Our History

Brookings Wesleyan Church held it’s first worship service July 2, 1950, with a small core of people who believed that the Kingdom of God needed a Wesleyan Church in Brookings. The church began with only 6 charter members and met in a small building at the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue.

Growth began immediately, leading to the building of an addition to the church building in 1959. As the church continued to touch the lives of people and grow, we soon outgrew that facility, which led to the purchase of the present church site on Orchard Drive.

Construction at the Orchard Drive site began in 1973 and the new church was dedicated in 1974.

In May of 1993 construction began on a 7,000 square foot Christian education and office wing. The new addition was dedicated, debt-free, on January 30, 1994.

In July of 2002, construction began on a new sanctuary seating approximately 900, along with further expansion of Christian education facilities and fellowship hall space. We moved into our new Worship Center in November, 2003. In 2005, our old sanctuary was remodeled into a gymnasium/activities center, which now houses ministry to our youth and college-aged young adults.

Over its 50+ years of ministry, BWC has grown from that handful of visionaries to an average worship attendance of approximately 800.  Some people think that our church is too large. The reality is that our size gives us the resources to offer ministry to people of all ages and walks of life. At the same time, we’ve discovered that we don’t have to sacrifice the relational closeness that you can experience in a smaller church. Our people can develop those same kinds of close relationships with other believers through our classes and small groups. 

BWC has been a very stable and healthy congregation, being served by only five senior pastors since 1964. Our present pastor, Tim Purcell, has been leading our congregation since 1991.