Welcome To Fourth Presbyterian Church

Project Second Century:
Called to Love and Serve

A bold initiative to facilitate the expansion
of programming at Fourth Presbyterian Church

A model of the new building to be built as part of
Project Second Century. It can be seen in the Loggia,
outside the south transept Sanctuary doors.

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“Like” Fourth Church on Facebook to keep
up-to-date on the latest construction photos.
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To receive updates about Project Second Century,
subscribe to the email newsletter News@FourthChurch.

Previous updates and additional information is posted below.

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Whether the expenditure which has been made here . . .
shall prove justified, time alone can answer. And the answer will be
in terms of service, the lives lived here, and the spirit that shall go out
from here and enter into the life of the community.

Thomas D. Jones
Chair of the Fourth Church Building Committee, 1914

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Updates on P2C

Congregational Meeting Presentation:
September 19, 2010

Sermon from September 19, 2010:
“Giants Ahead and We Are Merely Grasshoppers”

P2C Steering Commitee Presentation:
June 27, 2010

Gensler P2C Design Presentation:
June 27, 2010

P2C Programming Document by Gensler

Introduction to P2C

Background to P2C

Media Coverage of P2C

Contacts

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Updates
December 5, 2010
November 23, 2010
September 19, 2010
September 13, 2010
June 27, 2010
February 2010
Annual Report 2009
December 2009
Summer 2009

To receive updates about Project Second Century by email,
subscribe to the email newsletter News@FourthChurch.

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December 5, 2010

Advent is the season of waiting: we observe it in Bible stories and hymns and by lighting the Advent wreath, which point to a reality that is not here yet, the birth of a baby on Christmas. Outside, in the Garth, parking lot, and along Delaware Place, a period of ten years of intentional and careful waiting is coming to an end. After an autumn of discernment by the officers of this church, a time of revisiting and refining plans for a new building, a time of conversation with many of you about the plan to finance the project, a time of conversation with our neighbors and our alderman, the Session and Board of Trustees voted overwhelmingly to proceed with Project Second Century, to build a five-story 80,000-square-foot facility behind this 1914 building, an new addition that will serve this congregation and our neighborhood and city for years to come.

This week work began to construct a temporary handicap ramp in the Garth for accessibility during the eighteen months of construction ahead. Work began as well on temporary access to the church Dining Room during construction. Both the ramp and the new basement entry will be removed and the Garth completely restored, including the beautifully landscaped garden, when the new building is completed. Other enabling work began along Delaware Place and in the parking lot in preparation for demolition and excavation, which is scheduled to begin after the first of the year. And preparations are being made to move some church staff off site to free up space in the 1914 building for ongoing programs, which will continue uninterrupted.

We have been talking about this for ten years. We have encountered unforeseen challenges, necessary major changes in plans, in the midst of an uncertain economic climate. Church officers, after study and discussion concluded that, for the ongoing and future health and faithfulness of this extraordinary church, we need to do this and to do it now.

In addition to construction, we will focus on undergirding the project financially in the new year. Some of that important work has already been done. A reserve account of $16.5 million from the Project Light Capital Campaign is available as a down payment. Leadership commitments already add $7 million to that, meaning that we are at the halfway point toward our $42 million goal. Our next step will be to launch a congregationwide capital campaign.

It is a leap of faith for this church, its staff and leadership and members. I could not be prouder or more grateful to be part of this enterprise to strengthen Fourth Presbyterian Church for its mission and ministry in the twenty-first century. I ask you this morning to pray for your church in the days ahead and to think and pray about your participation, your financial commitment in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a church, to serve the people of this congregation, our neighborhood and city, indeed the world, in our second century here on Michigan Avenue.

John Buchanan

Dear Friends:

It is going to happen. Fourth Presbyterian Church is going to have the building we need to continue our mission of being a light in the city.

As early as next week you will see the initial construction work—“enabling” efforts—that will help us prepare our current facility for the period of demolition and new construction that will begin in early 2011.

