South suburban congregations joining forces to ensure their churches remain viable

The sign reads “St. Paul Community Church” emblazoned in gold on top of an emerald background surrounded by emblems of the United Church of Christ.

But always read the fine print.

Just below the St. Paul Community Church sign is a marquee that informs those walking by that changes are being made.

“We are Abundant Grace United Church of Christ,” the sign states in impermanent letters of black plastic. “Join us for worship. Sunday 9:30 a.m.”

The sign offers a glimpse into how some in the south suburban religious community are meeting the challenges of shrinking congregations. In some cases, they’re joining forces.

“We are a brand new church made up of two preexisting congregations,” said the Rev. Keitric L. Emory, a pastor for Abundant Grace, a newly formed church that is a combination of the congregations from St. Paul Community Church in Homewood and Faith United Protestant Church in Park Forest.

The two groups will continue to operate at St. Paul Community Church — a brick edifice along Dixie Highway with more than enough room for the two groups combined. And while Emory is excited about what the future will hold, he also discussed how shrinking congregations in the south suburbs is a problem that requires a response from the faith community’s leaders.

“We as a church have to be open to shifting to a generation that we aren’t currently reaching,” Emory said. “We’ve got to make sure that how we speak, how we talk, how we act, how we interact, is open to a generation that is younger than us, a generation that doesn’t speak the same language.”

Last year, the Chicago Archdiocese announced that six suburban churches were merging into two parishes. Congregations from St. Anne in Hazel Crest, St. Emeric of Country Club Hills and St. Joseph in Homewood united into a single parish at St. Joseph. Infant Jesus of Prague Parish and School in Flossmoor, St. Irenaeus in Park Forest and St. Lawrence O’Toole in Matteson combined into the newly created St. Veronicas.

Declines in the membership and clergy were cited as reasons for this decision. Combining the groups made more sense than having clusters of church buildings with low capacity in proximity to one another, church officials said.

This year, there have been several more shifts in South Suburban churches. Along with the consolidation of St. Paul Community and Faith United, The Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist in Flossmoor is engaging in a space use agreement with Trinity Lutheran Church in Park Forest.

“We have a lot of building and, for years now, a lot of building that’s not being used,” said the Rev. Jeremy Froyen, rector of St. John the Evangelist. “It’s a waste of space, it’s a waste of resources.”

Over the course of the next few months, Trinity Lutheran Church will begin the process of moving in with The Church of St. John. But Froyen wants it to be more than a relationship based on a shared space.

“We’re hoping that we can be more, do more, than just a rental relationship, that it’s a shared ministry relationship,” he said.

The plan isn’t “blending the two churches,” he said, though he expressed hope the two groups will “share worship from time to time.”

Froyen also noted that these kinds of relationships are better than the alternative of having an abundance of separate but underserviced ministries. In the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago-South deanery in which Froyen operates, which covers a large swath of the south suburbs from Blue Island down to Kankakee, there are 12 churches, he said.

“Of those 12 churches, there are currently only four that have a priest. About half of them are not really viable anymore,” Froyen said. “Those congregations are going to have to make really hard decisions in the next few years. If we did more shared ministry together we could create more viable communities.”

Froyen and Emory both see the problems facing their communities that are leading to a lack of engagement. While they shared common concerns, Froyen specifically called out his church’s struggles in reaching different racial demographics.

“For a lot of Episcopal churches, we don’t do a very good job at changing with our communities,” he said. “There will be a church in an all Black neighborhood and there’s no Black people attending, for example … We often get very focused inward.”

But one demographic has provided Froyen with a lot of hope.

“Most of our growth since the pandemic has been with young adults,” he said, categorizing this as people under 40 with young children. “Young people are looking for community but they are looking for authentic community.”

Emory and Froyen have spent their lives trying to build authentic communities. The hardest part right now, they said, is meeting young people where they are. Their industry’s failure to embrace technology as a way to reach newer audiences has increased the gap between younger generations and the Sunday pews.

“Kids, young people, want the same thing as seniors and adults. You want someone that can speak to you honestly. Someone that can understand what people are saying,” Emory said. “We have to make sure that we are creating those spaces and not being afraid to pivot, to do things differently, to change as we sort of change in society in regards to technology.”

So does that mean people will be able to find Rev. Emory on TikTok soon?

He laughed.

“Yeah, possibly, yeah. Once we kind of figure out how to use that space effectively, yeah,” Emory said. “I think that’s somewhere where we will end up.”