A Family Church on Pilot Knob Road
Chapel Hill Church sits on Pilot Knob Road in Eagan, Minnesota, just south of the Minnesota River and a short drive from the Twin Cities. The congregation's mission is to guide people into a flourishing, contagious relationship with Jesus Christ, and its vision is to move this generation from culture to Kingdom. The values underneath that mission are three: Growing in Christ, Living in Love, and Impacting the World.
What sets Chapel Hill apart is the depth of its work with families. The church has built a full arc of ministry around the milestones of growing up in Christ, from baby dedication in the nursery to a Senior Year milestone just before high school graduation. Around that arc, the church runs a parents' day out program, a children's ministry, a student ministry for middle and high schoolers, men's and women's ministry, a prayer team, an outreach program with global and local partners, and a worship team that leads contemporary band-led services each Sunday.
Sunday Mornings at 10:00
Sunday services meet at 10:00 am at 4888 Pilot Knob Road in Eagan. On the first Sunday of each month, the schedule shifts to 9:00 am and 10:30 am, and the whole church shares open communion together as one family.
Each service includes contemporary band-led worship, a Bible-based sermon, and time to connect with others. Services run about 60 minutes, split between worship, announcements, and sermon. Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate are served before the service, and covered drinks are welcome in the sanctuary. Cookies or donuts are sometimes available afterward.
There is no dress code. Visitors are invited to wear whatever feels most comfortable, from jeans and t-shirts to a favorite sports jersey. The parking lot is large, with options close to the door, including accessible parking, and spaces farther out for those who want extra steps.
Children from birth through fifth grade have their own classes on Sunday mornings, organized into four groups: Nursery for babies, Little Sprouts for preschool, Big Sprouts for pre-kindergarten, and Elementary. Every child is checked in by a parent or responsible adult using a numbered ticket system that matches a sticker on the child. On the first Sunday of each month, kids join the full congregation for the family service, and on holiday weekends, early childhood classes continue while elementary students join the main worship service.
Family Milestones from the Cradle to Senior Year
Chapel Hill's family ministry is organized around a series of milestone gatherings that mark the key transitions of growing up. Parents are equipped as the primary faith trainers, while children experience age-appropriate programming that brings Scripture to life. The intent is that children do not grow in faith alone, and neither should parents.
Baby Dedication is a two-part series for families with new babies, designed to celebrate the child and equip parents. Starting Point gathers families whose children are entering formal schooling and introduces ways to weave faith into everyday life, including a Kindergarten Bible project. The Roots milestone, for the middle years, is the moment when kids are most likely to come to faith, and parents and children explore salvation, baptism, and communion together. Movin' On Up marks the move into middle school, complete with a teen Bible project. Who Am I supports high schoolers as they begin to find their identity in Christ amid cultural pressures. Freedom and Responsibility addresses the increasing independence of the teen years, including the transition to driving. Senior Year is the final milestone, designed to help teens own their faith and build a foundation for adulthood.
Children's Praise and Rainbows
Children's Praise and Rainbows, often shortened to CPR, is the church's parents' day out program for children from 18 months through pre-kindergarten. The program runs Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm, September through mid-May, and follows Independent School District 196 for holidays.
Each child attends one day a week, the same day every week, and stays with the same class all year, building friendships as they grow. The four classes are Yellow Birds for 18 to 24 months, Red Foxes for ages 2 and 3, Blue Whales for ages 3 and 4, and Green Dinosaurs for ages 4 through pre-kindergarten. Days are filled with story time, music, crafts, learning centers, physical activity, and nature, all built around the WEE Learn curriculum, which lays a foundation for understanding God, Jesus, the Bible, church, self, family, others, and the natural world.
Tuition is $90 a month for one child, $160 for two, and $210 for three, with a $15 late fee and a non-refundable registration fee of $40 for one child or $60 for two or more. Registration opens each February for the following school year.
Students in 6th Through 12th Grade
The Students ministry, led by Student and Family Ministry Pastor Jamie Buchanan, gathers middle and high schoolers under the banner of "Don't Fit In. Be Transformed," pulling from Romans 12:2. The youth group, called 12:2 in the House, meets Sundays from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for teaching, games, and worship.
On Wednesdays, after a shared family meal at 5:30 pm, students gather for Nutrients Needed, a midweek Bible study for middle and high schoolers that runs from 6:50 to 8:00 pm. The ministry also organizes service projects throughout the year, from local roads to senior homes, and an annual mission trip to the Appalachian region to fix homes and support local families.
All children and youth workers are background checked and trained before serving. Kids' programming includes a check-in and check-out process for safety, and a parent connection email each week summarizes what students learned so parents can continue the conversation at home.
