THE HISTORY OF CHRIST COMMUNITY
MAKING PASSIONATE DISCIPLES
Christ Community Church is one church on multiple campuses in Chicagoland with a singular mission: to make passionate disciples of Jesus Christ who are belonging, growing, serving, and reaching.
IT ALL BEGAN IN 1984 ...
A Bible study group of six couples in the St. Charles, Illinois, area felt led to start a church that would appeal to their unchurched friends and neighbors—people who were missing out on a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The first step was finding a pastor with the same passion for creating a church experience where guests would feel welcomed and comfortable–and where you wouldn’t be embarrassed to invite friends. This focus led them to Jim and Sue Nicodem, a young couple leading a church on Cape Cod.
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
When Pastor Jim and Sue started Christ Community Church in December of 1984, there were no thoughts of being a multisite church. They simply wanted to help people meet Jesus.
After 20 years of growth, something unexpected happened at Christ Community. About 150 people were driving weekly to St. Charles from the DeKalb/Sycamore area. This group wanted to invite their neighbors to a church in their own community, so they helped plant what was then called "Christ Community West" in DeKalb.
ONE CHURCH
At this point, Christ Community established an important part of what would become a successful multisite strategy: livestreaming the teaching from the St. Charles weekend services, rather than asking campus pastors to deliver a sermon each week. This approach gave the church a sense of unity—an identity of one church in multiple locations. The common teaching tied the Christ Community family together every weekend. Second, by not requiring campus pastors to preach every week, they are freed from sermon preparation, allowing them to focus on caring for their church and reaching their communities.
THE FIRST ADOPTION
In 2007, God began revealing a new multisite mission. A congregation in Aurora, then called Blackberry Creek Community Church, was in a season of struggle and asked if they could become a campus of Christ Community Church. Their adoption as the Aurora Campus was Christ Community's first experience with what is referred to as adoption, revitalization, or the rebirth of a church. It would not be the last.
A SECOND REVITALIZATION
In 2011, Christ Community planted a new campus in Bartlett. Several years later, Lamplighter Church in nearby Streamwood invited Christ Community to adopt them. The Bartlett congregation merged with Lamplighter to become the Streamwood Campus. That was the second experience with the revitalization of a struggling church.
WELCOMING HUNTLEY
A few years later, it happened yet again. This time it was Journey Church of Huntley. Like in Aurora and Streamwood, this small but enthusiastic congregation faced daunting challenges. In January of 2021, during the Covid pandemic, they were adopted as the Huntley Campus.
PLACES NEED CHURCHES
Looking back at the stories of the Aurora, Streamwood, and Huntley campuses, Christ Community sees God's consistent direction in revitalizing struggling churches. Nationwide, churches are closing at an alarming rate. However, Christ Community is committed to putting churches in communities that need healthy, gospel-proclaiming churches.
Simply put: Places need churches because people need Jesus.
In the fall of 2024, Christ Community Church launched a two-year, $18 million campaign, Places Need Churches, to lean into this call to revitalize struggling congregations. The goal of Places Need Churches? To adopt two new campuses.
On July 11, 2025, the first of those two adoptions was official as Stonehill Bible Church became the Joliet Campus. As a church, we continue to pray for campus number seven.
God has moved in Chicagoland through Christ Community. And he’s not done yet.
HISTORY DOCUMENTARY
For the church's 40th Anniversary, an independent film company created a 45-minute documentary about the beginnings and legacy of Christ Community.