Mission in Lake in the Hills grows up into church

After 10 years as a church plant fed and watered by a Baptist mission agency, a Lake in the Hills congregation is thriving and bearing fruit.

So now it's on its own.

No longer tended by the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, New Life Baptist Church "has graduated from being a mission church to where they're now self-supporting," said Pastor Mark Wood.

"This church is completely on its own, with no outside help."

Seeded in a home Bible study in 1997, New Life outgrew its accommodations and moved twice before coming eight years ago to its current location at 9228 Trinity Drive

Last year, church members bought the 8,600-square-foot building from their landlord and began a major renovation. That work has just been completed.

"It looks pretty neat from what it used to be," Wood said.

"It's just amazing how it's turned out, and all from volunteer help."

Weekly attendance is running at about 115, said Wood, who has planted ABWE churches from Hong Kong to Hoffman Estates.

With New Life's new self-supporting status, however, Wood resigned from the mission to become the church's official full-time pastor.

"Basically, they had me for free for quite a number of years," he said.

Independent Baptist churches had been sustaining New Life through donations to ABWE, but that support ended late last year, when the church announced it was ready to stand on its own and called Wood by a unanimous vote.

Worship services are blended, with a bit more emphasis on praise songs than traditional hymns.

The worship team is blended as well, with adults and teens making music together.

"It's a ministry where the people really care for one another," Wood said.

"That's the heartbeat of our ministry."

He's appreciated how the congregation has cared for his own family -- wife Judy and sons Jason and Michael.

The boys' older brother, Josh, lives in California with his wife.

"We just love the people here so much," Wood said.

"It's very much a family atmosphere, and we wouldn't want to go anywhere else."

New vision: In Elgin, a church that's been around for 114 years is charting a new course for connecting with the community.

Well, not so new, really.

Elgin Evangelical Free Church has long purposed to affect the world "by loving God, loving people and making disciples," said Pastor Elliott Anderson.

But how to turn that mission statement into action?

Not so simple, he said.

"Loving God is a fairly broad concept," Anderson said.

"And we can love everybody in the world, but that might not necessarily guide our ministries and our programs."

The church's new vision statement is intended to improve clarity and serve as a guide, however.

Specifically, "we want to be a growing, multigenerational, multiethnic church that's filled with God's word and the compassion of Christ," said Anderson, who fleshes out the vision in more detail in his current sermon series.

"We're just proclaiming what the church has done and felt in heart for over a hundred years," he said.

"We're proclaiming it loudly and strongly now that no matter what age, no matter what ethnicity, you'll find the truth of God's word and the compassion of Christ here, and that should be attractive to all."

EEFC's pastors and deacons have been revamping the entire structure of the church, including its constitution and bylaws, to accommodate anticipated growth -- both numerically and spiritually.

The emphasis is not on numbers, Anderson said, though he does expect the current growth to continue. The Big Timber Road church has already seen its average weekly attendance increase steadily, from 177 five years ago to 267 so far this year.

The congregation plans to give up its pews in favor of chairs to fit three to four dozen more worshipers in the sanctuary.

The pastoral staff will be enlarged, possibly to six pastors; there are three slots now, with one of them vacant.

The church is open to hiring its first non-white pastor, Anderson said, and will be advertising as such.

New ministry teams will encourage more members to serve where their passions lie, he said, rather than leaving it to church leadership.

And there are other plans for outreach, including the airing of Anderson's sermons on WYLL 1160-AM radio beginning this fall.

"We believe that will bring different opportunities to us," he said.

After a recent meeting about the changes, Anderson was gratified when a senior member of the congregation stopped him to offer his opinion.

"We've really always had this," the man told him.

"We've wanted to be open to all ethnicities, all ages, based on a biblical mindset. We're just championing it now."

• What's going on at your church or synagogue? Do you have an interesting program, new staff, big plans? Someone who deserves recognition or something a little out of the ordinary? Contact "In the spirit" at cmchojnacki@yahoo.com.