Some congregants of Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church brought lawn chairs Sunday. Two members brought their dogs. Leadership of the Downers Grove church set up tents to provide a reprieve from the heat.
Their church building is uninhabitable after a fire last week left a gaping hole in the roof. So congregants and neighbors gathered in the parking lot.
“It’s just kind of weird to see everything not normal anymore. But, it is also very cool to see a lot of people that I haven’t seen before all in one service,” said Ellis Brands, 15. She attended the church’s school from prekindergarten through eighth grade.
The church typically has an outdoor service once a month in the summer and congregants bring lawn chairs for the annual picnic, so this wasn’t too unusual, said Elizabeth Stec, 59.
“I have a feeling this won’t be the only outdoor service this month though,” she said, laughing. Initial assessments by the insurance company estimate the church building will take months to rebuild, according to church leadership.
Most notably missing from the outdoor service was the grand piano. An electric keyboard was turned to full volume but sounded quiet in the large parking lot.
“If we a cappella blast it out, hopefully, we can all hear (the tune),” said Pastor Jon Bergemann before the first hymn. The congregants’ voices certainly overpowered the keyboard.
Bergemann was on a boat with his son in northern Wisconsin when he found out about the Monday fire and left his family vacation early to be at Sunday’s service.
The theme of the worship, determined before the fire, was “Fear Not, for the Lord is with You.”
The pastor said the topic could not be more timely.
Speaking to the children, he validated that the torched church may “look scary” but assured them that “Jesus can make good things out of scary things.”
“So in the days to come children, trust God will bring about good things, even small blessings,” Bergemann said. Then, he held up a surprise he found under his seat shortly before the service: a pack of double stuffed Oreos, which he commonly references during sermons to the children.
Before the service started, a neighbor also dropped off doughnuts for the congregants.
Sue and Joe Zahalka, 63 and 72 respectively, found out about the service on Facebook and attended in solidarity. They’re members of Bethel Lutheran Church of Westmont, about 3 miles down the road.
Plans for the prekindergarten through eighth-grade academy, which was slated to start the new school year on Aug. 21, and future services were top of mind for congregants.
School leadership has narrowed in on an alternative location for classes and is finalizing logistics, said elementary school team lead Barb Koch during an open forum that followed the service.
A “Now Enrolling” sign is still staked in the front lawn, but the school year will likely begin later than originally anticipated and many supplies had to be thrown away, Koch said.
As for church services, plans will be made on a week-to-week basis for the time being. Next week’s service will likely be in the parking lot again, congregants were informed during the forum. However, local community organizations and churches have generously been offering their spaces for later weeks.
The damage to the church was worse than initially thought.
“The more they investigate, the more they find,” said church President Bill Merchantz.
The fire started on the east side of the school and reached a gas line that acted as a blowtorch, leadership told congregants during the forum. Smoke also seeped into the roof and insulation, requiring a significant amount of the building to be rebuilt.
The Lutheran church is working with its insurance company and the denomination’s disaster relief team to assess the damage and how long it will take to remediate. Leadership told congregants it’s unlikely they’ll be able to use the building this year.
Nevertheless, Bergemann remains confident the congregation will return to the building eventually, frequently referencing a time “when we worship again in that building” during the service.
“A building is a tool — and it’s a wonderful tool where we can gather together around God’s word — but the essence of our church is not a building. It’s people,” the pastor told the Tribune before Sunday’s service.
“The building might have a hole and a big chunk missing, but the essence of our congregation is still here.”