I am so very grateful to church leaders who have embraced the vision of Fourth Presbyterian Church’s future and have stayed the course in shepherding a new building project through many unanticipated challenges during the past ten years. I am also deeply grateful to all of you for your ongoing commitment to this congregation and your living out of its call to love and serve.

This new building will be an eloquent symbol of an extraordinary congregation’s affirmation of its past and, at the same time, its courageous leap of faith into the future to which Christ has called it.

We have embarked on a bold and faithful adventure, the latest developments in which you will see outlined below. Thanks be to God for the privilege of being a part of Fourth Presbyterian Church in these promising days.

Faithfully,
John Buchanan

Joint Boards Refine the P2C Project and Lay Out a Financing Blueprint
On Friday, November 19, 2010, the Session and Board of Trustees overwhelmingly approved a motion from the Project Second Century (P2C) Steering Committee that refines the P2C project in several important ways and lays out a blueprint for how the new building will be financed. The details of these plans are consistent with the motion approved at the September 19, 2010, congregational meeting—to proceed with construction of a new multipurpose building and the capital campaign and financing necessary to fund it—and the presentation of a “bridging the gap” funding analysis also presented at that time.

The refinements approved by the Joint Boards on November 19 are—

1. In acknowledgement of the still-recovering economy and a uniquely challenging fundraising environment, Fourth Church will defer the restoration of the organ, the replacement of the sanctuary roof (which still has a projected “useful life” of at least five years ), and a pledge to a PCUSA fundraising campaign to support mission initiatives. All told, those deferrals will reduce the total cost of the project by about $4.6 million. These deferrals were discussed at great length, and as monies become available, these needs will be addressed.

2. Fourth Church will sell its interest in Atrium Village, a mixed-income housing venture at 1111 N. Wells in which Fourth Church has had an ownership interest since 1970. The venture was launched in 1968 with Fourth Church and three other churches as minority partners. At present, the majority partner is up-zoning the property, which will enhance its value, as that neighborhood transitions to a mixed-income population base. At the same time, any redevelopment that takes place as a result of this up-zoning will continue to include an element of affordable housing. The other original minority partner church investors are also selling their interests. It is estimated that Fourth Church’s share will generate around $2 million upon completion of the sale.

3. Fourth Church will commission a study to recommend the best and most faithful use of the Chicago Avenue property in the context of our current and future mission aspirations and commitments, P2C financial needs, and overall financial stability.

4. Fourth Church will undertake an aggressive capital fundraising campaign and will use a combination of debt, invested funds, and bequests to bridge any remaining funding gap. The church has received advance commitments of around $7.25 million to the capital campaign. This is an encouraging result and, in combination with $16.5 million from the Project Light phase of our fundraising, puts us in a strong position to begin work on the building. The total scope of the redefined project will be $42 million, which will require that we all respond generously to the upcoming capital campaign. The general, all-congregation phase of our fundraising will begin early in 2011. If, in advance of that timing, you have questions or would like to make an early commitment to the campaign, please be in touch with Martin Sherrod in the Resource Development Office.

Staying on this course keeps faith with the clear direction from the “Refreshing the Vision” strategic plan created by members in 2008-2009 and enables the church to take advantage of historically low construction, debt, and relocation costs. This milestone is the realization of a twelve-year-long dream to broaden and enrich Fourth Church’s ministry and mission. We celebrate this moment and eagerly embrace the work ahead that will enable the full realization of that dream.

Enabling Work to Begin
Beginning the week of November 29, 2010, the Garth will be temporarily closed to the public and the parking lot will no longer be used for parking. Both areas will be used for site preparation as we make adjustments to the current facility in order to better enable operations during the time of demolition and construction. A temporary ramp will be built in the Garth to facilitate handicap access once the 126 E. Chestnut entrance is demolished, and a temporary emergency exit stairway from the lower level—to replace the ones that will be temporarily lost at the 126 E. Chestnut entrance and the parking lot—will be built from the Dining Room to the Garth.

