On the corner of Austin and University Streets in Peoria, Illinois, Peoria Nazarene Church, a Church of the Nazarene congregation, is known for its welcoming, relational atmosphere and the simple promise, “When you are here, you are family.” The church has served Peoria since 1925, gathering an intergenerational community from many backgrounds around worship, discipleship, family ministry, and service. Its mission is to connect people to God’s love.
When You Are Here, You Are Family
Sunday worship begins at 10:30 AM, and people are invited to join the church family for the weekly gathering. The sanctuary sits at 5504 N University St, just inside the corner of Austin and University Streets. The gathering is rooted in a message of hope in Jesus Christ and in the church’s conviction that relationships matter as much as a polished service can. Its worship culture is relational: the church welcomes all people, values relationships both inside and outside its walls, and has grown into an extended family. The atmosphere is intergenerational, bringing together people from many different backgrounds.
Visitors are met at the Welcome Center just outside the sanctuary, where volunteers assist families and answer practical questions. Children can be registered there before the service, or a family can complete the Kids Worship Guest Registration Form in advance and bring it along. First-time parents are asked to arrive a few extra minutes early. After check-in, each child receives a temporary identification tag and a parent card, which helps the church keep children safely connected to the adults who brought them. On later Sundays, parents can use the computer at the back of the sanctuary for check-in or ask a Welcome Center volunteer for help. The worship gathering is also livestreamed, so people can join from home.
For families with children birth through fifth grade, the morning is designed to let children learn and worship while remaining with their parents. Nursery and toddler rooms are staffed for the entire service. Pre-K and elementary children begin with their families for the first half of worship, then are dismissed before the message for Kids Worship in the lower level. Parents may keep their children with them instead. That combination of clear age groups, safety procedures, and room for parents to stay present makes children’s ministry a visible part of Sunday rather than a separate add-on.
A Mission Born in 1925
Peoria Nazarene began as a mission in 1925, before it had a building of its own. The congregation has occupied three buildings since that beginning, and the building at its North University Street address was completed in 1975 around the church’s 50th anniversary. Pastor James Hazelwood led the project for that building. He and the congregation borrowed money, trusted that God would provide, and celebrated the burning of the mortgage a few years later. That history of risk and faithfulness remains part of the church’s identity: its mission is not tied to a building but to connecting people with God and one another.
The church describes its life through four values. Community means having open arms for the city; authenticity means seeking to love God and others genuinely; relationships are a priority rather than an extra; and empathy is expressed through caring for people in need. These values are visible in the congregation’s variety and in the practical ways it organizes Sunday mornings, gathers people at tables, supports families, and serves alongside schools and other community partners. At the center of that life is Jesus Christ. The church’s teaching places hope, salvation, and the call to follow Jesus at the center, while its worship and discipleship seek to turn belief into relationships and service.
Over nearly a century, the church has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to mission, ministry, and needs, seen lives transformed, and watched men and women called into ministry. It continues to name Peoria as the place where its mission is lived out. The best description of the congregation is relational and practical at once: people are welcomed, relationships are cultivated across generations, and faith is expressed through worship, discipleship, family care, and service.
Sunday Morning Community at the Table
Before the 10:30 AM worship gathering, Sunday Morning Community gathers from 9:15 to 10:15 AM in the Lower Level Fellowship Hall. A light breakfast is served around shared tables, making the room a place of conversation rather than simply a classroom. The gathering is intergenerational and built around meaningful discussion and discipleship that flows from the Sunday sermon. Its purpose is to move the message into everyday practice, help people build friendships, and give newer members and long-time members the same place at the table.
Two other regular gatherings extend that fellowship through the week. Men’s Breakfast meets every Monday at 8:30 AM and is open to men in the community for breakfast, encouragement, and fellowship. Men’s Bible Study meets every Thursday at 6:30 PM in the lower level. Men of all ages are welcome, and Dave Morgan leads the group as they read Scripture, gather, and grow in faith. Peoria Nazarene Youth also meets regularly for discipleship, connection, and fellowship. The youth mission is to introduce teenagers to Jesus, nurture their faith, and equip them for a lifetime of glorifying God through service, worship, and discipleship.
