Church Profile
Service Times
Sundays 8:00 a.m. Said communion service in the chapel
Sundays 10:30 a.m. Communion service with choir in the church
Sundays 10:30 a.m. Intergenerational "Interactive Worship" in the Assembly Room
Wednesdays 10 a.m. Morning Prayer in the chapel
3rd Wednesdays 7:30pm Taize service of candlelight, meditative music, and prayers
(847) 869-4850
The Reverend Charles A. de Kay
Our Mission
Building Community in a Complicated World: St. Matthew's is a safe and caring community, where acceptance, tolerance and our journey of faith bring us together. Our commitment to each other inspires us to reach out and make a difference.
No Reviews
About St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
Who are we? St. Matthew’s is a hearty community of neighbors who band together as fellow travelers on the journey of faith. In some ways we’re a diverse bunch. We come together from the immediate neighborhood and from far away (a few families travel 30 minutes or more every Sunday). We’re kids, young adults, parents with infants to great grandparents. Our day jobs reflect the wonder of Evanston (where the north side of Chicago meets the North Shore) – we’re professors and social workers, artists and homemakers, scientists and salesmen, lawyers and bankers, journalists and teachers, firemen and marketing professionals, engineers and therapists to name just a few.
For any surface difference, I believe, we share some core values. We value friendship, and strive to provide opportunities for friendships across generations and across traditional dividing lines. We deeply value children and youth, we appreciate the arts, and we love a good party. We are an endlessly curious people. We love learning, and share an abiding appreciation for education as a doorway to every kind of opportunity. Christian formation – in the classroom, in worship, in opportunities to serve the sick, poor, those on the margins and creation itself – is a premium value. St. Matt’s intentionally creates sacred spaces where it’s safe to share our stories and to ask the big questions. In 2015 the church is building a new vision for how best to provide opportunities to study, practice, and develop as people of character.
At our heart, St. Matthew’s is a worshipping community. Worship is at the center of our life together, and it sprouts up around the edges. Our formal services include Sunday morning services with Holy Communion, Wednesday Morning Prayer, Tuesday morning prayer group, and monthly Taizé services of candlelight and meditative singing in our intimate chapel. In the summer, in thanksgiving that God’s presence with us at all times and in all places, our second Sunday service moves to the Lakefront. Our chapel is open during office hours (8:30am – 3:30pm) throughout the week and by appointment for private devotion. Prayer is becoming a regular practice at meetings and events. St. Matthew’s strives to model a life enriched by and ultimately saturated in worship. We have found that worship can transform us, strengthening us, reducing our stress, and giving us real hope as we navigate through this complicated world. There’s something about intentionally making time for nurturing our spirit that provides breathing space for reflection on what’s really important.
Thank you for your interest. I hope to see you soon. There is a place here for you if you want one.
May your time with us – whether it’s for an hour or for a lifetime – be blessed,
Charlie+
Denomination / Affiliation:
Episcopal
Dress Style:
casual
Average Age of Attendees:
40-50
Community Projects:
Over-24
MINISTRIES AND GROUPS
Church Ministries
Kids
Youth
College
Men’s
Adult
Recovery Group
Choir
Acolytes
Altar Guild
Arts and Spirituality
Building and Grounds
Christian Formation (lifelong)
Communications
Finance
Fundrasing
Green (developing realistic daily environmentally sustainable practices)
Movie Group (monthly discussion group of recent films)
Newcomers (welcoming visitors)
Outreach (serving those in need)
Parish Life (social life of the parish)
Stephen Ministry (Christian caregiving to those in need)
Stitchers (monthly social gathering of knitters, crochet, sewing)
Worship Team
Home to AA, OA, two ballet studios, Wiggleworms, Boy Scouts, voice teachers, much more.
Our chapel is open to the public Sundays - Thursdays, during regular hours.
BELIEFS
If you are passing by and feel intimidated or angry because of religion, please know that immunity is granted when you enter St. Matthew's Church – immunity from the ravages of religion and the misuse of Divine revelation. We live in a time of religious zealots, suicide bombings, and TV evangelists attempting to take power in our land. How do you find persuasiveness rather than coercion and will-to-dominate in religion? An answer is St. Matthew's Church. Here operates an unconditional surrender to the freedom of God to speak to whomever, in whatever language is understandable to you. Immunity from religious control is granted you upon entry. St. Matthew's offers sanctuary to everyone and promises this glorious freedom of God as the climate to explore the healthiest living that religion affords.
If you are passing by and feel hesitant to join in the ranks of a particular denomination or buy into the creeds of millions, please know that many people who enter St. Matthew's every week are practicing no regular religious discipline. The rule of St. Matthew's is the stranger making himself or herself at home. All names are sacred here, but none must place one's name on a membership list to be taken seriously. Perhaps you quietly dropped by wanting to reconnect in your relationship with God or to surrender a burden or to pray for a loved one or to meditate on a hard personal dilemma or to find a moment of peace. Our church has a high ceiling and long aisles to allow the contained soul an opportunity to venture forth in multiple directions, without the encumbrances of forced community. St. Matthew's offers ages of spiritual space to which anonymous individuals may be on pilgrimage.
If you are passing by and feel that life is fragmenting into a vast number of irreconcilable, shattered pieces, please know that St. Matthew's holds an outrageous hope that, in God alone, all aspects of life are in unity. We believe that God is the Alpha, the beginning, and the Omega, the ending, of all things. So we are called to extravagant hospitality in the confidence that a gracious welcome is central to our church's purpose. And yes, we are part of a specific religious tradition. We are so, not because one religious tradition exclusively contains all truth, but because when one goes on a long journey toward ultimate unity, one has to depart from one specific place. St. Matthew's Church, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, is our point of departure. And our companion and ultimate confidence in the journey is Jesus Christ. We believe Him to be the clear manifestation of God's love for the whole world and the expression that all of our lives are in ultimate unity, even beyond the finality of death. In the midst of what appears to be an ever-increasing fragmentation of life, St. Matthew's offers a House of Prayer for all people, an abiding hope that there is a Oneness at the center of human life.
Enter, pray, and may your time here be blessed.
Baptism:
Both
Healing and Charismatic Gifts:
Open But Cautious
MAP
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church is a Episcopal Church located in Zip Code 60201.
Church Profile Manager: Charles de Kay