By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Joyful Spirit Methodist Church, located between Deer Creek and Wadena on Highway State Highway 29, held their open house in their new building at on Saturday, Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

After the merging of the congregations of the Deer Creek and Wadena United Methodist churches in 2017 with both congregations selling their church buildings in order to fund a new one, the congregation has largely been without a church edifice.

When Pastor Ricardo Alcozar joined the church in June of 2021, a foundation had been poured on a site a short ways outside Wadena, but movement on the construction of the church had been stalled for over a year. Realizing the need for the congregation to have a meeting place, he got straight to work setting up construction.

Alcozar said that the congregation had met twice at the United Church of Christ in Wadena before he decided that they needed to worship at their new site.

“If we’re going to be Joyful Spirit, we should be here,” said Alcozar of those first months on the job. 

Before long, the site had a trailer and tent for a podium and congregants gathered in chairs outside for their first service on site.

As the congregation gathered each Sunday in the sunny lawn, the church building quickly went up and in a matter of months, the congregation was able to hold their services inside right as the colder weather started to move in to the area in 2021. A baptism in the creek on the church property even took place prior to the construction’s completion.

The importance of a united congregation was not lost on Alcozar, but he also wanted to make sure that both the Deer Creek and Wadena church history was intertwined within their new home on Highway 29. Stained glass windows and a bespoke altar piece from Wadena grace the buildings walls and windows, as well as pieces like the baptismal font from the Deer Creek church.

Looking forward to the future of the church, a spacious fellowship hall and kitchen were built to accommodate large crowds of congregants. Classrooms and a nursery for the youth were added to the fellowship hall as well as a large opportunity for expansion within the building’s 1/3 basement which has yet to be completed.

“I can see a couch here and a pool table over there,” pointed Alcozar. “Space for the youth in the future.”

Though the major work of the building was done by contractors and experts in their fields, the congregation was able to do a decent amount of the work themselves to save on the high construction costs including varnishing wood paneling, painting, and other tasks they could take on. A parking lot is still to come to finish the location’s exterior.

While the congregation of about 80 members continues to grow, Pastor Alcozar invites everyone to join them at their new location at 61847 State Highway 29, Wadena for Sunday worship at 11 a.m. and Wednesday Bible study at 4 p.m. starting in the fall.