Things to Know (December)
Merry Christmas!!
This world is a broken mess! But God has not abandoned us!! He even went so far as to take on human flesh and enter our mess to bring about redemption!!! May meditating on the Incarnation fill you with hope this Christmas season.
As we look ahead to 2025, we’d like to facilitate relationships among not just pastors, but whole churches. One of the ways we plan to do that is by asking Chicagoland Baptist churches to pray for other Chicagoland Baptist churches during their Sunday services. Each week in ‘A Quick Word’ you will find 2 or 3 fellow Chicagoland Baptist churches listed along with brief prayer requests. Let’s demonstrate our unity in the gospel and kingdom-mindset by leading our congregations to pray for other churches across Chicagoland in 2025!
Here is something to know about – Church Merger!
We want our churches to be multiplying, but sometimes the path towards more churches might involve two becoming one for the sake of health and being better situated for multiplication in the future. A few Chicagoland Baptist churches have done this in recent years and others are currently in talks. Be praying for a merger that is taking place right now between Real Church (Pastor Nathan Brown) and Beloved Community Church (Pastor Mike Yeh).
Both of these churches were planted roughly 10 years ago. Last Sunday Beloved had their last service at The Rockwell and starting next Sunday they will be joining with Real Church at their building on Eerie Street (that they got when Eerie Street and Starting Point merged). Reach out to Pastor Nathan Brown or Pastor Mike Yeh to hear more of the story and their plans. And please be in prayer for the transition, that it would result in a stronger church, better poised to reach more people with the gospel and plant more churches down the road.
Here are some events to know about –
Weekly Prayer Calls every Wednesday from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. Just click here to join anytime. CANCELLED CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY
Monthly Discussions on the first Wednesday of the month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM.
On 1/8 our topic will be “The Year in Review/The Year Ahead” for a personal check in time
Upcoming Pastors’ Lunches for fellowship:
The Illinois Leadership Summit is in Springfield 1/21-22. Claim one of the last spots here.
Brainard Avenue is hosting a Pure in Heart Conference with author and pastor Garrett Kell on 2/7-8. Have your people register here.
Get your praying people to sign up for the Prayer Bus Tour on 2/22. This is a great way to get a slice of what God is doing in Chicagoland and ask him for more! Register here.
Have your ladies save the date for the 14th annual Chicagoland Baptists Women’s Conference at Love Fellowship on 3/1.
Here is something else to know about –
Have you heard about a ministry called Grief Share? It’s a 13-week, Christ-centered program designed to help people apply biblical principles as they deal with the emotions and life stresses following the death of a loved one. Offering it can be a great way to serve and connect with your community!
If you don’t have something like this at your church yet, but know someone who could benefit, Real Church is running a Grief Share group on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:00 PM starting 1/9/25. Reach out to Pastor Nathan Brown if you’d like more information.
Merry Christmas!
Nathan Carter
Chicagoland Baptists
Executive Director/AMS
1356 N. Rockwell Street, Chicago, IL 60622
nathancarter@chicagolandbaptists.org
312.493.3726
You can see a map of all the member churches of Chicagoland Baptists here.
You can apply to officially affiliate with Chicagoland Baptists here.
You can donate to Chicagoland Baptists here.
You can see past editions of ‘Things to Know’ here.
You can sign up for our weekly ‘A Quick Word’ here.
The mission of Chicagoland Baptists is to facilitate relationships among the Baptist churches of this Great City so that they can more effectively fulfill the Great Commission.
Here are our state and national partners for resourcing the church and reaching the lost:
Dr. Bryan R. Price
Illinois Baptist State Association
Zone 1 Church Consultant
bryanprice@ibsa.org
630.908.0853
Jorge Melendez
Illinois Baptist State Association
Hispanic Church Consultant
jmelendez14@comcast.net
630.710.3106
Dr. Scott Nichols
North American Mission Board – Send City Missionary
snichols@namb.net
630.668.5900
Jorge Rodríguez
North American Mission Board – Send Español
Midwest Champion
jrodriguez@namb.net
312.934.4040
Qusai Mahmud
North American Mission Board – Send Relief
Chicago Ministry Center Director
qmahmud@sendrelief.org
312.296.4615
