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 in Walter Payton High School’s parking lot. One block west of the Sanctuary is Cornerstone Center, home to our church offices, and where we host community events and non-profit tenants. We’re located in between higher income residential buildings in the Gold Coast, Old Town restaurants and coffee shops, mixed income retirement communities, and what were once Cabrini Green row houses - and we’re committed to our turf.
A church that’s non-denominational, non-traditional, non-mega, not easily labeled, and not done yet.
We intentionally have become a faith home for folks from many different religious backgrounds, for those new to faith, and for those recovering from difficult past faith experiences. Among us are Lutherans, Catholics, Swedish immigrants, Black/Gospel formed charismatics, contemplatives, Presbyterians, Methodists, evangelicals and ex-vangelicals, and those 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 growth and a longing for God, a willingness to journey with others, and a desire to be more than a spectator in our own spiritual lives. We pursue a holistic faith that engages in outreach and justice, political advocacy and creative pursuits, personal growth and communal worship, building relationships and caring for one another. Sunday 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, growth, and faith mean to you.
A church where Jesus and the Bible aren’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, and as individual as the person being invited. Responding to that invitation has led some to march for racial justice, mentor high school students, create new artwork, or help feed our neighbors every Wednesday night. Others fight global warming, bake bread for communion, share a meal and life together in a neighborhood groups, or pray for those who are sick - and much, much more.
We believe there’s more than one way to follow Jesus because we’ve seen it happening for years. And even as we are all learning as we go, it is pretty amazing to witness what an expansive, generous, justice-focused way of life following Jesus can look like. We are here to help you in whatever season of faith you are in grow deeper in belonging, healing, liberation, and life!