Some friends of ours, Brian and Marissa,  attend Bridgeway Community Church in Carol Stream.  A little while ago they asked if I’d be up for preaching on a Sunday, so yesterday we drove out to the burbs for the morning.  (I love no traffic on Sunday mornings!)  Bridgeway meets at Outreach Community Center where Maggie works.  They intentionally planted themselves at the Center in order to serve the surrounding apartment buildings.  There mission is spot-on:

Bridgeway Community Church desires to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples within a loving, multi-cultural community that serves the people of Southeast Carol Stream and surrounding areas, in all their diversity, in order for all people to come to a saving and growing knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This is a real-deal multi-ethnic church.  They’re not just talking about it; they are doing the difficult work of being a church that exists for their very diverse neighborhood.  We were lucky enough to be with them on a pot-luck Sunday: fried chicken, ribs, and kimchi-stuffed dumplings.  Perhaps a church’s commitment to diversity can be measured by the food they eat together!

There are a ton of churches doing great things in Chicago’s western suburbs (shout-out to our former church: Parkview Community Church).  If you happen to be in the area and are looking for a community that is very intentionaly worshipping and living together in ways that reflect their neighborhood, than you may want to visit the good folks at Bridgeway.