Emmanuel Bible Church gathers along Ogden Avenue in Berwyn, Illinois, as a bilingual congregation of evangelical Christians who describe themselves in two simple sentences: "To Love God and Love People - By making Disciples who make Disciples." Inside a single building at 6630 Ogden Avenue, two distinct Sunday services - one in English, one in Spanish - share pastors, elders, classrooms, and a common confession of faith. Children, students, men, and women each have their own weekly rhythms, and the preaching and teaching is published online in both languages.
Two Sunday Mornings Under One Roof
Emmanuel Bible Church opens its doors twice on Sunday, and the order of worship is shaped to serve two language communities at the same time. The English service begins at 10:00 AM, and the Spanish service follows at 12:00 PM. Both services include singing, prayer, expository preaching, and weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper, with members and visitors alike invited to take communion.
Children from birth through fifth grade have their own Sunday School hour at 10:00 AM and again at noon, meeting on the second floor of the building. Middle school and high school students gather for Sunday Bible Study at the same two hours, this time on the third floor. The arrangement means a family with children of multiple ages can attend a single service together while every student is also discipled in an age-appropriate setting.
Visitors should know that the building is set up so that arriving for either the 10:00 AM English service or the noon Spanish service, parents can drop younger children at the second-floor Sunday School and older students at the third-floor Student Bible Study, then join the adults in the main sanctuary.
A Detailed Statement of Faith
Membership at Emmanuel Bible Church requires assent to a written doctrinal statement, and the statement is unusually thorough. It begins with the Bible: Emmanuel teaches that all Scripture is "given by inspiration of God" and that the whole of the Old and New Testaments centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The church confesses the historic Christian Trinity - one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and affirms that Jesus Christ is very God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified as a substitutionary sacrifice, raised in a glorified body, ascended to heaven, and coming again personally and visibly.
Humanity, in the statement, is described as fallen: every child of Adam is born spiritually dead, at enmity with God, and unable to take a single step toward heaven through moral improvement, religious ritual, or humanitarian effort. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone. The statement also affirms the eternal security of the believer: "a born again believer cannot ever lose his salvation," though it allows that a believer may fall into carnality and suffer God's loving discipline.
The doctrinal statement goes on to define the church as all who are united by the Holy Spirit to the risen Christ, the priesthood of all believers, and the sovereign distribution of spiritual gifts at the moment of new birth. Two ordinances are observed: water baptism by immersion, as a public symbol of identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (it does not save), and the Lord's Supper, observed regularly as a time of self-examination and remembrance of Christ's death.
The statement takes a clear position on human sexuality. Marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman, sexual intimacy is reserved for that union, and the church names a list of behaviors it considers sinful. The same statement, however, calls every person to be treated with "compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity," and affirms that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin. The full constitution, including the statement of faith and the church's position on marriage, gender, and sexuality, is available to download from the church's site.
Eschatologically, Emmanuel Bible Church is premillennial and pretribulational. The statement looks for the imminent rapture of the church, followed by a seven-year tribulation, the literal thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, the final judgment of the unsaved, and the eternal state described in Revelation 21 and 22.
Pastoral Leadership
The lead pastor is Dr. Manrique Salazar, who holds a Doctorate in Ministry from Phoenix Seminary. Before coming to Berwyn he spent thirteen years as a church planter and lead pastor in his home country of Costa Rica, where he also taught expository preaching at ESEPA Seminary in San Jose and trained pastors across Latin America through IBAC and RREACH. His earlier career was in civil engineering and construction, a background he brought into ministry after attending Columbia International University in South Carolina. He and his wife Rebekah have three children.
Serving alongside him is Miguel Crespo, the Associate Pastor of Family Ministries. Crespo oversees the church's work with children and students, having spent years in children's and youth ministry before joining the staff. He and his wife Dalia have two daughters.
The worship ministry is led by Tino Ojeda, who holds a Master of Arts in Worship from Northern Seminary and has served as worship pastor of Emmanuel Bible's Spanish side since its inception, and for both English and Spanish congregations for the last seven years. Ojeda is known for blending doctrinally faithful hymns with newer biblically sound worship songs, and he has composed and recorded a collection of English and Spanish worship songs.
