Sundays
What to Expect
We warmly invite you to visit on a Sunday morning where you will be joyfully welcomed. Our desire for Sunday mornings is for you to sense our desire to worship God well. We are a diverse congregation, composed of young families, university students, and local community members. There is ample street parking and generous seating. Please dress in what is comfortable for you and respectful of others. Prior to our 10:30a worship service, we offer various education programs from infancy through adulthood at 9:00a. Our worship service aims to be 80 minutes long and is outlined below.
Service Elements
Call to Worship
God calls us to worship Him. The Call to Worship is often words from the Bible that extend God’s invitation for all people to come before Him.
Congregational singing
Songs are our heartfelt expression before God. The lyrics we sing often consist of aspects of God’s character or work and allow us to convey our heartfelt gratitude or deep sorrows. We encourage one another through our collective voices affirming truths about God and our human experience.
congregational greeting
When we gather we want to be able to encourage and greet others. This time allows us to say hello to one another and introduce ourselves to unfamiliar faces.
on Mission together
This element of our service highlights what we are doing as a congregation ranging from events, gatherings, opportunities, or at times is simply hearing how God is at work in one of our lives.
congregational prayer
Prayer is an expression of faith. During this time, a prayer is offered up by an individual or couple who are members of the congregation on behalf of the congregation. Like prayers in the Bible, we praise God, thank Him for His fatherly care, and lift up the specific needs of our congregation, our city, and our world.
offertory
We regularly take an offering as an act of worship. The Bible instructs us to give generously and sacrificially, exemplified by how God gave us His Son. We believe giving from our personal resources is worship.
scripture reading
The Bible is the Word of God. When we hear it read, we hear God speaking to us. When the Bible is read, we stand, acknowledging that it is a divine Word. After the reading, the reader says, “This is the Word of the Lord.” The congregation in unison responds, “Thanks be to God.”
proclamation
The preaching of God’s Word is essential to our gathering. During this time, the Bible is taught, explained, and applied to the listener. We believe that when the Word of God is truly preached, the voice of God is truly heard.
congregational response
After hearing God’s Word proclaimed, we seek to respond in song. The lyrics we sing aim to reflect the theme of the sermon allowing us to respond to what we have heard. On the first Sunday of each month, we have an additional opportunity to respond by celebrating communion. Also known as the Lord’s Table, communion is a banquet to which God invites his people to eat. It is commemorative of the death of Jesus and points ahead to a future day when we will banquet with Him. We eat in faith for the meal is a means of spiritual nourishment that strengthens one’s faith and commitment in following Jesus.
benediction and meditation
We conclude our service with words from the Bible that commission us to love and serve the world around us.
Additional Sunday Opportunities
In addition to our Sunday worship service, we provide additional formation opportunities for families and individuals. Committed to living under God from infancy to adulthood, we offer Sunday morning programs that are suited for each age group.
Our nursery workers and teachers are both trained and screened to ensure quality and safety. Preventative measures are taken to ensure the well-being of minors in our care. A check-in and check-out policy has been implemented as a safeguard for the young lives with which we have been entrusted. Additionally, we always have an onsite safety team which includes first responders and security.
Please see below for additional information.
Adults
Adult Christian education is designed to strengthen and equip believers in ways that maximize their Christian usefulness in the world. Biblical instruction accompanied with discussion are mainstays to each gathering. Topics range from the biblical text, to contemporary culture, theological ethics to social responsibility. It’s intended to help the Christian think and apply Christian truths to their lives. Adult Education meets at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings.
The university community is encouraged to participate in the adult education offering.
Youth
DSGs (Discipleship Small Groups) are designed to further the understanding of the Bible and grow in deeper relationships with the youth at Christ Church Chicago. DSGs meet in small groups led by adult volunteers at 9:00 a.m. Sunday mornings.
Children
Kid City is the children’s ministry of Christ Church Chicago. It is our heart’s desire to support parents/caregivers in the spiritual nurture of their children by teaching them about Jesus and his gospel. We do this by providing a safe, loving, and fun environment for kids to learn God’s Word and experience His love so that they might worship and serve Him.
The safety of our children is essential. Our check-in policy ensures that pick up can only be completed by the same caretaker who checked in the child. There are always two or more volunteers in each classroom. Additionally, background checks have been performed on all adult volunteers. Our children are gifts to our congregation and they are treated as such.
As for Sunday programming, the children “board” a colored train designated for their age group to spend time singing songs, doing crafts, playing games, and learning from our trained leaders. All train lines meet at 9:00 a.m. and Green and Red Line trains meet again during the sermon.
- Blue line train (0–3 years old)
- Green line train (Preschool, ages 3–5)
- Red line train (Kindergarten–2nd grade)
- Orange line train (3rd–5th grade)