By Mike Niebauer, Catechist

As a Northwestern student, my best friend and I would often share our joys and frustrations about being a Christian on campus. We were encouraged by the number of people we knew who were seeking after Christ and walking with him, but we were also discouraged by a few things. The Northwestern environment is such that it promotes individualism: each student pursues their own individualized path to success. This seemed to have had its effect on Christians as well. In conjunction with this, there seemed to be a dearth of Churches that ministered to the needs of students.

Because of these issues, Christians were often forced into two different paths. One path led to a life in the ‘Christian bubble,’ where one became too busy with the tasks of ministry that they had no time to spend with their friends that didn’t know Christ. Those that didn’t want to follow this path were left to pursue Christ on their own, often faltering in their faith. Many Christians left Northwestern embittered and cynical.

After years of complaining about this situation, I was led to ‘put my money where my mouth was’ so to speak. What was needed? We needed to create a Church body that resembled that of the early Church in Acts chapter 2. This group had a love for each other that was unmistakable, yet they still engaged the world around them.

My callings to minister to NU and facilitate worship intersected and I contacted William Beasley, a local Pastor that I had known and respected for years. William allowed us to form a congregation under Redeemer’s family of Churches, and also pledged to help facilitate weekly services.

Around May of 2005, William and I gathered a group of Northwestern students to gauge the possibility of starting a congregation. I found that much of my concerns for the Christian community at NU resonated with these students, and we decided to proceed in faith.

That summer I met Steve Long, a professor who ran the Forum for Evangelical Thought at Garrett Seminary. Steve had long hoped for the seminary to reach out to the Northwestern community, and he agreed to sponsor the service under the Forum.

In September of 2005 we started our first services in the tiny Howes Chapel on campus. We soon grew out of that Chapel and moved to Garrett’s main chapel. It was an exciting first year, full of ups and downs, but we managed to be somewhat faithful through the process. Along the way God blessed us with an amazing group of students and community members who caught our vision and made it their own. This culminated in our first ever membership class and our first baptism in May of 2006.

Our vision is to be a Church body of the Northwestern community that is transformed by Christ through authentic worship and meaningful community. We invite you into our community and hope this vision becomes an ever-increasing reality on campus.