PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

Grace Church in Morton

Music fills the chapel at Grace Church

Chad Manbeck, the lead pastor at Richwoods Church, greets parishioners

Worship service at Richwoods Church in Peoria

Big churches have more resources for outreach. Grace Presbyterian, for ex ample, supports 70 missionary families in 20 countries and has had a campus outreach program at Bradley University since 2007. That ministry has expanded to Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Illinois Central College and schools in Michigan. Vacation Bible school also is big at Grace Presbyterian, with about 400 adult volunteers serving 700 children of all ages. Accommodation is made for special needs children and adults. Hundreds take advantage of classes in English as a second language. Richwoods, meanwhile, is involved in a new partnership with Peoria Rescue Ministries to help homeless people find resources to get off the street. Manbeck said they also work with Midwest Food Bank and Southside Christian Academy, among others. “Each week, we remind our church family that we are ‘sent’ people — called by Jesus to make a difference in how we live where he has placed us,” Ferrell said. That includes inviting others to share in their church family, and other times it

means sharing the facility with others, like hosting Camp of Champions each summer or making the facility available for public school functions. Sunday morning services are just the tip of the iceberg for most of these large churches, with something happening almost every day of the week. “We’re a busy church but we’re not about being busy,” said Grindinger. “Our number one goal is to help people have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. If people learn to trust in Jesus through our humble efforts, then we’ve succeeded.” THE MORE THE MERRIER Other institutions that may fit the central Illinois megachurch defini tion include Northwoods Community Church, which sits on a college-sized campus along Allen Road in North Peo ria. Founded in 1990, the church’s goal, as expressed on its website, is to reach 150,000 people in the greater Peoria area. Thousands attend multiple Sunday services, and thousands more connect through livestreaming and social media.

A second Northwoods campus has been planted in Canton. Summit Point Church is tucked into a residential area on Cimmeron Drive in East Peoria but is highly visible from I-74 heading east. Launched in 2006 at Morton High School, the church flourished and by 2012 had opened its present campus. Heading west out of Peoria on U.S. Route 150, one is likely to encounter Bethany Baptist Church, which traces its roots to meetings at Richwoods School House in 1877. Bethany experienced “exponential growth” in the early 2000s, which included the planting of Living Hope Community Church in Bartonville in 2003 and Bethany Community Church in Washington in 2008. Worship services at the Heinz Lane campus began in 2010.

Scott Fishel is a senior communications executive at WTVP

60 OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE