Peoples Church

People’s church called a new minister to serve them in 2014 — Rev. Seth Fisher. He’s someone very much rooted in the reality of life today, making the life of the congregation, its service and its services accessible and relevant to the community. There’s a great spirit growing here.

A very special place. The sanctuary is stunning, if it needs a little attention because it is so old. The service here was a little long, but it is clear that the congregation and pastor are very committed to the community.

Rehearsal with the Lakeside Pride Symphony Orchestra here: so I can’t comment on the services. Historic building in a state of semi-​disrepair, like many grand old buildings in the area. Have to bring our own lights since it is so poor on the stage. Fabulous old murals and wall details just begging to be restored. Huge space seating hundreds, has a ghostly old feel to it. The surrounding neighborhood is not the most appealing but it is close to the red line Lawrence stop.
History can be found at:
. Highlights:
Preston Bradley, its preacher for more than fifty years, was a well-​known community activist with a radio ministry of several million listeners each week.
He became disillusioned with Christian fundamentalism and adopted what he called «Christian Unitarianism,» a type of liberal religious humanism. He organized his own church in 1912.
The Peoples Church had become the largest non-​sectarian church in the United States, and had joined with the American Unitarian Association. This new structure was called the Uptown Temple to «emphasize its relationship to that vast and teeming area of Chicago known as Uptown.» Edgewater architecht J.E.O. Pridmore was selected to design the temple. The temple he created for the Peoples Church has, as Bradley put it, «none of the architectural trappings of bygone ecclesiastical attitudes. There is no tower, no medieval chancels and naves.» Instead, the sanctuary was «an open room, airy, warm, inviting fellowship and the breezes of fresh ideas.» Bradley chose not to have a pulpit, but instead spoke from a lectern. To one side was a bust of Abraham Lincoln, to the other a bust of the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Originally, above the choir, were written in gold the words of William Ellery Channing, «Live a life of faith and hope. Believe in the mighty power of truth and love.» In 1959, a mural by the artist Louis Grell was painted below this quote – a spectacular landscape of mountains and lakes that stood for the abundant nature of God.
The Peoples Church was the first church in Chicago, and one of the first in America, to regularly broadcast services. The first service was aired in 1924 over WQJ, and eventually the show moved to WLS. The radio ministry of Preston Bradley was the inspiration for the radio soap opera, and later daytime television show, Guiding Light.
Bradley In many ways, was a man ahead of his time. He was suspended from Moody Bible Institute for smoking a cigar and being seen at a motion picture show, unseemly behavior for a future minister; he marched with Jane Addams to support women’s rights; and he spoke loudly and openly against the Ku Klux Klan, which in the 1920s boasted more than a million members. His thoughts on religion and sexuality must have shocked the conservatives of his day, «I am old fashioned enough to believe in virginity and chastity before marriage,» he wrote, «but I do not consider variations from that code to be sinful in the sense that God will inflict everlasting punishment… Sexual force and sexual desire are natural things.» At its peak, Bradley’s congregation had over 4,000 members.
As is often the case in the history of Uptown, urban flight over the last fifty years caused membership to decrease dramatically, and the Peoples Church very nearly had to close its doors. Instead, it became affiliated with the United Church of Christ while still maintaining its ties to the Unitarian Universalist Association and today has a small but active congregation. The church now leases space to R.E.S.T. (Residents for Effective Shelter Transitions), the largest homeless shelter on the north side. There is a meals program which serves three meals every day to approximately 150 people in need, an annual Memorial Day Picnic for the homeless, and the Empti-​Spoon Job Club which offers job-​placement assistance to people who have faced difficult obstacles when searching for work.