At 916 E Hintz Rd in Arlington Heights, Pathway Church is known for a 10:00 a.m. Sunday gathering centered on worship, relationships, family ministry, and service. Its guiding refrain is Love God. Love People. For more than 50 years, the church has framed its hope in practical terms: people find a community to belong to, experience new life in Jesus Christ, discover their purpose, make an impact, find healing from the past, thrive in family and marriage, and learn to live for more. Pathway also connects people through live online worship and ministries for children, students, adults, and families.
A 10 A.M. Sunday Gathering in Arlington Heights
Pathway's main Sunday service begins at 10:00 a.m. at 916 E Hintz Rd in Arlington Heights. The same service is live online through live.YourPathwayChurch.org. The in-person gathering includes the Kids' Clubhouse for younger children, while middle and high school students are encouraged to remain with their families in the service. For visitors arriving at the building, greeters and ushers work in the lobby, coffee is part of the welcome, and anyone bringing children can be directed to the Children's Check-in Desk.
Clothes are deliberately low-key. Pathway's examples include a T-shirt and jeans, a dress, or pajamas for joining from home, and the church is not particular about attire. A visitor also does not need to arrive with a Bible. Pathway uses the New Living Translation and keeps Bibles available for use; anyone who likes to write in the margins can bring a personal copy. The live gathering includes chat and a place to request prayer, and recordings can be watched on YouTube or heard through the church's Apple Podcasts and Spotify feeds.
The tone is open rather than formal. Pathway welcomes people of all backgrounds, cultures, ages, and phases of life to discover who God is and the purpose he has for them. It calls the church a safe place to explore faith and acknowledges that everyone has questions. Its four-part outline - experience God, connect with others, discover community, and make a difference - gives the Sunday gathering its larger context. The in-person and online options share the same 10:00 a.m. start.
Kids' Clubhouse and a Safe Start for Children
Children's ministry is built around what Pathway calls a loving, creative, fun, and interactive environment. Music, games, and storytelling help children learn about God's love, make friends, and understand that they have a Christ-centered purpose. The Sunday clubhouse is divided by age: infants through two-and-a-half years, preschool from two-and-a-half years through pre-K, and elementary children from kindergarten through fifth grade. The goal is to introduce Jesus and his love in a way that fits each stage of childhood.
The check-in process is intentionally clear. A guest services member greets the family and takes the parent to the Children's Check-in Desk, where staff collect information and show the parent to the child's room in the secure children's area. Parent and child receive matching coded tags. If staff need to reach the family during the service, the child's code appears on a screen, and the parent uses the tag to pick up the child afterward. This allows parents to participate in worship while children are in their own age-appropriate classes.
Pathway takes the safety of children seriously. Volunteers who work with people under 18 are background checked, and a safety team member monitors the children's area on Sundays. The Kids' Clubhouse therefore serves both as a Bible teaching environment and as a practical way for families to worship together. Middle and high school students instead remain in the main service with their parents or other family members.
Learning by Game, Verse, and Team
Awana meets Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. during the September-April program for children who are 3 by September 1 through sixth grade. Its groups are Cubbies for 3-year-olds through pre-K, Sparks for kindergarten through second grade, and T&T for third through sixth grade. Clubbers hear Bible stories, memorize verses, and take part in age-appropriate games that build confidence in individual and team competition. Awards recognize verse memorization and completed projects, and children may join during the school year.
Upward Basketball and Cheerleading brings the same age range, grades 1 through 6, into a January-March sports season. Pathway's goals for the league are character, confidence, faith, and sportsmanship. Players receive equal playing time, teams are formed with each child's experience in mind, and winning is treated as a bonus rather than the main aim. Cheerleaders cheer for every player through a weekly rotation. Practices happen once a week and games take place on Saturdays, with all practices and games held at Pathway.
For summer, Kids Camp is presented as a week of interactive Bible teaching in a vacation Bible school format for 3-year-olds through sixth graders. Together, Awana, Upward, and Kids Camp let the church teach children in settings that range from crafts and games to stories, teamwork, and movement.
