July 2025
In February of 2023, Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle applied for a Mission Target Grant through
the LCMS Northern Illinois District. They were seeking funds to assist in support of outreach initiatives at one of their sites, Trinity Lutheran Church on Narragansett Avenue in Chicago – a location also knows as Trinity Galewood (TGW), which serves the Galewood neighborhood.
The purpose for a Mission Target Grant is: to support innovative projects which are designed to connect and engage with people in the surrounding community so that relationships can be developed and the potential for ministry occurs. All projects will lead to a clear witness to the Gospel as our Lord opens doors and creates opportunities.
After sharing more of their specific vision for mission and ministry at Trinity Galewood with NID leadership and completing a detailed grant application, funds were approved for this particular project at the NID Board of Directors meeting in June of 2023.
What was Trinity hoping to do at the Galewood site? Prior to COVID, Trinity had worked for several years to build a sustainable, multiethnic worshipping community in the Galewood neighborhood of Chicago. Trinity Galewood became a place in which neighborhood families experienced wholeness, unity, and healing – all in the name of Jesus.
After the original planting pastor left in 2021, in addition to challenges brought about by COVID, they were looking to revitalize the mission in this community. “… we believe that we have been called to the Galewood community for a reason and want to continue to see the mission of the church move forward in reaching the lost there. As such, our desire is to revitalize this worshipping community in its mission by launching new outreach initiatives that meet the needs of the families in the Galewood neighborhood and introduce them to Jesus.”
Specific intentions outlined in the grant application included:
- Training and development for staff (continuing education opportunities for current staff and partnering with Concordia Chicago to involve future church work students in various outreach opportunities)
- Capital projects to improve the facility in ways that minister to children and youth (such as installing heating, lighting, and signage in the youth center; installing security cameras; building multipurpose space in the fellowship hall for children and youth programming)
- Funding of new outreach initiatives focused on young families (after-school care, open gym, Camp KidStreet, school partnership)
Their stated goal was this: “Trinity’s mission, as a church, is to help people look, live, and love more like Jesus. As such, we know that reaching the lost involves building ministries that connect with them in their context and point them to Christ. The Galewood neighborhood is incredibly diverse socio-economically, racially, and culturally. Furthermore, many of the families who live in this area are single-parent households with larger extended family networks for support. If we are going to reach them, we need to build a church that meets their needs and reflects the make-up of their community.
“As such, the goal of the Trinity Galewood ReLaunch is to build a thriving multiethnic
community gathered around Word and Sacrament that reaches families in the Galewood neighborhood who do not know Jesus or who have become disconnected from the life of the church.”
In June 2025, the District received a “Grant Impact Report,” which updates on the progress toward these specific goals and shares some stories of the impact made upon individuals in the community.
There a number of exciting things happening: middle schoolers started with “hanging out” for various events, then joining youth group on Wednesday evenings, then regularly attending Sunday services, then asking to be baptized; programs building trust through activities and events (and food!), leading to youth participating in the Ash Wednesday service and receiving the imposition of ashes – something that requires that trust to have been built over time; Wednesday night pizza nights bring in 30-40 kids every week; 10 new volunteers have been added to the ranks in the last year and a half; basic repairs have been made to the building, allowing a safer and more enjoyable environment in which to meet; and Vicar Eric Hawley is continuing his education in the Cross-Cultural Ministry program through a partnership between Concordia University in Irvine, California and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri with future plans for ordination in 2027, among other things.
The Lord has blessed the work happening through this congregation and these staff members and volunteers with the help and support of the Mission Target Grant. Future plans for the site include hiring a part-time Coordinator for Children, Youth, and Family, and more building and safety improvements (locks/cameras/doors, resurfacing the gym floor, and bathroom improvements). We pray for the Lord’s continued blessing upon staff and attendees, as well as all others in the Galewood neighborhood!
(As you may have learned through various communication channels, Mission Target Grants have recently been merged into the new Kingdom Expansion Together (KET) Grants.) To learn more about the Kingdom Expansion Together (KET) grant or other grant opportunities available in the LCMS Northern Illinois District, please visit our webpage.
WITNESS: Encouraging personal witnessing, congregational engagement with their community, support of our NID partnerships and missions, and sharing in a world mission field together.