the service is simple and clear. The nursery also marks each child's baptism with a small gift box for the family.
rezKIDS itself uses the Grow Children's Ministry Curriculum and works through monthly memory verses with age-appropriate games, crafts, and activities that reach the different ways kids learn. The program also marks milestones along the way: a prayer milestone in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade; a Holy Communion milestone in second grade and up; and a Bible Workshop milestone in third grade and up. These milestones are designed to help families celebrate the small but important steps of growing up in faith.
Vacation Bible School is the big summer event for kids. VBS runs for one action-packed week each year and is open to children from age three through fifth grade. The week is filled with games, Bible stories, videos, snacks, an imagination station, skits, and more. Free nursery care is provided for children of parent volunteers so the whole family can serve together.
Dayna Steinke serves as Director of Children and Family Ministry, and Lindsey Pfaff is the Associate Director. Together they oversee rezKIDS, the nursery, VBS, and the milestone ministry.
Wednesday Evenings: Dinner, Youth, and Confirmation
Wednesday night is a three-ring rhythm at Resurrection, and the centerpiece is a free community meal called Dinner On Us. Dinner is served at 6:00 p.m. each Wednesday during the school year, and the church is explicit about the price: there is none. The dinner is open to anyone in the community who wants a hot meal and a place to sit down.
Immediately after dinner, the building shifts into rezYouth Oasis for students in grades six through twelve. The night begins at 6:30 p.m. with a few high-energy games, then moves into a short, relevant message given by one of the leaders. After the message, students break into small groups to go over the topic more in-depth. The whole evening wraps up by 8:00 p.m. The program is run by Youth Director Isaiah Curtis and is also tied to a YES track - Youth Engaged in Service - that encourages students to live out their faith through hands-on projects.
Twice a year, rezYouth hosts a retreat that students remember long after high school. Summer Sizzler and Winter Chill Retreat are both multi-day events for students in grades seven through twelve, with morning and evening formal gatherings that include worship music, mixers, messages, videos, and small-group time within cabin groups. Daily activities vary by retreat but may include team building, prayer time, big group games, swimming or snow tubing, canoeing, crafts, and service projects.
Confirmation is also taught on Wednesday evenings, in two seven-week semesters during the school year. The class runs from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in room 111, with the free Wednesday dinner available beforehand at 6:00 p.m. The class is open to any student in grades seven through twelve and is taught personally by Lead Pastor Mark Miller. It is designed to help students know, love, and serve Jesus throughout their lives, and it culminates in a public profession of their faith and their reception as professing members of Resurrection Church. Confirmation Sunday is held in the spring on a date that fits the schedules of the students and their families.
MomCo: A Place for Moms
MomCo is the church's moms' ministry, meeting on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the church building. Each meeting includes practical teaching through speakers, demonstrations, and videos, along with food that someone else made and time for honest conversation with other mothers who understand the joys and frustrations of raising kids. Childcare is available. The name "MomCo" reflects its lineage as a continuation of the well-known MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) movement, which serves mothers of children from pregnancy through kindergarten.
Adult Life Together: Bible Reading, Music, and the Higher Grounds Cafe
Resurrection builds in time and space for adults to grow in faith outside of Sunday morning. The GPS devotional guide that accompanies each week's message is the most visible piece of that. It runs Monday through Saturday and gives a Bible passage and a short reflection for each day, so a person can stay in the same scriptural thread the pastor is preaching from on Sunday. Peggy Alsdurf serves as the GPS editor.
Music is led by a small but committed worship team. Seth Johnson serves as Worship Director, and Craig Wasner is the church pianist. The traditional service leans on the piano, while the contemporary service brings in a fuller band for Sunday morning worship.
The Higher Grounds Cafe is the church's hospitality hub. It serves as a gathering spot before and after services and is staffed and overseen by Hospitality Coordinator Sue Ganzer, whose wider role also includes ushers, greeters, the welcome center, funeral luncheons, and the food ministry for special events.
Be The Hope and the Mission Network
Resurrection runs its mission support through a single annual fundraiser called Be The Hope, held on Easter Sunday each year. The goal is to raise at least $30,000 directed to four specific commitments: rezYouth camp scholarships for Resurrection students, Hastings Family Service (a local emergency and supportive services nonprofit), ZOE Empowers (an international organization that works to empower vulnerable children out of poverty), and a reserve fund for emerging mission needs that arise during the year.
Contributions to Be The Hope can be made on Easter Sunday or any time throughout the year through the church's online giving link. The intent, the church explains, is to focus the congregation's generosity into one clear, meaningful event rather than running multiple smaller fundraisers throughout the year.
Beyond Be The Hope, the congregation supports a wider network of long-standing partners. These include the United Methodist Conference and UMCOR, the church's denomination-wide relief and missions agency; Emma Norton, which offers a variety of assistance programs for single adults and families; Ken and Karol Christie, missionaries serving with The Navigators; TLC of Hastings, a pregnancy resource center offering free and confidential counseling; and Union Gospel Mission, which runs life-rebuilding programs. Resurrection also maintains a special relationship with Pastor Max (Maximino Maregmen) and his church in the Philippines, which was devastated by Typhoon Odette in December 2021. Former REZ pastor Duane Sarazin helped the congregation connect with Pastor Max, and Resurrection has since funded rebuilding efforts including a ceiling installation for Pastor Max's parsonage.
Resurrection also runs several community-facing service projects of its own. Members adopt a stretch of Highway 55 between Pleasant Avenue and Vermillion Street and pick up trash along the roadside a couple of times a year. The United Women in Faith at REZ run a "Great Stuff!" sale each fall to benefit missions, with proceeds going to baked goods, pies, homemade crafts, books, plants, Christmas items, and slightly used goods. Every fall, the church hosts an outdoor Fall Festival at Tharp Farm with hayrides, pumpkin painting and carving, pies, yard games, and a bonfire, all free to the community.
Beliefs, Heritage, and Vision
Resurrection describes itself as "a Christian church of Methodist heritage." The congregation shares with Christians across history a faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, looks to the Bible for inspiration and instruction, and affirms the basic statements of faith found in the Apostles' Creed. The church is candid that members do not all think alike beyond faith in Christ, and that the congregation is committed to growing together as a community bound by Christ's love.
The church's broader statement of faith centers on Jesus as the one and only unique Son of God, whose willing death paid the penalty for sin, whose resurrection gives hope, and through whose name believers are given the power to live an authentic, new life. Resurrection's people try to follow Jesus' two great commands: to love God first and best, and to love others as much as Jesus loves them, while living for something bigger than themselves. The congregation also values Jesus' directive to tell His story wherever possible and to prove words with actions.
As United Methodists, the congregation is rooted in the tradition of John Wesley and the early Methodists, who placed primary emphasis on the grace of God freely offered to each person and on putting faith and love into action. The United Methodist Church's mission, as the church explains, is making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The congregation's stated vision is to be a Resurrection community that connects people to Jesus, worships passionately and authentically, blesses the Hastings area, develops Christian leaders, and looks like the surrounding community.
The Resurrection Campus in Hastings
The church building sits at 615 15th Street West in Hastings, Minnesota, directly across from Pioneer Park. A GPS-enabled map link and downloadable directions are available for visitors who want a turn-by-turn route. The phone number for the church office is 651-437-4398.
Resurrection runs a rideshare program for anyone who needs a lift to church on Sunday mornings. Visitors who want to attend but lack transportation can sign up online, and a volunteer driver will be arranged. Higher Grounds Cafe is open before and after services, and ushers and greeters are posted to help newcomers find their way.
Beyond Sunday morning, the campus hosts MomCo on Tuesdays, the Wednesday dinner and youth programs, the GPS Bible reading rhythm, and the spring and fall mission and outreach events. The church also offers a private membership directory through the MyUCD mobile app, which members can use to find other members and stay connected.
For those who want to get involved beyond attending services, Resurrection offers a wide range of ways to serve: teaching or volunteering in rezKIDS, helping at Vacation Bible School, joining the worship team, working in the nursery, helping with the Wednesday community dinner, serving as a greeter or usher, joining the Adopt-A-Highway cleanup crew, helping at the Fall Festival, or supporting the Be The Hope fundraiser. The church office can point visitors to current opportunities that match their interests and availability.
Giving and Staying Connected
Resurrection offers several ways to give. Online giving is available through Tithe.ly and Vanco, both of which accept one-time and recurring donations through a bank account or credit or debit card. Be The Hope contributions can be made online by selecting the "Missions: Be The Hope" option. The church also maintains a Permanent Endowment Fund, a Memorial Gift program, and an annual Commitment Card that members can fill out during the fall stewardship season to help with budget planning.
A weekly email newsletter called rezNews keeps members and friends informed about upcoming events, ministry opportunities, and recent messages. Visitors and newcomers are welcome to subscribe at any time.
Resurrection United Methodist Church is a working, growing congregation at the heart of Hastings - a place where a Sunday morning service and a Wednesday night dinner share the same building, where children, students, moms, and adults each have a specific ministry aimed at them, and where the congregation's faith is measured in part by how generously it gives, welcomes, and serves the Hastings area and the world beyond.