Additional preparation and demolition will begin in earnest in early January, continuing through March, with actual construction scheduled to begin in the spring of 2011. If all proceeds according to plan, the building will be completed by mid-summer 2012.

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September 19, 2010

At its September 19 meeting, the congregation of Fourth Church
voted to proceed with construction of a new multipurpose building
and the capital campaign and financing necessary to fund it.

Presentation to the Congregation at
the September 19 Congregational Meeting
Introduction
Context
Design, part 1
Design, part 2
Design, part 3
Design, part 4
Construction Logistics
Proposal

Dear Friends,

These are exciting days at Fourth Presbyterian Church. On Sunday our children and youth kicked off their fall programming and once again filled the halls of this church with their joyous laughter and presence. In the days ahead we will begin the fall season of the Academy for Faith and Life (on September 26) and offer opportunities to learn about all that is going on here at this amazing church, as we host "Get Connected" Sunday on September 26 and the annual Volunteer Fair on October 3.

But there is perhaps nothing more exciting than what will happen this coming Sunday, September 19 following 11:00 worship. The congregation will gather at that time to hear and act on a recommendation from Session and Trustees that Fourth Presbyterian Church proceed with construction of a new multipurpose building and with the capital campaign and financing necessary to fund the building.

This is an important time for our church, an exciting time and a challenging time. I hope you will join me at this special September 19 meeting called by the Session. And in the days ahead, if you weren't able to attend our June 27 congregational information meeting, I hope you will spend some time with the information posted on the website. You will also find images of some architectural concepts on display in the Gallery.

As we approach the close of our first century on Michigan Avenue, it is our time to plan to live faithfully and boldly into our second century, ensuring that the wonderful light in the city will shine brightly in all the years ahead. Please join me, as we embrace our future, for the meeting on September 19.

Yours faithfully,
John Buchanan

June 27, 2010

A P2C congregational information meeting was held on Sunday, June 27, with the P2C Steering Committee and the architects, Gensler, making the following presentations.

P2C Steering Committee Presentation
Presentation made by the Project Second Century Steering Committee
at the June 27, 2010, congregational information meeting.

Gensler Design Presentation
Building design as presented by the architect, Gensler,
at the June 27, 2010, congregational information meeting.

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February 2010

Dear Friends,

Each generation of Fourth Presbyterian Church members, officers, and ministers has had a project, an assignment, the successful completion of which made the church strong for the next generation.

During the ministry of John Timothy Stone (1909–1930) the work was the building of a new church on Michigan Avenue, a beautiful Gothic cathedral to serve the city.

The assignment taken up by the generation during Harrison Ray Anderson’s ministry (1928–1961) was to reach out to and welcome young adults who were streaming into the city and our neighborhood. Westminster House was built to house the young adult program and the Sunday School for the children of church families.

Elam Davies (1961–1984), Pastor during the stormy ’60s, led the church to deepen its mission commitments to city and neighbors and redefined Fourth Church as an urban outpost of Christian compassion, justice, and tangible assistance.

Now it is our time. We have kept faith with the past, maintaining and expanding the contributions of the generations before us. Our project is to provide facilities for a lively, faithful, and growing twenty-first century urban church.

The congregation of Fourth Church has doubled: the population of families with infants, children, and young people has happily exploded. No one anticipated it. The result is we do not have enough space. Children are squeezed into every corner of our building; programs spill out of available rooms all day, every day of the week.

We began to address the need in 2002 with the vision of a facility behind the original church building at the base of a high-rise condominium structure. The sale of air rights for the condominium would have provided financing for our own program space and the expansion of our mission in the city. That effort was not successful for reasons beyond our control.

I am so proud and grateful for the way church leaders, with grace and faithfulness, refused to be discouraged, retreated a bit to reflect, and then reengaged with the critical need for new space which, in the intervening eight years, had become even more pressing.

