Song filled the auditorium as people filed in. Two singers, a guitarist, a pianist, and a drummer sang religious tunes, while everyone in the audience stood up, clapped, and sangalong. Lyrics were projected on stage, but Park Community Church members seemed to know the words by heart. In this way Parker’s auditorium, which holds musicals, MXs, and guest speakers during the school week, transforms into a place of praise and worship every Sunday.

Although at 10 am on any given Sunday most Parker students are likely in bed savoring every last bit of sleep before the school week starts, the school building is very much awake. Seat by seat the auditorium fills up to fit around 500 members from the Park Community Church Lincoln Park Congregation as they begin their non denominational Christian Sunday services.

“The Lincoln Park location is a pretty young location,” Park’s Lincoln Park Pastor Joe Riccardi said. “It’s pretty reflective of the neighborhood. We have a lot of young professionals and families with small children.”

Even when the auditorium is not filled with song and praise, the church is still active. Small groups meet during the week, and include groups of men, women, couples, singles, or multiple generations. “That’s a big part of the DNA of our church,” Riccardi said. “If someone wants to grow in our church and ask hard questions like, ‘What is this about? What do you believe? Who is Jesus?,’ we want to help them explore that.”

Service is also encoded in Park’s DNA. This past holiday season the Lincoln Park congregation gathered around 40 members to help Breakthrough Urban Ministry set up a Christmas store, which sold items at a major discount so low-income families could buy gifts at a discount price. “I really appreciate Park church because they have a heart for the city,” Park member Brittany Beeg said. “Moving here from Denver, I’ve learned a lot about diversity of the city, and that it’s not always healthy to stay in my little bubble.”

Park has been a church in the city since 1986. Now with nine locations scattered across the city, its history begins with Parker. For the first 21 years, Park had one location: 330 W. Webster Ave. Riccardi said, “Originally the leaders wanted to reach north side neighborhoods like Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Lake View.”

Park’s mission is “to know God and make Him known.” In addition, they strive to make it possible that “Jesus Christ transforms lives, renews the city, and impacts the world.” Park member Maggie McNamara said, “I really appreciate that they have solid teachings and biblically sound and challenging messages that encourage me to live out my faith daily in the city and my workplace.”

In 2008 the leaders of Park were faced with the decision of whether or not to expand the church to two locations. They had recently bought a building in the Near North area, so they either could keep a presence at both locations or leave Parker and the Lincoln Park area behind to focus on one location. They decided on two locations.

Since then, Park has a created a presence in seven additional locations from all the way up north in Forest Glen to the South Loop. “The goal is, with all of these locations, whether it be at Bridgeport, Rogers Park, or Forest Glen, is that you’ll go to the location in which you live, and you’ll invite friends,” Riccardi said. “So if you live on Clark and Fullerton, there’s a location that meets two blocks from you.  Why don’t you invite your neighbor and say, ‘Hey come to this location!’ That’s always been the heart of it, to reach people in your neighborhood and to invite them to your local congregation.”

When the recent Sunday service came to a close, and everyone shuffled out the door, some went to grab a bite to eat together, while others gave warm embraces and headed on with the rest of their day.

“There are a lot of great churches in the city, a lot of super churches doing great work, and we are just one of many,” Riccardi said. “But we do have the joy of having a lot of pods and locations across the city, and part of our vision is to see more planted across the city.”