A Living Witness on South Euclid Avenue
At Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church, three words shape the life of the congregation: Love God, Live Green, Liberate All. Located at 405 South Euclid Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, Euclid has been a living witness to the grace of God in the western Chicago suburbs since the late nineteenth century, when the church first took root in a railroad stationhouse. More than a century later, the congregation gathers weekly to worship, sing, share communion, and put faith into action through social justice, environmental stewardship, and care for neighbors in Oak Park, across the country, and around the world.
A Welcoming, Progressive Community
Euclid's identity is anchored in radical welcome. In 1980, the congregation joined the Reconciling Ministries Network, affirming the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people in the life of the church and in wider society. The community describes itself as African, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, and Anglo-American; female, male, and transgender; young and old, partnered and single, gay and straight. The congregation celebrates this diversity each Sunday in a service that combines music, scripture, and weekly communion, and invites visitors to come as they are.
That commitment extends to every area of church life. The community's diversity, justice, and peace pledge declares that diversity is a gift, that racism is a sin, and that the church is called to live lives rooted in justice, inclusion, and peace. Euclid belongs to the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church and walks the Wesleyan way, holding fast to the means of grace, the ministry of connection, and the hope of transformation.
Sunday Morning at 10:30
Sunday worship gathers at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary and is also livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with recordings posted for those who cannot be there in person. Euclid describes its worship style as both liturgically rich and eclectic. Communion is offered every week, and the progressive Christian education curriculum built around the Eight Points of Progressive Christianity weaves themes of inclusive faith, social justice, environmental stewardship, and compassionate living through the year of study. Families are warmly invited to take part.
The Green Campus and Creation Care
Euclid's commitment to creation care is visible the moment you step on the grounds. In 2014, the Green Action Team led the congregation through the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system, ninety-nine solar panels, a permeable brick parking lot, and a butterfly way station. The Sally Stoval Memorial Garden, dedicated to a longtime member who died in 2019, offers a place for reflection among the church's landscaped grounds. In 2015, the team hosted the Earth Revival event, with a worship service led by Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III of Trinity United Methodist Church. Today the team is laying the groundwork for a Green Academy that will help other congregations and nonprofits plan their own sustainability projects.
Euclid has served as a host site for the One Earth Film Festival, and its geothermal installation has been featured in publications from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Interfaith Power and Light, the U.S. Green Buildings Council, the Northern Illinois Conference, and the Oak Park regional press. The team also partners with other Oak Park sustainability groups, including West Cook Wild Ones and the Sugar Beet Food Co-op.
The Reconciling Ministry Since 1980
Each year, the Reconciling Committee presents the Bruce C. Scott Courage and Justice Award to individuals or organizations advancing LGBTQIA+ rights. The award honors the late Bruce Scott, who successfully sued the federal government in the 1960s in Scott v. Macy after losing his job during the Lavender Scare, in a case widely credited with helping ignite the modern struggle for gay rights. Honorees have included the Reconciling Ministries Network (2024), teachers Ashley Kannan and Nate Murawski of Percy Julian Middle School (2024), the Armetis Singers (2023), attorney Patricia Logue (2022), Chi Chapter (2021), and educator Ginger Colamussi (2019). The award is the congregation's way of honoring pioneers whose courage and witness remind Euclid of its own calling to radical inclusion.
Repairing the World: Mission Near and Far
Euclid's mission outreach stretches from Oak Park to the other side of the globe. Locally, the church maintains one of three Oak Park CommUNITY Fridges, housed in the shed within the church's parking lot, and partners with the Greater Chicago Food Depository through annual youth service days. A community food pantry inside the Euclid Avenue entrance accepts donations of non-perishable food and hygiene products and is open to anyone who needs them weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Across the ocean, the congregation is a longtime supporter of South Sudan Voices of Hope, a relief and development organization that has built a vocational training center and supplies an orphanage caring for 150 children in Juba. Over fourteen years, Euclid has contributed more than $39,000 to this work, including a $1,923 gift in December 2025 to help outfit the Hope Happens vocational center with solar-powered water tanks, additional tailoring machines, and supplies for graduating students. On the U.S.-Mexico border, Euclid supports Manos Juntas (Hands Together) Mexico, a Methodist Church of Mexico mission, and the work of missionary Guillermo "Willie" Berman, who has helped start sewing classes, medical clinics, scholarship programs, and community development projects along the border.
