Minooka Congregation Now Landowners

Meeting at a school has worked hunky-dory for The Village Christian Church for six years, but the renters have now become landowners. The congregation just paid off a 20-year loan (in three-and-a-half years, thank you very much) on 10 acres of land on Minooka Road, four miles west of Minooka.

They will still be holding services at Minooka Junior High School for a while, though. There's nothing on their land right now save a large bed of snow. But the dream of their own building is quickly turning into a reality.

"At the very beginning, we had faith in God and faith in our people that we were going to grow," said VCC's pastor Nate Ferguson. "I think we all had a sense at that time it was going to grow."

The church sprouted from the seed of an idea of the First Christian Church of Morris. The gospel requires the word be spread, was the thought of the Morris church, and in October 2004, a total of 30 people, including children, opened the doors to Ferguson's first sermon at The Village Christian Church.

The burgeoning Minooka/Channahon area had good churches, the early organizers said, but with all the new families, more were needed. Those 30 members turned into 130 the next year, and 165 the year after that.

The church averages 340 each Sunday now, and leaders say at this rate, they will outgrow the capacity of the school in two to three years. That, they figure (and pray), will be just about enough time to save for construction of the new church.

From nothing to a full-fledged church, with two services, Sunday schools, Bible studies, youth groups, and missions. It wasn't really started from nothing, though, Ferguson would say.

"It took a lot of faith," Ferguson said. "And the blessing that brought us is unbelievable.

The Village Christian Church can be reached at (815) 467-2265. Their Sunday morning services are at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.. There are also Sunday schools for all children, kindergarten through high school, and youth groups in the evenings.