Our Vision
To see the city of Chicago transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus.
A Foundation of prayer
We believe that God is calling us to lay a fifty-year foundation of prayer for Chicago and the great cities of the world. God has often brought about extraordinary change through extraordinary prayer – and we think God plans to do so again. Many of the great movements of God were sparked by specific calls to prayer and resulted in people in urban areas flocking to prayer. Even history’s greatest, gospel-centered, city-to-city church planting movement began with a humble prayer meeting which changed the world.
Who knows how God will move as we call ourselves again to prayer for ourselves, our neighbors, our city and the great cities of the world.
Strengthened community
The two most powerful things in the world are the gospel of Jesus and the local church. The local church is powerful precisely because it is founded on the gospel. Over the next three years Holy Trinity Church will seek to strengthen the community of our city family of congregations through the renewing power of the gospel. We will explore the meaning of Jesus’ cross and the empty tomb for every aspect of church life. We will explore it in Sunday worship, our community groups, our making of disciples who make disciples, our immersion in God’s word, and our service of the poor.
We believe that God is not only going to deepen each of us spiritually, through repentance and refocusing our gospel identity but that he is going to expand Holy Trinity, radiating new Christians and new community groups across the 77 neighborhoods of Chicago. We expect God to fill our lives, our homes, our workplaces and our city with his glory in Christ.
A Movement of the Gospel
We believe God will not only multiply disciples in Chicago through Holy Trinity church, but that new churches will be planted in order to see the great cities of the world filled with God’s glory. Today, for the first time in history, more than half the world lives in cities – and 1 billion people live in slums. We envision a multi-ethnic network or family of churches as well as city-to-city and church-to-church partnerships facilitating new churches among the many new urban tribes, the creative classes and among the poor.
Missional Engagement
As we give ourselves to prayer, to strengthened community and to a movement of the gospel we recognize that this means following Jesus as missionaries right here in this city where he has called us. Jesus left everything to come and find us. He calls us to love God with all our heart, to love our neighbors as ourselves and to make disciples of all kinds of people right here in the streets and alleys of Chicago. We believe our missional engagement will require great creativity and humility. It will require understanding our own idols and the idols of our city. We will need to re-learn the gospel not only for ourselves, but also for our neighbors, expressing it clearly in words and deeds, intentionally inviting others into life-transforming communities of Jesus, creatively expressing Jesus’ redemption with excellence in art, music, medicine, law, and community renewal.
A City on a Hill
Jesus called his first disciples to live with such love and uniquely Kingdom focused-community that they would be like a city on a hill. Our overall aim, which we will work for until we die, but realize will never be fully consummated in this life, is a transformed city. We will pray that God reverses the political corruption, puts an end to injustice, brings about love for neighbor, fully exalts Jesus Christ, sees the salvation of many over the next fifty years. May Chicago be filled with the glory of Christ.
Read our 2009 Church Report 