A planning process was launched, “Refreshing the Vision,” to make sure we knew what the aspirations and mission hopes of the congregation were and to discern again God’s call to us to be a faithful church. “Refreshing the Vision” involved hundreds of members, looking at every aspect of our church’s life and identified the immediate, central need for more space:

• Classrooms for our growing Sunday School and youth programs, which have dramatically outgrown our current facilities
• Seminar rooms and classrooms for adult education
• Meeting rooms for the many church and outside groups that meet here
• A versatile chapel space for worship, lectures, and recitals
• A dining room and kitchen facilities and a spacious, welcoming hub or gathering place for our growing congregation

Project Second Century (P2C)—named to commemorate the beginning of our second century on Michigan Avenue in 2014—was launched and went to work immediately. A P2C Steering Committee, chaired by Beth Davis, oversees the work of three working subcommittees: Building, Finance and Fund raising, and Communications. Great progress has been made.

An initial concept for a new 80,000-square-foot facility immediately behind the church (on property currently occupied by a parking lot, Westminster House, and the Counseling Center) has been produced; architects have been interviewed and the Gensler firm selected to work with us on refining the concept for the facility. The Finance and Fund-raising Committee is working on ways to provide support for the project, including a new Second Century Capital Campaign.

In addition, we need to address other pressing and immediate capital needs. Our magnificent Aeolian Skinner pipe organ, a true treasure, desperately needs a complete overhaul (which will be undertaken by Quimby Pipe Organs), and our 100-year-old roof must be replaced. The invested funds that help provide the financial funds for Fourth Presbyterian Church also must be enhanced.

The price tag is a hefty number: $48 million. Fortunately we have $16 million in the bank from Project Light. We face the challenge of raising an additional $32 million. At a joint meeting of the Session and Board of Trustees in early December, a full P2C progress report was presented, discussed, and unanimously approved, giving a green light to proceed with the project on all fronts.

The next two years will be as important as any in the life of this great church. They will certainly be as important as any time in my ministry. The times immediately ahead will define this generation in the history of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago.

I look forward with enthusiasm and high hopes, and I ask for your prayers and support for Project Second Century.

Faithfully,
John Buchanan

Annual Report 2009

Dear Friends,

The everyday life of Fourth Presbyterian Church is a marvel to behold. Beginning before 7:00 a.m. with the arrival of house staff and receptionists and the first parents dropping off infants in strollers and toddlers at the Children’s Center, all day long until the building is secured and locked for the night between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m., Fourth Church is a busy and bright light in the city. This annual report tells a remarkable story of a remarkable church, serving its members of all ages, its neighbors, its city, and the world in the name of its Lord.

The year 2009 was a critical one. Newly appointed Executive Associate Pastor Calum MacLeod began his responsibilities as our chief administrator. Marty Sherrod, Director of Resource Development and Communications, and Linda Loving, Minister for Evangelism, joined the staff and brought new energy and expertise to their positions, and the pace around here quickened. Early in the year, the Session and Board of Trustees made the very difficult decision to abandon the effort to sell air rights over the western portion of the church property and use the income from that sale as the foundation for the provision of desperately needed program space and mission expansion. The church had invested resources, energy, and countless hours in that Project Light effort, but in light of neighborhood opposition, leaders agreed that it was time to move on.

An extensive planning process called “Refreshing the Vision,” chaired by Juli Crabtree and Andy McGaan and staffed by volunteer Don Allerton, involved more than 150 church members and staff and looked at every aspect of our life together and our mission. Recommendations were referred to a Steering Committee for implementation and will assure that Fourth Presbyterian Church continues to be a faithful, active, and growing church in the days ahead.