These gatherings sit within the church’s Connect ministry and its larger network of groups and ministries. Church Center serves as the church’s online community, where people can coordinate with ministry teams, stay in touch with community groups, and take part in giving. The recurring rhythm is simple but substantial: gather around a meal, study the Bible together, worship as a church family, and then carry the conversation into everyday life.
Kids Worship for Every Age
Children’s Ministry is directed by Kyndall Singletary and is designed for children birth through fifth grade. The church treats children as people whose faith can grow, not merely as extras in an adult service. Its stated goals are safety, fun, friendship, and following Jesus. All workers are screened, background checked, and trained, and the church uses a two-adult policy in its ministry areas and events. Safety is practical as well as verbal: check-in, temporary tags, parent cards, and the requirement that two adults be present help families know where children are and who has permission to care for them.
A Place for Each Stage
- Nursery, ages 0 to 2: leaders engage infants with singing and simple Bible stories.
- Toddlers, ages 2 and 3: children learn about Jesus, make friends, sing, and take part in activities.
- Pre-K and kindergarten: children learn to follow Jesus, pray for one another, learn Bible verses, sing, and enjoy purposeful activities.
- Elementary, grades 1 through 5: worship and teaching are creative and engaging, with a different theme each month, and children are encouraged to pray, make friends, and discover God’s will for their lives.
The first half of worship keeps Pre-K and elementary children with their families, then a lower-level Kids Worship gathering gives them a focused place to learn before the message. Nursery and toddler rooms remain staffed throughout. Parents who want to keep a child close are welcome to do so. This combination allows the same Sunday to hold both family worship and age-specific teaching without asking families to choose between belonging and formation.
Singletary’s own path into leadership began with volunteering after her family attended the church. After a few months, she was invited to direct the ministry and accepted after a sense of confirmation. Her role reflects both the relational character of the church and the training behind it: she brings experience from college ministry classes and mentors, while the church gives families a safe, cheerful place to help children trust Jesus and discover who God is. The children’s team also works to support parents, making family formation the larger goal rather than an isolated children’s program.
A Ministry Team Built Around Welcome
Lead Pastor Mark McCall grew up in Central Illinois and has served in full-time pastoral ministry since 2007. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Ministry in 2006 and a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2013. His pastoral work centers on helping people know Jesus and belong to the church family. Alongside his ministry, McCall is a husband, father, outdoorsman, cook, sports fan, and passionate Packers supporter. Those details fit the church’s view that ministry is a shared life, not a platform detached from ordinary relationships.
Flo Durdel serves as Outreach Pastor and Chaplain, connecting the church’s life with the needs of the city and bringing pastoral care to that outward work. Tanner Arjes is the church’s Worship Minister, giving the worship ministry a named leader alongside the pastoral and connection teams. Cindy Shepherd leads Connection Ministry. Having grown up in Peoria, she brings a particular passion for helping newcomers feel welcomed and connected, a responsibility that echoes the Welcome Center, breakfast gatherings, and family pathways that shape Sunday mornings.
Alongside them, Singletary directs children’s ministry and Ken Roat directs youth ministry. Roat came to ministry through an engineering career and sees his experience with structure, logic, and analytical thinking as a contribution to a team made up of different strengths. That idea of many talents serving one goal is a defining feature of Peoria Nazarene’s leadership model. The church’s leaders have different titles, but their shared responsibility is to help people feel known, connect with God’s love, and grow in faith across generations.
Serving Maude Sanders and Peoria
One of the clearest examples of Peoria Nazarene’s outward-facing ministry is its relationship with Dr. Maude A. Sanders Primary School in Peoria. The church has adopted the school and works closely with its administration, teachers, staff, students, and families. The partnership is practical rather than symbolic. Support has included school fundraisers, help with school events, equipment and laundry support for the Life Skills program, and meals for teachers and staff during conferences. These are ordinary forms of assistance, but they reflect the church’s conviction that caring for a community means showing up with concrete help.
The school also illustrates the church’s willingness to combine relationships with long-term support. