Easter Sunrise Service Marks New Chapter for Churches With 140-Year Legacy

INDIALANTIC — Easter morning at Nance Park beach drew a large crowd to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with the rising sun. Amid the celebration of new life, the morning also brought the announcement of new life for two churches with long legacies on the Space Coast.

The Easter service was hosted by Resurrection Grace, a new church formed through the merger of First Church of Melbourne and St. Mark’s United Methodist Church of Indialantic. First Church will become Resurrection Grace’s Mainland Campus, while St. Mark’s will be known as the Beachside Campus, Pastor Craig Hammond announced to the gathered congregants of both former churches.

First Church of Melbourne was organized in 1887 through the initiative of Rev. Black of Georgianna Church on Merritt Island to serve early pioneers in Crane Creek, an area that would later become Melbourne. With the growth of the space industry and population boom in the 1950s, a larger space was needed. The current sanctuary, still in use today, was inaugurated on Easter Sunday in 1958.

Founders Prayer Breakfast Honors Freedmen Who Laid Foundation for Melbourne

Faith and history took center stage Saturday morning as the Concerned Citizens Committee of South Brevard (CCCSB) hosted its third annual Founders Prayer Breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Oceanfront, highlighting the role of freedmen who settled the Crane Creek community during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, laying the foundation

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St. Mark’s United Methodist Church was founded in 1957 as a mission church of First Church of Melbourne, holding its first service in a home on Fourth Avenue. Rev. Paul G. Cochran was appointed as the first pastor, and at one point Sunday attendance grew to more than 350.

In recent years, St. Marks UMC had fallen on difficult times, dwindling down to a reported 60 worshippers on a given Sunday. Without a permanent pastor, the church was being overseen by Craig Hammond and his wife, the Rev. Dionne Hammond, since 2024.

The merger establishes a formal relationship between First Church and St. Mark’s as one church under the newly formed Resurrection Grace. The decision was announced to have been approved by an “overwhelming majority” of both congregations.

Resurrection Grace will hold Sunday services at 9 and 11 a.m. at its Mainland Campus in Melbourne and at 11 a.m. at its Beachside Campus in Indialantic. The church will also offer a 7:30 a.m. waterfront worship service at Ocean Avenue Beach in Melbourne Beach.

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