Part of every recommendation—indeed looming over the entire planning process—was the need for more and better space. Since Project Light was launched in 2002, 2,309 new members have joined the congregation. We need more space, and we need it now. And so Project Second Century, named for the upcoming 100th anniversary of the dedication of the church building on Michigan Avenue in 1914 and the beginning of our second century was launched. This time we are on our own financially. An architecture firm, Gensler, has been chosen to design a new 80,000-square foot building that will stand on the property currently occupied by the parking lot, Westminster House, and the Counseling Center.

The new building will house classrooms; a dining room and kitchen; a 300-seat chapel; a large, open gathering place, or hub; seminar and meeting rooms, all arranged conveniently to the existing building. A feasibility study is underway to determine our ability to finance the new project. In addition to the new building, Project Second Century will include the replacement of the 100-year-old roof over the sanctuary and the complete renovation and enhancement of our priceless Aeolian Skinner pipe organ. Project Second Century is the most ambitious and most exciting challenge Fourth Presbyterian Church has undertaken since the construction of the current building in 1912–1914.

Someone asked me recently, “Do we really need more space?” To provide an accurate answer, I asked Donna Gray, our Minister for Children and Families, to tell me about her space challenges. Donna told me about some amazing growth recently in the number of children and young people attending and participating in church activities. You can see it each Palm Sunday when the children and youth fill the chancel. Another indication of that growth and what it means—young families coming to Fourth Church—is the number of infant baptisms, 135 last year, 132 the year before; month in, month out, ten to twelve baptisms. No one in the history of Fourth Presbyterian Church anticipated it. One Sunday morning ninety infants, toddlers, and two- to three-year-olds crowded into small rooms, twenty-four first graders in a room the size of my office. “It just doesn’t work,” Donna said. “There’s not enough room for them sit in a circle.” Twenty-five fourth and fifth graders crowd around a table in what was the Manse dining room, thirty sixth graders are in the Manse basement, twenty-five eighth graders are in the Page Smith Room, not designed for them, with its huge portraits of former ministers looking down on them, and Senior Highs are in what we call the Crow’s Nest, on the third floor, up a steep stairway, obviously not handicap accessible. We need new facilities to accommodate the church we have become and the church we want to be and to bequeath to those who will come after us.

There is so much to love about Fourth Presbyterian Church. On a recent Sunday afternoon I attended the 4:00 p.m. worship service, which was being led by the twenty-five members of the confirmation class and their seventh grade classmates, too. I have two grandchildren involved, and I was filled with gratitude and pride as they read scripture and sang. And when five eighth graders delivered the sermon, the proud father seated in front of me turned and reminded me that they got the job done in less time than my sermon that morning. How wonderful, I thought: all these beautiful young people.

And then, when it was over at 5:00 and we were leaving the sanctuary, I looked into Anderson Hall and saw another equally beautiful sight: 155 people seated at tables of ten, each set graciously with a bouquet of flowers in the center, our neighbors, many of them homeless, all of them hungry, and a group of pleasant, friendly Fourth Church volunteers serving food, pouring coffee, cleaning the tables.

I said a silent prayer of gratitude for this good church, for its century of worship and service, for all that it has been, is, and will be in the days ahead.

Faithfully,
John Buchanan

Project Second Century: Annual Report 2009
In the spring of 2009, Fourth Presbyterian Church completed a strategic planning process, called “Refreshing the Vision,” which looked at the entire life of this congregation with a view to the future to which God calls us.

That planning process looked at everything this church does here and in the world and identified the central and immediate need for Fourth Church as more space—additional, well-designed, efficient space:

• Classrooms for growing Sunday School and youth programs, which have dramatically
outgrown the current facilities
• Seminar and classrooms for adult education
• Meeting rooms for the many church and outside groups that meet here
• A versatile chapel space for worship, lectures, and recitals
• A dining room and kitchen facilities and a spacious, welcoming hub or gathering place for this growing congregation, which is more than twice the size the congregation was when this facility was built

The Session and Trustees established a committee to address those needs and named the project Project Second Century (P2C), marking this congregation’s second century on Michigan Avenue, which will begin in 2014.