The Reparations Working Group
What began in 2016 as a series of community forums on racism, sparked by national events and the lived experience of neighbors in Oak Park, has grown into the Reparations Working Group, an ongoing ministry that guides the congregation from reflection to repair. The group maintains a curated list of resources, supports Black-owned businesses to help address the generational wealth gap, and hosts film screenings and study series drawing on the Equal Justice Initiative, Race-Conscious Dialogues, the Northern Illinois Conference's Religion and Race ministries, Reparations 4 Slavery, and other voices.
Children, Youth, and Family
Children, youth, and families find a full slate of programming at Euclid. The Euclid UMC Youth Group, made up of middle school and high school students, meets monthly for fun, faith development, and mission planning, and travels each summer to a new city in the United States for hands-on mission work. United Women in Faith gathers at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month for a catered dinner, an educational program, and engagement in social justice ministries. The Knit and Crochet Group meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m., a relaxed circle where members share skills and conversation. The building also houses Kinfolk CoLab on its second floor, a community center that prioritizes people of color and provides space for BIPOC-led groups seeking safe and affirming locations for meetings and programming.
Members describe the life of the church as wide-ranging: volunteering with the Green Action Team, joining the choir, gathering for softball or a book club, lending a hand at the food pantry, and supporting the work of inclusion and social justice that has defined Euclid for more than forty years. Ongoing spiritual formation for children, youth, and adults runs throughout the year.
EAUMC Artist Series
Music and the arts are woven through the life of Euclid. The EAUMC Artist Series brings concerts to the sanctuary that transcend genre and inspire the soul, drawing neighbors from across Oak Park for evenings of music, reflection, and connection. The series is one more way the church opens its doors and its gifts to the wider community.
Pastoral and Music Leadership
Rev. Nancy Blade leads the congregation as pastor. She holds a bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University in political science and international relations, and a Master of Divinity from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She chairs the Conference Board of Trustees, coordinates the Northern Illinois Conference Net Zero Movement, serves on the Committee on Native American Ministry, sits on the board of Echos Children's Orphanage in Lajeune, Haiti, and is an Earthkeeper and member of Fossil Free UMC. Her motto is, "With God there is always hope."
Rev. CJ Hawking serves as the Harry F. Ward Minister for Social Justice, a role named for the Methodist Federation for Social Action founder who served Euclid more than a century ago. She also serves as Executive Director of Arise Chicago, an organization that has helped low-wage immigrant workers recover more than $6.3 million in stolen wages since 1991 and has passed anti-wage theft ordinances in Chicago and Cook County. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois and co-author of "Staley: The Fight for the New American Labor Movement."
Brigit Goudie joined the staff in August 2023 as Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry, bringing a background in children's librarianship and intergenerational programming. Nick Pothier serves as Director of Music, bringing experience as a pianist, organist, choir director, and collaborative musician who has served congregations in New Hampshire, Maryland, and Illinois. Shaun Barton serves as Director of Digital Ministries and is a Certified Lay Minister, focusing on engagement between the Oak Park and Austin communities.
Visiting Euclid Avenue UMC
The church's plan-your-visit welcome is simply stated: "All of God's creation is welcomed to worship with us." Parking is freely available on Euclid Avenue, and a wheelchair-accessible entrance is provided through the Ellen Cutter Garden off Washington Avenue. The Sunday service at 10:30 a.m. is offered in person and livestreamed on YouTube. The office is open Monday through Friday, and the staff responds to phone, email, and message requests as quickly as possible.
Rooted in scripture, guided by tradition, and open to the Spirit's movement, Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church remains a place where faith is formed, love is practiced, and grace is made known in the world.