Mission

The Mission of Forest Park Baptist Church is to glorify God; encouraging everyone to know and follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

History

Although we have been blessed by over 116 years of service in the same locaton at Harlem and Dixon Avenues in Forest Park, the inception of our church work actually dates back 145 years. In 1862, regular prayer meetings, preaching services, and Sunday School sessions were held in private homes, after a German Baptist family had contacted members of the First German Baptist Church of Chicago three years previously in 1859, to establish a mission work here.

In 1867, our founders built a chapel on the southeast corner of Marengo Avenue and Franklin Street, in what is now Forest Park. The chapel dedication service on September 15, 1867 was conducted by Rev. Philipp Bickel who later became a leader in organizing the Baptist Union of Germany. At the dedication, the hope was expressed that a church would soon be organized. Restricting influences including the moving of members, hindered the work, and the chapel was sold in 1874 for $1200 to the Onward Mission Sunday School conducted by a group from Oak Park.

Then in 1878, Rev. Jacob Meier, affectionately known as Father Meier, pastor of First German Baptist Church of Chicago, located at Paulina Avenue and Superior Street, called a meeting of a few members of the original group who were residing in Oak Park, to revive the work. Through the dedicated and sacrificial labor of Rev. Meier, the founders zealously plunged into the work and the Onward Mission chapel was rented for Sunday School and church work. An effort to repurchase the chapel failed and it was no longer available for rental.

Convinced of the importance and necessity for a church, our pioneering forefathers purchased the present site for $1,000 in 1887. In the following year a chapel was built at a cost of $2600, and two years later the congregation had grown sufficiently to function as an independent church in 1890.