Monday Nights for Middle School and High School Students
Student ministry meets Monday evenings in two stages. Middle school students gather from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., while high school students meet from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. The middle-school group, The Rock, focuses on Jesus as the foundation for identity during a formative season of life. Momentum, the high-school ministry, addresses the challenges students face and gives them a place to belong, learn, and grow.
Mentors connect students with biblical truth and help them apply it to their lives, while the team partners with parents during the transition toward adulthood. The stated aim is lasting relationships that continue beyond youth group. The Student Ministry Pastor leads both middle and high school ministries, and students also take part in mission trips that reach people with limited resources in the United States.
Growth Groups and the Next Step Toward Service
Pathway calls Growth Groups the best way for people to connect. The groups are designed to strengthen relationships both with God and with other people, creating room for healthy, life-changing friendships. Options include mixed groups, men's groups, women's groups, and a young adults' group for singles and married people without children, ranging from post-high school through age 29. Groups meet regularly at times and places that work for their members, including homes, the church, and online.
Pathway also sets aside the first Thursday of each month for focused, interactive prayer from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The gathering includes prayer for the church and its ministries, leaders, and unsaved family and friends.
For those ready to become more involved, the Next Steps pathway has two connected parts. A 90-minute class covers the church, its beliefs, and ways to participate, and it is offered several times a year. Partnership is then affirmed once and renewed annually as a shared commitment to the life and ministry of Pathway.
Serve teams put those interests into practice. Children's ministry needs support for Sunday mornings, Awana, and Upward. Student ministry includes youth and technology roles. Worship arts draws on people for technology, graphic arts, announcements, singers, musicians, and other production work. Guest services relies on greeters, ushers, a welcome center, the cafe, and the safety team. A standby team fills one-time needs such as event setup, mailers, and staffing gaps. Pathway's wider principle is that gifts and talents can be used to serve both the church and community.
Thursday's Food Pantry and Hands-On Community Care
Community impact begins close to home with an on-site food pantry open Thursdays from noon to 1:00 p.m. It is stocked with nonperishable food and toiletries donated by Pathway families, and guests may pack two bags with the items they need. The pantry serves residents of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Northbrook, Palatine, Prospect Heights, and Wheeling, who bring proof of their current address. Donations of food or toiletries can be brought on Thursday afternoons or Sunday mornings.
Pathway also partners with Wheeling Township to adopt low-income families at Christmas, making sure they receive gifts. Volunteers join HandsOn Suburban Chicago's annual Paint-a-Thon to paint the exteriors of homes for seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who are unable to do the work themselves. The result is both a fresh exterior and what the church calls a little peace of mind for homeowners.
These projects reflect the church's stated model of local service: partner with organizations that identify needs, then bring volunteers and practical assistance to the people involved. The pantry is open to the surrounding community, while the Paint-a-Thon and Adopt-a-Family work rely on relationships built with local groups.
From Packed Meals to Bible Translation
Pathway's mission reaches beyond its own community. Volunteers regularly hand-pack specially formulated meals through Feed My Starving Children, an effort whose meals are distributed to children in need in more than 70 countries. Children as young as five can participate when accompanied by a parent. The church also supports missionaries and mission organizations that share the good news of Jesus Christ and work among people who may not otherwise have access to Scripture.
Those partnerships are concrete. Brion and Annette Kendzora serve with Ethnos360 in Florida, seeking to bring the Word of God to tribal people who previously lacked access to it. John and Bonnie Nystrom have worked with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea since 1987; John coaches translators in 11 languages, while Bonnie serves the wider Bible translation movement. Zak and Laura O'Leary support the Leipon people through Bible translation, literacy, and Scripture-use work. Sue Pfaff serves people who speak the Nali language on Manus Island and helps train teams from more than a dozen languages. Waller and Mary Tabb, after 17 years in eastern Africa, especially Uganda, now support Ugandan translation teams through remote work and regular visits.
