Home
Flossmoor (IL) Church Closes After 104 Years
FLOSSMOOR, IL (June 5, 2002) - Bethel Evangelical Covenant Church, founded in
1898 as a Swedish Mission Covenant congregation, officially closed its
doors following its final worship service Sunday morning.
"This church has ministered to the people in this community for 104 years,"
Pastor Paul Hedberg stated in a Southtown Economist newspaper report
Monday. "It is rich in memories."
The church was originally established as the Swedish Evangelical Mission
Covenant Church in Chicago Heights. The congregation changed its name to
Bethel Evangelical Covenant when the church relocated to its current site
in Chicago's south suburbs in 1963.
The Bethel Evangelical Covenant Church building will be used to house a new
African-American Covenant church plant, Friends for Life Church, which is
starting later this summer, according to Don Davenport, Department of
Church Growth and Evangelism's associate director of church planting and
congregational development.
One Covenant administrator, Mary Miller, vice president of administration,
was a pastor at the church for three years. A lay leader for many years was
Steve Graham, who is dean of faculty at North Park Theological Seminary in
Chicago. Other parishioners served on
denominational and Covenant Retirement Community boards as the church
thrived for many years. Miller has fond memories of her time at Bethel.
"I had a great experience there," said Miller, who served at Bethel from
1985 to 1988. "The people at that time were visionary and forward thinking
and they had a fabulous choir and a beautiful building."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
