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FAQ

What is Soul City Church’s 5-Year Vision?

In 2024, our Lead Pastors Jeanne & Jarrett Stevens cast a bold and faith-filled vision for the next five years of ministry at Soul City Church—what we’ve called Greater Things. We believe God is inviting us to dream bigger and trust deeper as He works in and through us to transform souls, the city, and the world.

This 5-year vision includes reaching 5,000 people through our church, creating spaces where Holy Spirit encounters are expected every time we gather, and expanding our impact in bold, Spirit-led ways. You can read the full list of vision statements here.

To help fuel this vision, our church pledged $14.2 million through a two-year faith-raising campaign—also called Greater Things—to support our operating expenses and the investments needed to bring this vision to life.

Why are we expanding priorities and no longer primarily focused on launching a church to the West?

The West Loop Church is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, and we are out of room at the most popular gathering times for adults and kids. With the recent availability of the building next door for sale after years of praying for that space, we are sensing an open door to explore what it means to expand our current church so we can reach more people with the transforming love of Jesus.

After diligently searching 130 properties in 21 different cities for over a year working with different real estate professionals and village representatives… we are sensing a closed door from God at this moment despite our best effort. However, we’re still committed to reaching 5,000, which is a part of our Greater Things vision, and we’re not giving up on finding the right location when the door opens.

What is the plan for the new property?

At this point we are exploring ways to reach the vision of 5,000 people that include expanding the West Loop church and the property at 125 S. Racine. Please join us in prayer as we explore options and get expert advice about the best plan to move forward that maximizes our vision.

Are we still doing the Greater Things campaign?

Yes! Every dollar given to Greater Things is positioning us for what God has next for Soul City Church. We want to continue the vibrant and generous giving that has taken place over the last year as we’re discerning next steps related to how we will expand the West Loop.

How have the resources given throughout the Greater Things campaign been used so far?

The resources given so far have fueled our mission of leading people into a transforming relationship with Jesus. In 2024 we baptized more people than ever in the history of our church, our church has grown ten percent since this time last year, we’ve added a pastoral care phone line to be able to serve people five days a week for 12 hours a day, we served over 500 kids at our Christmas Store this past December, and a few weeks ago we hosted the Big Find for over 1,000 kids from Chicago. The vision of Holy Spirit encounters being expected when we gather has become a reality at our Sunday morning gatherings and in our ministries. There is a movement of prayer like never before. Even though we are expanding priorities in the Greater Things campaign, the movement of God at Soul City is everywhere!

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Greater Things FAQ

GREATER THINGS CAMPAIGN

Greater Things is a faith-raising initiative for Soul City Church with two goals. Our primary goal is 100% engagement. We want every person who calls Soul City home to ask the question, “God, what is the greater thing you want to do in me and through me?”. Our secondary goal is to raise $15 million, which will provide our ongoing budget at both churches for two years, launch expenses for our new church, and give seed funding to all the other initiatives in our five-year vision.

The vision of Soul City Church has always been to be one church in multiple locations. We exist to be a place where people can come for hope and healing and to have the resources to reach people beyond our walls with the transforming love of Jesus. After significant research and lots of prayer, we are compelled to continue the biblical model in the New Testament of starting new churches, extending our ministry into the community, and releasing resources throughout the city, country, and world. 

Soul City’s leadership prayerfully and strategically considered this faith-raising campaign to support the launch of the new location. Fundraising experts from within and outside our church helped guide the process with Soul City leadership. We believe the vision of Greater Things will stretch and renew our faith and grow all of us to become more kingdom-minded followers of Jesus.

This powerful prayer process can be summed up in three letters – A, B, C. 

Ask God to speak to you. Invite God to lead you towards a financial amount to trust God with for the next two years.  Believe that God will lead, guide, and provide you with resources to see this commitment through. Commit to giving God all the glory for writing a GREATER THINGS story in and through your life.

Greater Things is a two-year faith-raising campaign from May 2024-May 2026. You can complete a digital commitment card and start giving today. If you are attending a gathering on a Sunday, you can pick up a physical commitment card at Soul City Church from the 1st or 2nd-floor information racks. 

KEY DATES
Greater Things Teaching Series – April 7th
Advanced Commitment Night – April 23rd
Commitment Sunday – May 5th
Celebration Sunday & First Big Give – May 19th

You can start giving today here. We are SO excited that you are willing to trust God like this. We have no doubt that God will use this to grow your faith like never before!

This is an opportunity to stretch your faith. We invite you to pray and invite God to guide you in your giving. 

Yes. We welcome gifts of appreciated assets and gifts-in-kind. If you would like to talk more about this, please contact us at [email protected].

Soul City Church will send out regular campaign progress that will include Greater Things giving updates.  We will also share campaign updates and developments during our Sunday gatherings. If you miss a Sunday gathering in person, or aren’t able to attend, you can always catch the live stream or replay it through our website.

A ONE FUND initiative refers to a faith-based financial approach where a single, consolidated fund is established to cover all expenses over a two-year period. This includes the operating budget for two churches – West Loop Church and the New Church to the West – as well as start-up costs for the New Church to the West, capital improvements at West Loop Church, and seed funding for the other initiatives in our five year vision. Essentially, this strategy relies on trust in divine provision to meet these comprehensive financial needs.

NEW CHURCH TO THE WEST

We plan to launch in the next year. Once we find the right facility, our timeline will be clarified.

Not yet! We have built a dynamic real estate team made up of real estate professionals who are a part of Soul City Church and outside experts to identify potential locations.  Our plan is to lease or purchase a space that would give us the ability to do ministry seven days a week, but we are always open to God surprising us with something beyond our best plans. If you have suggestions for potential locations, please email us at [email protected].

The exact location for the new church has not yet been identified, but we are looking between Oakbrook and Oak Park. The new church to the west will serve the neighborhoods in the western suburbs of Chicago.

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Yes, the new church will have live worship, led by a local Soul City Worship team, and live teaching by our Lead Pastors and teaching team, including the local pastor. In some instances, video teaching will be utilized. Each church will follow the same teaching plan each week, but it will be delivered by different members of our teaching team. This allows the teaching to be unique to the location.

We know that the new church’s local pastor will be someone currently on the Soul City staff team.

Soul City will operate with a centralized leadership model that consists of the founding lead pastors, directional team, and a local pastor for the new church that will oversee the vision and strategy of the church.  A portion of the staff will represent “shared services” and support both churches in areas such as operations, accounting and human resources. Soul City will continue to be governed by one common elder board with representation from each of the two churches.

Each church will have the responsibility of contextually living out Soul City’s mission and vision through worship, teaching, table groups and ministries such as Soul City Kids and Alpha. These are the parts of our Church that are core to our mission and have fueled our growth over the last 13 years.

Soul City’s mission, vision, values, transformational teaching, worship, and look and feel will be consistent throughout both churches. There will be differences as each of these churches continue to grow and develop. The common Elder Board, centralized leadership and oversight from our founding lead pastors and directional team will also ensure that the new church are launched and growing, that it is 100% “Soul City” while also being uniquely contextualized to its local community. 

WHERE DO I GO IF I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?

We welcome any additional questions you may have. Simply email us at [email protected]

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Hey Soul City!

A quick message for those joining us in person this weekend:

Recently, the CDC shared new guidelines for wearing face masks in public and in indoor settings to promote safety in areas with substantial risks of transmission. Therefore, we are requiring that masks are worn while in the building on Sundays.

We are continuously reviewing the CDC guidelines and what our next steps will be – as your safety remains our priority.

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