About: The Story of SGC
Our Local Church
Our story began in 1996, when a few friends joined together and wrote a letter to Sovereign Grace Ministries, requesting a church plant in the Chicago area. Two years later, Tab Trainor, along with his wife Sung, moved from Maryland to lead the new church. In October 1998, Sovereign Grace Church had its first Sunday services with about ten families.
God began to grow the church, slowly but steadily. More families joined the small gathering. Students from local colleges started attending. The youth ministry grew from only a couple of teenagers to the larger group it is today.
In 2005, our church sent Josh Fenska, along with his new wife Katie, to the Sovereign Grace Ministries Pastor's College. After a year of training at the Pastor's College, Josh returned to our church to serve as an assistant pastor. In 2009, Jamie Maxim (a fellow-graduate with Josh of the Pastor's College) joined the pastoral team. Jamie and his wife, Angie, moved their family from rural Pennsylvania and quickly became a vital part of SGC.
From the first handful of families that started our church, we now have a few hundred people come through our doors every Sunday. With God's help, the members of Sovereign Grace Church have been celebrating, applying, and sharing the gospel in the Fox Valley area for over a decade. We look forward to seeing God's continued work in our community. We hope that this brief history of our church points you to the riches of God's kindness and mercy, that he would make a collection of weak and fallen people into a fruitful part of his kingdom.
"This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes."
(Ps. 118:23)
Our Family of Churches: Sovereign Grace Ministries
We are part of a growing network of churches called Sovereign Grace Ministries, which has been planting and supporting churches in the U.S. and abroad for around 30 years. Through this partnership, we as a local church are connected with church planting and gospel ministry far beyond our locale.
To learn more about Sovereign Grace Ministries, visit the website.
