About Us
Since 1886, we’ve been a church that makes room - for mercy & justice, healing & belonging, mystery & creativity, community & faith.
At LaSalle Street Church, everyone is welcome.
Regardless of your age, race, culture, gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, religious background, disabilities, or different abilities, you are welcome here. Whether you have money or not, whether you have a degree or not, whether you have a home or not, you are welcome here. We pray you will experience the healing love and full acceptance of Jesus Christ in the time you spend with us. Welcome!
We’re a church in the middle of it - literally.
We are located in the Near North neighborhood at 1136 N. LaSalle, a block from the Clark & Division red line station, close to several buses, and with parking nearby. One block west of the Sanctuary is Cornerstone Center, our property that houses church offices and kids/youth rooms, hosts community events and many non-profit tenants. We’re right in between higher income residential buildings in the Gold Coast, Old Town restaurants and coffee shops, mixed income retirement communities, and what was once Cabrini Green row houses.
A church that’s non-denominational, non-traditional, non-mega, not easily labeled, and not done yet.
We come from a lot of different religious backgrounds, and from places of no faith. Among us are Lutherans, Catholics, Swedish immigrants, Black/Gospel formed, charismatics, contemplatives, Presbyterians, Methodists, evangelicals and ex-vangelicals, and many who grew up without a church influence. Many of us are people on the run from a religion focused on rules and expectations to search for one grounded in grace. What brings us together is an openness to and longing for God, a willingness to be open to each other, and a desire to be more than a spectator in our own spiritual lives. We pursue holistic faith, through engaging in justice, politics, personal growth, creative pursuits, and community. Worship tends to be engaging and participatory, holding a mix of styles together, and you won’t be expected to do or say anything to fit in. You can come as you are and bring all of you to church, and at your own pace figure out out what belonging, community, and faith mean to you.
A church where Jesus isn’t wielded like a baseball bat.
Many people have been yelled at, beaten up, even killed “in Jesus’ name.” Some of us have been told we were unlovable, unacceptable, doomed to hell, “in Jesus' name.” That isn’t the Jesus we worship at LaSalle. The Jesus we’ve discovered in the Bible and in our own lives is someone open to possibilities and risk-taking, one who is for mercy and forgiveness, for the underdog, the poor and powerless and rejected. We believe in a Jesus who isn’t about beating people up, but inviting them in… into love and community and transformation, into a life that’s big and healing and abundant.
A church that won’t try to convince you there’s only one right way to do things.
Rather than a long list of dos and don’ts, in our community following Jesus is more like an invitation to a party we’d hate to miss. It’s an invitation that’s as individual as the person being invited. Responding to that invitation has some of us involved in finding a way to feed and care for the hungry and homeless every Wednesday night in a ministry called Breaking Bread, and led others to be involved in the Near North Unity Program (NNUP), empowering the political voices of local historic residents. Following Jesus can look as different as spending time in nature, contemplative prayer, finding new parenting practices, building a school in Tanzania, fighting global warming, baking bread each week, writing music, joining a neighborhood group. providing fresh produce to seniors, marching for justice, praying for those who are sick, laughing and sharing life together over a meal, and much, much more.
We believe there’s more than one way to follow Jesus because we’ve seen it happening for years; it’s pretty amazing to witness an expansive, generous, justice-focused way of life. We are here to help you find new ways to for this season of life to grow deeper into community, healing, and faith.