The P2C Steering Committee established three subcommittees—Building, Finance, and Communications—and they went to work. In December, those committees made an exciting progress report to the Session and Trustees and presented basic concepts for a new four-story, 80,000-square-foot building on the west side of the Fourth Church property where the parking lot, Counseling Center, and Westminster House are now located.

Other immediate needs include the rebuilding of the magnificent Aeolian Skinner pipe organ, a treasure badly in need of an overhaul; the replacement of the nearly 100-year-old sanctuary roof; and the need to add to the endowment to support the new building and the programs that will go into it.

The total estimated cost is $48 million. There is $16 million in the bank from Project Light five years ago. So the challenge is approximately $32 million. During the first months of 2010, there will be preliminary planning and strategic conversation with church leaders necessary to launch a capital campaign later in 2010. Also during those months the architect will begin work on moving from basic concepts to final plans and designs for the new building.

The December progress report and the recommendations of the P2C Steering Committee were unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the Boards, and the committee will continue to keep the congregation apprised of developments as Fourth Church boldly moves forward into its second century on Michigan Avenue.

Project Second Century Steering Committee members: Juli Crabtree, David Crawford, Lloyd Culbertson, Beth Davis, Doug Grissom, Maggie Lewis, Andy McGaan

Staff liaisons: John Buchanan, Pastor; Robert Holben, Director of Business Administration; Calum I. MacLeod, Executive Associate Pastor; Martin Sherrod, Director of Resource Development and Communications

December 2009

In the spring of 2009, Fourth Presbyterian Church completed a strategic planning process, called Refreshing the Vision, which looked at the entire life of our congregation with a view to the future to which God calls us.

Classrooms for our growing Sunday School and youth programs, which have dramatically outgrown our current facilities
Seminar and classrooms for adult education
Meeting rooms for the many church and outside groups that meet here
A versatile chapel space for worship, lectures, and recitals
A dining room and kitchen facilities and a spacious, welcoming hub, a gathering place, for our growing congregation

So the Session and Trustees established a committee to address those needs and named the project Project Second Century (P2C), marking this congregation’s second century here on Michigan Avenue, which will begin in 2014.

The P2C Steering Committee established three subcommittees—Building, Finance, and Communications—and they went to work. On Tuesday, December 1, 2009, those committees made a very exciting progress report to the Session and Trustees and presented basic concepts for a new four-story, 80,000-square-foot building on the west side of our property where the parking lot, Counseling Center, and Westminster House are now located.

Other immediate needs include the rebuilding of our magnificent Aeolian Skinner pipe organ, treasure badly in need of an overhaul; the replacement of the nearly 100-year-old sanctuary roof; and the need to add to our endowment to support the new building and the programs that will go into it.

The total estimated cost is a big number: $48 million. We have $16 million in the bank from Project Light five years ago. So the challenge is approximately $32 million. In the time immediately ahead, we will be having the preliminary planning and strategic conversation with church leaders necessary to launch a capital campaign later in 2010.

We will be choosing an architect in the weeks ahead, and our intent is to develop final designs and plans for the new building during the second quarter of 2010, to be brought to Session and Trustees and the congregation in June 2010.

This progress report and the recommendations of the P2C Steering Committee were unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the Boards, and we will continue to keep all of you apprised of developments as we boldly move forward into this congregation’s second century on Michigan Avenue.

There are exciting and challenging days ahead for Fourth Presbyterian Church. I welcome them and ask for your prayers for this important and faithful initiative.

Faithfully,
John M. Buchanan, Pastor
December 2009

Introduction

Project Second Century: Called to Love and Serve is underway and gaining momentum here at Fourth Presbyterian Church. This project is our congregation’s initiative to expand our programs, service, and presence in the city. It is an undertaking committed to realizing the congregation’s vision to expand our facilities to address the space needs we see year round as our building bursts at the seams with lively activity. And it also an undertaking committed to furthering our mission of hospitality, proclamation, and service, to be a light in the city expressing Christ’s love.

