Offices: 1111 N. Wells St. Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60610 - 312.573.8800
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Our Vision
LaSalle Street Church seeks to be a diverse community that worships Jesus Christ and responds to his claims and call by pursuing authentic relationships, genuine service with others, and participation in the broader Christian church.
Adopted by Elder Board September 2004
about us > our vision explained
Yes, we have a vision.
One of the things you’ll notice if you spend much time at LaSalle is that this is a place with a sense of vision and call. It’s a vision that’s grown out of the history of this place and the particular ways God has been working in and leading this community. Some very smart and articulate members of LaSalle have attempted to put that vision into words in the following vision statement.
We are a diverse denomination, we are urban and suburban dwellers, we are students and established professionals, we are people with children and without. We are rich and poor, educated and not, conservative and liberal. That diversity should be honored and celebrated in all we do, from worship to ministry to congregational care.
We come together because we are the people of God saved through the grace of God expressed through God’s son Jesus Christ. We respond to God’s overwhelming grace by seeking to live out the Gospel message of good news in every aspect of our day-to-day lives.
Being the people of God means that we are in relationships: with God, with each other, and with those currently beyond our life together. Because we have been called together as God's people, and because God has done wonderful things for, in, and through us, we intend to celebrate, honor, and pursue these relationships.
The Bible, God's written word to us, is full of the joy and the challenge, the call and the hope of relating personally, honestly, and intentionally to God as a community. In the Old Testament, God formed Israel to be a people. In the New Testament, Jesus beckoned people to be a new community empowered by the Holy Spirit, essentially a “fellowship of the Resurrected.” Just like our forbearers, we are called to be a community that is continually growing in maturity and embracing more people. This means:
• Sharing our stories so that we might nurture intimacy and so that those who don’t know of God's grace might have an opportunity to discover it
• Discovering how the distinctiveness of those who are different from us may be a blessing and vehicle of growth
• Experiencing together how we might reflect God's Kingdom in the here and now
Our relationships will push us beyond our comfort zones. We pledge we will pursue our connection to God while we care for each other and welcome others to join us on our journey.
We have a neighborhood of need all around our sanctuary. Where there is need, Jesus says we must work to provide sustenance, relief, peace. Our goal at LaSalle is to ensure that our ministry work meets the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in our neighborhood. We serve not out of altruistic sentiment, but out of immense gratitude for Christ’s gifts to us, and recognize that it is we who are changed most in the process of serving.
God is so much bigger than our neighborhood. We ackowledge that Jesus wants to be known among all peoples, here in Chicago and continents far away. We faithfully recite the Apostle’s Creed knowing that saints before us and saints far from us have expressed and are expressing the same commitment to the Lord. It is our privilege to lift up the name of the one God of all people in unison with those around the world.