Financial and practical support also extends to El Ayudante in Honduras, whose work addresses physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in the local community. Pathway sends a team each year to work alongside El Ayudante in mountain communities near Comayagua. Adults can join those short-term trips, while high school students take part in mission trips within the United States. In each case, Pathway describes the goal as serving people with both resources and presence rather than simply funding distant work.
What Pathway Church Believes
Pathway's statement of faith affirms one God, the creator of all things, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is described as infinitely perfect, holy, and unchanging in wisdom, power, grace, mercy, compassion, truth, and love. Jesus Christ is affirmed as completely God and completely human, sinless, crucified as a perfect sacrifice for sin, bodily resurrected, ascended, and now serving as high priest. The Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and Son and is described as the one who convicts people of sin, gives new life, indwells believers, and empowers them for service.
The Bible is held as the inspired Word of God, written by prophets and apostles under the Holy Spirit's guidance, trustworthy without error in the original writings, and the final authority for Christian faith and life. Human beings are created in God's image and have sinned. Pathway teaches that forgiveness and complete salvation come through spiritual rebirth by the Holy Spirit, and that those who trust Christ and receive him by faith are forgiven, born again, and sealed by the Spirit.
Baptism is a believer's identification with Christ and a testimony of faith, not a means of salvation; the church's practice is immersion. Communion is a memorial celebration of Christ's death and resurrection, open to people who give a credible confession of faith, except those who willfully persist in sin, spread false doctrine, or create divisions. The church is described as a worldwide living body with Christ as its head, and local congregations are responsible to him.
Pathway assigns designated elders to lead and guide as overseers, with spiritual and capable men and women sharing other ministries. Its statement also affirms the personal return of Jesus, the bodily resurrection of the dead, and the responsibility of each Christian to love God and neighbor, worship, study Scripture, pray, encourage others, share salvation through Christ, and pursue good works. Participation in the church's fellowship does not require commitment to every detail of the statement, though principal Christian doctrines are assumed and those who teach or counsel on the church's behalf are expected to teach them wholeheartedly.
Pastors, Elders, and a Church Built for Growth
Pathway's leadership is organized around teaching, family formation, student care, worship arts, outreach, and elder oversight. Senior Pastor Dave Corlew teaches on Sunday mornings, provides leadership for the elders and staff, and champions the church's vision and values. Before joining Pathway in 2005, he spent 24 years in youth ministry and earned degrees from Moody Bible Institute, Trinity International University, and Moody Graduate School. Family Pastor Chris Modrzejewski leads teams serving children and adolescents, helps parents develop faith at home, and teaches in Sunday services.
Student Ministry Pastor Jc Pappen leads the middle and high school ministries and oversees the technology team's development. Worship Arts Director Denise Johnson creates space for intimate moments with God and times of collective celebration, with a background in vocal performance. Outreach Discipleship Coach Becky Kinnee works alongside ministry leaders to help their teams become more outreach focused. The elder team includes Patrick Dawson, Ming Fong, Jim Johnson, Jordan Kerr, Josh Kinnee, and Jim Ray, alongside Corlew. Jim Ray and SuZane also direct the church's Awana ministry.
The leadership biographies show a blend of church roles, family life, and outside interests, but the descriptions return repeatedly to the same idea: healthy growth happens through worship, teaching, community, and service. The church's mission is stated plainly as leading people to experience new life in Jesus Christ. Its vision is to minister to the whole family and welcome people from all backgrounds.
The Sunday Rhythm and the Work Beyond It
Pathway Church's rhythm extends from a 10:00 a.m. Sunday gathering to Monday student ministries, Tuesday Awana clubs, weekly Growth Groups, Thursday prayer and food pantry service, and mission work that reaches across the United States and abroad. The church connects worship, family formation, practical service, and global partnership within the same church life. At 916 E Hintz Rd in Arlington Heights, Pathway continues to organize its ministry around one promise: to lead people to experience new life in Jesus Christ and welcome all who come into the life of the church.