Many dedicated volunteers and staff members are working long and hard on Project Second Century. “P2C” as we have come to call it (Presbyterians never saw an acronym they didn’t love) grows out of Refreshing the Vision, the long-range planning process in which more than 150 church members participated last fall and spring, sharing hopes and dreams for Fourth Presbyterian Church. The project—our vision for our time—takes its name from the anniversary, in 2014, of Fourth Church’s presence on Michigan Avenue, the beginning of our second century. It represents our hope to express our congregation’s sense of call to love and serve—here, on this busy intersection and around the world.

Nearly forty Fourth Church members are currently working on Project Second Century, under the leadership of the Steering Committee led by Beth Davis. Refreshing the Vision chairs Juli Crabtree and Andy McGaan are members of the Steering Committee, as well, as are David Crawford, Lloyd Culbertson, Doug Grissom, and Maggie Lewis. Beth Davis also chairs the Building Committee, which is conducting a thorough examination of space requirements, leading to a design for an expanded facility on Michigan Avenue. Doug Grissom chairs the Finance Committee, assigned to identify financial requirements to provide physical expansion and sustain new programs in new and expanded space. A Communications Committee led by Maggie Lewis will work on providing timely information about the project for members, friends, and neighbors.

As we approach the close of our first century on Michigan Avenue and plan to live faithfully and boldly into our second century, these are busy and exciting and meaningful times, ensuring that the wonderful light in the city will shine brightly in all the years ahead.

Faithfully,
John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Summer 2009

Background
Project Second Century: Called to Love and Serve

“There is no church at all, unless it has a sense of mission.” That was a favorite phrase of Elam Davies, who served as Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church for more than two decades. That sense of mission has been alive since Fourth Church opened its doors on Michigan Avenue nearly a century ago and is today as real and vital as ever. It can be seen and experienced in so many ways: an inspiring message from the pulpit on Sunday morning; a warm meal served to a hungry person who’s come in off the street; the light in a child’s eyes as she shares a moment with her longtime tutor in the church basement; the joyful noise coming from a youth choir or a crowded Sunday school class; the connections made at the community garden in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood and on the mission trips that send Fourth Church members out into Chicago neighborhoods as well as around the world. All of it is done in an effort to reflect Christ’s inclusive love.

That vision of love and service is alive and growing at Fourth Church—growing so much, in fact, that it is creating unique and wonderful challenges. Teachers in those crowded Sunday school classes can’t hold circle time because there’s not enough room to make one. More space is needed to hold the Bible studies and classes, meetings and counseling sessions, that nurture people in the faith journey. The desire to expand such social services as free meals and tutoring faces the limits of what a nearly 100-year-old church can accommodate.

So, inspired by its heritage and embracing the challenge to be a light in the city for another 100 years at the corner of Michigan and Delaware, Fourth Presbyterian Church has launched a bold initiative to expand its programs of service and its presence in the city. Project Second Century: Called to Love and Serve is a response to this congregation’s vision to grow physically and therefore to expand our ability to be a welcoming and serving community that embodies Christ’s love and compassion.

While our collective response to God’s unconditional love is typically expressed in actions—worship, prayer, service, and education—a careful and intentional congregation-wide visioning process clearly identified that in order to do all that, in order to carry out our call, we need space. We will not be able to provide for our current needs—let alone fulfill the vision of expanding our programs—if we do not address the urgent need for more space. Project Second Century: Called to Love and Serve is organized to enable us to do that, to expand our mission and build on the important legacy handed down to us.

In a very real sense, Fourth Presbyterian Church grew up with the city of Chicago. Our first worship service was held on October 8, 1871, the day of the Great Chicago Fire. The conflagration consumed the church building, but like the city itself, the congregation quickly rebuilt, grew, and thrived. Later, in 1914, the congregation moved into a majestic new building on North Michigan Avenue, proving to be a vibrant and vital part of the growing city. Fourth Church has always been a part of the fabric of the city, feeding the hungry, serving the underserved, ministering to the sick and lonely, and inspiring so many through word and deed.

