Church of the Resurrection is a liturgical church of the Anglican tradition; we are affiliated with Anglican Mission in America (AMiA). Our Sunday morning services incorporate a blend of three great traditions: Anglican liturgy, charismatic worship, and evangelical preaching. Each service includes prayers, Bible readings, a sermon, Communion, and singing. The Book of Common Prayer guides our liturgy and includes historic documents—the ancient church Creeds, an Outline of the Faith, and The 39 Articles of Religion—that summarize the essentials of our faith. These include, among others, the revelation of God as Trinity, the bodily resurrection and ongoing presence of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, the authority of Scripture, and the Lord’s Supper as a means of ongoing communion with Christ. The heart of Church of the Resurrection is to build a Sanctuary of Transformation, a safe place in which all who attend can meet God and be transformed into strong, confident, and active servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. We envision two roads–one leading into Rez, and one leading out–on which those seeking after God and a church home come in, and those who will minister to and serve others are sent out. We have many ministries, and thus many ways for you to become involved. We hope that as you come to know us, you also come to know God as Savior and Lord, and that while you are with us, you will find a place where your life changes for the better. It was a passion for sharing Christ with West Chicago that led Trinity Church in Wheaton to found a mission congregation on Palm Sunday 1954. The first services were held at the old American Legion Hall on Main Street, under the leadership of the Rev. Richard Winkler, who, ten years later, would become a significant figure in the renewal movement within the Episcopal Church. Within ten years, Rez had its on building at the corner of Route 59 and Gary's Mill Road. By the 1980s, however, the church was on the brink of closure. The Rev. William Beasley, fresh from mission work in Costa Rica and a ministry with Latino congregations in the Episcopal Diocese in Chicago, was dispatched in February of 1987 in a final effort to revive the struggling congregation. The small church had already, by 1986, begun to be "discovered" by a generation of evangelical Wheaton College students influenced by liturgical renewal, and under Rev. Beasley's vision and obedience to the movement of the Spirit, the congregation grew exponentially. Before long, two services were needed. By October 1990, the church finally reached a size that could become a self-sustaining parish. The very same month that Church of the Resurrection moved from mission status to became a parish, it also began celebrating its main service at the West Chicago High School auditorium. This then-radical step launched the church into a new era of expanded worship and an outreach. Families from across the Chicago region made it their church home. The church began taking in new parishioners that in many cases had come from across the country to be part of a place that sought to offering healing, especially for the sexually wounded and struggling. This special calling became the presenting issue that altered Church of the Resurrection's denominational affiliation with the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. For Church of the Resurrection, a church that offered, among other ministries, specific help and healing for people involved in homosexuality, the denomination’s more liberal stance seemed to us a contradiction of Scripture and a denial of the work of the Holy Spirit in this church. Eventually it became clear that communion was shattered, and the Vestry voted to disassociate from the Diocese, effective November 30, 1993. The church incorporated itself as the Church of the Resurrection of Illinois, and continued meeting at Edman Chapel on the campus of Wheaton College, which had already become our primary sanctuary of praise. To this day, the Lord has continued to have us in "temporary" facilities as we have focused on our mission and ministry and sought his leading. The church grew rapidly following our disassociation. But without a bishop to help us navigate these years, the Church of the Resurrection experienced significant growing pains and struggles in the late 1990s, including two significant church splits. Though the church has experienced reconciliation with those who have left, this period taught us to listen more patiently and humbly to the Lord in the midst of crisis, and to sharpen our focus and calling. The Rev. William Beasley, having been used of the Lord to save Resurrection from closure and to cultivate its growth, left to employ his gifts in Chicago's North Shore in July 1998. There he founded and pastors our sister church, Church of the Redeemer of Glenview, Illinois. The Rev. Stewart Ruch III, having come to Church of the Resurrection on Palm Sunday ten years earlier and now ordained, was made rector in January of 1999, and he continues to serve and lead. One year later, the Anglican Archbishops of Rwanda and South East Asia, responding to the growing crisis of faith and leadership within the Episcopal Church, consecrated "missionary bishops" to go back in the United States as the Anglican Mission in America. The Church of the Resurrection formally joined this movement in June of 2000. As such, we are once again a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, under the direct oversight of Bishop Alexander Greene. We have become refueled and reenergized to carry out our mission to bring those in the western suburbs of Chicago into the transforming presence of Christ.
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