We meet Sundays at 5 pm. Currently meeting at My Buddy’s (4416 North Clark St.)

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Gilead is a progressive, inclusive, creative community of Christian faith on Chicago’s north side — a community that makes beautiful worship, throws great parties, and tells true stories that save lives.

We’re a church where all are welcome — and where all means all. If you’ve been told or made to feel that you’re too queer, too out, too smart, too loud, too weird, have too many questions, or too big an agenda for church… well, as we like to say, we’re not for everyone, but we might be for you.

Have questions? Wanna get coffee with a friendly face? Let us know! Email us at info@gileadchicago.org for more info about anything.

At Gilead, people tell stories — in worship every week, at our monthly storytelling events, squeezed onto someone's couch at a potluck — people tell true stories from their own lives.

We tell them to get to know one another. We tell them because sometimes it helps to share. We tell them because it feels good to laugh.

We tell them because we believe that, at its heart, every story is a God story. God is present in our ordinary, everyday lives: standing beside us at the bus stop, woven between the lines of our conversations, lying under the table hoping to be fed.

Telling our stories helps us see the holiness we may have missed the first time through. It lets us claim our daily grind as a spiritual journey. It changes the way we live, and frequently, it saves our lives.

You can hear a story about Gilead from pastor Rebecca Anderson at the The Moth Grand Slam here.

We eat tacos. We brew beer. Our Easter service is a dance party. At Gilead we're reclaiming the spiritual practice of feasting. (i.e., throwing parties)

Because it's fun. And we think fun comes from God.

Because we're lonely. And it's hard to make adult friends.

Because the whole Jesus-thing is supposed to be about good news.

At Gilead we share good news that's actually good. Not the churchy "good news" that if you believe certain things you won't be thrown into a lake of fire with everyone else. (That doesn't sound good to us. Or true.)

We want to share the good news:

That you are loved.

That the world as God intends it is one of justice, and liberation, and joy.

That when you find that joy — in a real friend, or some killer al pastor, or jumping up and down singing at the top of your lungs — you're bringing that world of love into being.

You're welcome to come as you are. Fresh from the beach, and still wearing your bathing suit? A-ok! Just rolling up from a Barbie-themed pub crawl? As long as you can still mostly hold it together, great!

On Sundays you’ll experience services that speak to your life. You'll hear sermons that make you think and make you laugh (or cry).  Dress is whatever you're comfortable in. The welcome is wide and real. We’ve got Narcan and Plan B for the taking. We sing pop music, chosen for that night’s theme, with drums and keyboard. There’s communion, a sermon, and prayer. It’s funny, a little bit loud, a little bit chaotic (although oh-so-carefully planned), and real. We usually meet for about an hour.

And there are stories! Our stories. Jesus stories. Your stories, shared with the community in a way that helps us all to see the Spirit’s fingerprints on our days. We preach in the first person, sharing our experiences of faith and struggle.

Most importantly, we do this all together. You bring the songs, and poems, and art, and jokes that make you feel like you’re standing on holy ground. Things you find and things you make. We’ll stitch them together and watch God show up.   

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