Learn more about our

Worship Style

The church has an active education program for children and adults beginning around 9:30 am. During this time, you will also find both youth group members and adults in the lounge area socializing, fundraising for various events, and advertising/informing about opportunities to volunteer and/or donate to certain organized causes. These have included Christmas cookie sales by the youth to raise money for summer work camp, an alternative Christmas store with the proceeds going to help worldwide and local groups of people, signing up to help donate items for Housing Forward to help people move into their first apartments/homes, signing petitions and cards and many other things.

Spirit-filled Sunday morning services are held in the 100-year-old sanctuary, enlivened by dramatic overhead art installations. Built on the traditional framework of preaching, music, and prayer, worship invites active, varied participation. Joyous, uplifting choir and organ music and congregational singing often include African American spirituals and Spanish-language hymns as well as traditional hymns from both The New Century Hymnal and The Presbyterian Hymnal. The Passing of the Peace encourages handshakes, hugs, smiles, and warm greetings. Lay readers, including children and youth, frequently present the scriptures. Congregants often make announcements or invite support for activities. Sermons that inform, inspire, and guide are of central importance. In a tradition started in 2023, we end our worship by forming a circle around the sanctuary perimeter, reminding us that we are not alone in facing the challenges that await us as we leave.

Children, present and welcome throughout the entire service, are important participants. They serve as acolytes, baptism assistants, and occasional musical performers. A weekly Time for Sharing, a short, interactive children’s sermon, welcomes young ones to the front of the sanctuary. Other resources for children and parents include children’s worship bags, which include coloring pages and activities related to the sermon for the day, rocking chairs, and a fully staffed nursery.

Baptisms of infants, children, youth, and adults enrich Sunday services throughout the year as the church embraces fellow worshippers and servants of God. Several times per year, new members, including our confirmands, receive a joyous welcome.

In addition to all the traditional services on the annual worship calendar, we pour extra energy and creativity into these gatherings:

Ash Wednesday is a particularly moving service with multiple opportunities for congregation engagement. The imposition of ashes includes the choice of glitter ashes recognizing we are all made of stardust.
Blue Christmas, a reflective worship service that takes place near the winter solstice, to honor those who are grieving or experiencing difficult times.
Sticky Church is the first Sunday after Christmas where we enjoy carols, community, and french toast casseroles drowned in syrup.
Outdoor worship in summer months on the generous front lawn of our church property.

The outdoor Blessing of the Animals in August has also included the blessing of teachers and backpacks as a new school year begins.

Click here to visit our YouTube channel where we stream church every Sunday!

The intellectual and passionate preaching style preferred by members educates us on how to apply scripture and Christ’s teachings in modern life and challenges us to live Christ’s all-inclusive love.

Choirs and Music Groups:

Music plays an extremely important role in our church. We have many amateur and professional musicians in the congregation who participate in the church’s worship services.

Worship music is enriched by the church’s 1983 Casavant pipe organ and 9-foot Steinway grand piano. These instruments are also used in concerts open to the public. The organist, a professional church musician with degrees from North Park University in Chicago and the Juilliard School of Music in New York, has been with First United Church since 2023.

The choir, with a membership of 15 to 25 adult members, sings nearly every Sunday from early September to early June. Guest singers and orchestral musicians join the choir for some services. Handbells are sometimes used in church services by both adults and children.

The Music Director position has been reorganized and we are currently searching for a quarter time music director.

Children’s music is led by our associate pastor. Children in the preschool through 5th grade Church School classes sing and perform in church at least four times a year.

Over the past year, church members have put together a volunteer group of approximately 15 folk/pop musicians who perform at various church services. This has brought a fresh and engaging element to our services.

The church also has a Woodwind Quintet, made up of volunteers who are mostly church members, which generally performs a couple of times a year.

Faith Formation

First United Church’s education effort nurtures lifelong spiritual formation.

Church School

Church school attracts children of all ages and abilities, guiding their faith development, welcoming their questions and doubts, imparting Bible stories, and encouraging their love and support for all God’s people. For the youngest children, ages 0-3, the church provides a nursery. Children in pre-school through eighth grade attend 9:30 a.m. church school classes held throughout the school year. Each class is taught by two adults and at least one confirmed high school student.
Church School Curriculum

The church school uses several integrated progressive curricula, including Sparkhouse, Godly Play, Deep Blue Kids, and Illustrated Ministry materials. These are supplemented by additional resources and activities. Over the course of the church school year, the children write cards to homebound church members, bake bread for communion, do craft projects, go on nature walks, and create banners for the sanctuary. For one month of the year, each class serves in worship as acolytes and baptism assistants. Children also serve people in need, packing lunches for the local homeless shelter.
Confirmation

Education and spiritual formation continues beyond church school. Ninth graders are encouraged to join Quest, the confirmation class, meeting from September through May. The students explore and deepen their faith through weekly discussions, community service, leadership of the Maundy Thursday service, and visits to worship services of fellow Christians and other religious traditions. At the completion of Quest, the students are invited to seek confirmation and become adult members of the church. Annually, 4 to 8 ninth graders have affirmed their faith and joined the church.
Youth Groups

Two youth groups, supported by adult and youth advisors, meet on Sunday evenings sharing meals together and engaging in fun, fellowship, and learning. There are also monthly Justice and Service meetings where the youth have an opportunity to learn how local organizations provide services and work for justice, ex. BUILD, or provide direct service themselves, ex. Feed My Starving Children. Many of the youth advisors also participated in these groups when they were growing up. First United Junior High (FUJI) and First United Senior High (FUSH) reach beyond the church, attracting some participants whose families are not church members.

Item 1 of 4

2023 High School Summer Work Camp Trip

Adult Education

Adult education aims to equip First United members for life as disciples of Jesus. Weekly Bible studies, several self-sustaining small groups, and Sunday morning sessions contribute to this effort.

Over the course of the past year, the adult education team built a season of diverse offerings that drew enthusiastic feedback and healthy attendance. Two of the most impactful based on numbers of attendees and responses were:

Palestine. A four-week series about Israel and the Gaza War provided a respectful setting for encountering diverse perspectives on a controversial topic. There were approximately 35 people at each of the 4 sessions, seeking understanding from both sides.

Climate Change. A five-week series, developed in collaboration with Faith In Action’s Green Team, featured presentations by seven experts who promote hope in the face of devastating reality: sustainability and environmental restoration, community-based activism, trash science, and public health/environmental journalism. Between 26 and 33 people attended each of these five sessions, many of whom signed up for more information about and to potentially volunteer for the Climate Reality Project in Chicago.

WHO IS GOD CALLING US TO BECOME?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 NRSV)

God is calling us to serve as the hands and feet of Christ, growing our own spirituality and connectedness, and reaching more individuals in our community as a welcoming faith environment to continue their faith journey.

First United remains committed to its historic concerns with racial, social, and economic justice, especially through its relationship with an array of mission partners who keep the building and the members busy throughout the week.

First United is also charged to serve its own members. Spiritually enriching worship and deeply felt pastoral care are particularly strong areas of concern. The church seeks a balance among service to the community, vocal challenge to the evils of the world, fulfilling worship, and caring, supportive ministry.

Guided, as always, by love for all God’s people, the church strengthens its partnerships with not only the many service-providing organizations it houses, but other needs of our neighbors as well. Along with community partners, First United members purchase home goods to support those transitioning from homelessness, support early-childhood literacy by providing books to low-income new mothers and contribute Christmas gifts to families in need.