The Called Discipleship Series
Called is a sermon series and discipleship class that explores what disciple-making looks like in real life. The accompanying class is a nine-week journey that meets twice a week, with the same content offered on Wednesdays at 6:00 pm and Sundays at 8:30 am, so participants can pick the time that fits their schedule.
The series moves through three parts. Foundations digs into the biblical basis for disciple-making and what it looks like to grow from disciple to disciple-maker. Jesus and Peter walks through Peter's own story of being called, shaped, and redeemed. The final part, Jesus and Peter, and the Church, looks at how the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to build a people, not just individuals, and how the Kingdom expanded through his discipling of the Church. The class is built around stable tables of about ten people for relationship, with a facilitator guiding conversation.
Childcare is provided for both class times, with Wednesday Night Kids Club during the Wednesday class and childcare during the Sunday class. A portion of the class is recorded for those who miss, though small-group table discussions are not recorded.
Adults: Men, Women, and the Engage Group
Men's ministry at Chapel Hill centers on the conviction that as a man's spiritual life goes, so goes the family around him. The program runs an annual retreat, small groups, a Spring Sizzle Steak Feed, and less formal activities like biking, softball, golfing, camping, and big-screen sporting events. Bible studies are offered year-round, and a monthly breakfast gathers men on the third Saturday of each month at 7:30 am.
Women's ministry focuses on growing in authentic faith, encouraging connectedness, spiritual growth, and vulnerability. The ministry hosts quarterly events ranging from dinners and crafts to bonfires, game nights, pickleball, and service projects, and offers two Bible studies, one Wednesday morning with childcare at the church, and one Monday evening. A scholarship fund helps women who face financial barriers to acquiring Bible study materials and attending retreats.
Engage is the ministry for men and women in their middle or older years who want a place to engage socially and in service. The group packs meals at Feed My Starving Children in Eagan the second Wednesday of each month from 12:00 to 1:45 pm, with an optional gathering afterward at a nearby Culver's.
Adventure Game Community
One of the more unusual offerings is the Adventure Game Community, a tabletop role-playing group for ages 13 and up that meets every other Friday from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The group runs Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition campaigns, and the church fills with players, dice, character sheets, miniatures, and imagination.
No experience is required, and no gear is needed. The community has dice, character sheets, and pre-made characters at the table. A meal is provided for $5, rotating between pasta bars, rice bowls, and tacos, with the occasional pizza night. Adventures range from published modules like Wild Beyond the Witchlight and Storm King's Thunder to homebrew campaigns.
Worship, Prayer, and Outreach
The Chapel Hill Worship Team exists to create an atmosphere where the congregation encounters God through communal music, scripture, and prayer. The team is led by Worship and Production Director Kyle Lippert and includes vocalists, instrumentalists, and a production team running sound, slides, lighting, video, and cameras. A streaming team carries services to a YouTube channel where the live service and past sermons are available.
The Prayer Ministry, led by Sigrid Lindholm, lifts up individuals, families, and church ministries through a weekly prayer letter that goes out on Mondays by 10:00 am, communal prayer gatherings, and a team that prays with people after Sunday services. Anyone with a heart to pray for others is welcome to join.
Outreach is organized around four regions and runs through two partnerships streams, Global Partners and Local Partners, providing opportunities for individuals and groups to make personal connections with missionaries and mission-focused organizations. The church also hosts Red Cross blood drives on the property every eight weeks, and supports Vacation Bible School as a five-day summer outreach for kids in the community.
What Chapel Hill Believes
Chapel Hill's statement of faith is rooted in the Bible as the inspired, authoritative Word of God. The church affirms one God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in creation, providence, and redemption.
The church believes in God the Father as creator of heaven and earth, in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, in his virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, perpetual intercession, and personal visible return, and in the Holy Spirit, who convicts, regenerates, sanctifies, and empowers believers. All people are created in God's image, and because of the fall, all are sinners by nature and choice, unable to save themselves.
Salvation comes through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. The church practices two ordinances, believer's baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper, and teaches that the body of Christ is a living spiritual body of all regenerated believers, with the local church carrying the primary task of taking the gospel to a lost world. Marriage is defined as a lifelong, exclusive, one-flesh covenant between a man and a woman reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church. The church also affirms religious liberty, holding that every believer has direct relations with God and that each church is independent from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority.
Planning a First Visit
Chapel Hill Church is led by Senior Pastor Paul McVety, with Kyle Lippert directing worship and production, Jamie Buchanan leading students and family ministry, and Laurie Oliver Boyd directing children's and family ministry. The full staff team also includes Alyssa Childs directing the Children's Praise and Rainbows parents' day out program and Sigrid Lindholm leading the prayer ministry. Services are livestreamed on YouTube for those watching from home. Chapel Hill Church gathers on Pilot Knob Road in Eagan as a congregation built around families, milestones, and the everyday work of growing in Christ, living in love, and impacting the world.