During World War II, it was Fourth Church that opened its doors to provide a worship space for Japanese-Americans who had nowhere else to turn, with the Pastor at the time, Harrison Ray Anderson, literally standing guard out front to ensure the worshipers would not be impeded. At the height of the civil rights movement in the turbulent 1960s, Fourth Church, under the leadership of Elam Davies, expanded its outreach to the surrounding community rather than turn inward, launching the Tutoring program and Day School, among other programs. Toward the end of the century and into the new one, the church’s mission of social justice and inclusion only grew, with the congregation doubling in size under John Buchanan and expanding the role of women as clergy and in important lay roles. Dr. Buchanan also extended a relationship with a nearby synagogue and led an emotional and meaningful interfaith worship service with Jewish and Muslim leaders following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Today the work of Fourth Presbyterian Church continues to take many forms and tell many stories. There is the couple who was married at Fourth Church and later moved to London but returned to have their first child baptized here, in this faith community that is still home to them. For them and for so many, Fourth Church is part of their family. There is the young woman from a disadvantaged background who heads off to college after spending years in the Tutoring program. There are Fourth Church pastors who visit the sick and lonely, and there is the former Deacon who, in retirement, serves in a health clinic in Cameroon providing vital services and helping stem the tide of AIDS in Africa. There is meaningful preaching during Sunday morning services that motivates parishioners to effect change, and there are concerts and nontraditional services that stir the soul.

Much of the Fourth Church outreach and service is facilitated through Chicago Lights, which oversees the Tutoring program, the Center for Life and Learning, the Center for Whole Health, and the Elam Davies Social Service Center. Chicago Lights also helps run programs of literacy and arts at grade schools on Chicago’s Near North Side and at the Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, which serves juvenile detainees. Each year Chicago Lights serves more than 27,500 healthy meals; provides more than 23,000 hours of tutoring and mentoring for children from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods; offers more than 1,700 people health and wellness services; serves more than 7,000 people and brings together more than 1,000 volunteers, who are uplifted by serving.

The goal of Project Second Century: Called to Love and Serve is to ensure this service not only continues but grows and that the church remains a relevant and thriving part of the city. A thorough examination of space requirements, which will lead to an expanded facility on Michigan Avenue, is already underway. This effort also includes study of the financial requirements not only for a physical expansion, but also for what is necessary to support and sustain new programs, including adding to the endowment. Further, full examination of all options related to the asset that is the Chicago Avenue property owned by Fourth Presbyterian Church is underway. This includes articulation of a compelling strategic vision for the urban mission that may be based there and the sequencing and timing of the implementation of that vision, including funding requirements.

The form of the new facility on Michigan Avenue is not yet known. What we do know is that our response to God’s call to love and serve is one we faithfully take up from our predecessors, who recovered after the devastation of the Great Chicago Fire and later had the bold vision to meet great need by building a new church. In turn, we build on their actions and work to continue the story for those who will hear their call long after we’ve made our response.

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Media Coverage of P2C

Blair Kamin in the Chicago Tribune
August 16, 2010:
“Fourth Presbyterian Ready to Unveil Design for a Five-Story Addition”

August 23, 2010:
“An Expansion Plan Done Right:
Fourth Presbyterian Plan Strikes the Right Balance between Old and New”

Chicago Sun-Times
August 17, 2010
“Landmark Comes Back from the Drawing Board”

Chicago Skyline
August 18, 2010
“Plans Met with Applause at Community Meeting”

The Architect’s Newspaper
September 15, 2010
“Gensler Finds God in Chicago”

Questions and comments about Project Second Century can be directed to the P2C committee chairs, Beth Davis, Doug Grissom, and Maggie Lewis, or to Rob Holben, Director of Business Administration (312.274.3821).