The church is governed by a team of elders, deacons, and deaconesses. Elders include Aminadab Lugo and Ed Polanco (who also leads the Men's Ministry). Deacons are Francisco Ochoa and Damian Zalazinski. Deaconesses are Ana Isabel Pulgarín and Elizabeth Ochoa. This body shares responsibility for the spiritual oversight, member care, and operational life of the church.
Family Ministries for Every Age
The Family Children's Ministry at Emmanuel Bible Church serves children from birth through fifth grade. On Sunday mornings they meet for Sunday School at both 10:00 AM and noon on the second floor, providing care and Bible teaching that runs alongside each adult service. On Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM the church hosts Awana Nights for the same K-5th grade group, a structured program of Bible memory, games, and discipleship that has run in evangelical churches for decades.
Teenagers in sixth through twelfth grade make up Emmanuel Student Ministry, or ESM. They meet for Sunday Bible Study at 10:00 AM and noon on the third floor, then come back on Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM for ESM Nights, a separate midweek gathering designed for deeper community and teaching. During June and July the student ministry shifts to ESM Summer Nights, held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month between 6:30 and 8:00 PM, a lighter summer schedule for students out of school.
Together these ministries mean that a child at Emmanuel can be in Sunday School from infancy, move into Awana on Wednesday nights through fifth grade, then transition into ESM from middle school through high school graduation, with adult volunteers and the same pastoral staff overseeing every stage.
Rooted Women and a Brotherhood of Men
Two adult ministries complement the family and youth work. The women's ministry, called Rooted, meets on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 AM and is built around large-group teaching, smaller growth groups, and fellowship among women. A Zoom broadcast is available starting at 9:30 AM for women who cannot attend in person. The ministry describes its aim as meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of women through teaching and godly friendship.
The Men's Ministry meets Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 PM and is shaped around a clear challenge: "to be the Servant Leader that Christ modeled in Scripture." The ministry runs small groups facilitated by men like elder Ed Polanco and is one of the main midweek entry points for men in the church who want regular Bible study and prayer alongside other men.
Music That Bridges Heritage and Today
Worship at Emmanuel is led each Sunday by Pastor Tino Ojeda and a worship team that serves both English and Spanish services. The musical style is intentionally blended: doctrinally accurate hymns from the wider Christian tradition sit alongside newer worship songs, and the team regularly leads in both English and Spanish. Ojeda has also recorded original songs in both languages, an unusual feature for a single local congregation and one that reflects the bilingual life of the church.
The worship team includes members of Ojeda's own family. He is married to Kathy, his high school sweetheart, and their four children - Stephanie, Andrew, Emma, and Caleb - all serve with him in the worship ministry.
The Word Continues Online
Sermons are recorded each week and posted to the church's Messages page in English, with a parallel Mensajes page in Spanish. The same sermon is typically preached in both services, so a teaching like the recent series on gospel-centered homes and worshipping God faithfully in marriage appears in both languages. The church also maintains a YouTube channel where the sermons are uploaded for streaming.
Beyond the weekly sermons, the pastoral staff writes occasional longer pieces to teach. Recent posts include "How Confession and Humility Lead to Joy and Spiritual Growth" on Psalm 32, and "Why Finding a Local Church Matters for Your Faith Journey." These are categorized on the site under Bible Study, Christian Living, Faith, Humility, and Spiritual Growth, and they reflect the same expository, discipleship-focused approach that shapes the pulpit.
Ways to Partner
Emmanuel Bible Church offers several ways to give. The church uses BluePay for online giving, accepts bill-pay gifts through a member's own bank (with no account number needed, just the church's name and address), receives gifts by mail, and has a mail slot at the front of the building for in-person drop-offs. The church's own description frames giving as partnership, not obligation, and points to the Philippians church that gave sacrificially to support the spread of the gospel.
Visitors and members can also stay connected through a weekly email list, which delivers small-group questions and weekly bulletins, and through the church's active social media presence on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Newcomers who want to know more about becoming a Christian can read the gospel presentation in either English or Spanish and follow the steps of baptism, daily Scripture and prayer, fellowship, and church membership that the church teaches as the natural next steps after coming to faith.
Emmanuel Bible Church remains, at its heart, what its motto states: a community on Ogden Avenue learning to love God and love people, and to make disciples who, in turn, make more disciples - in English and in Spanish, across the street and around the world.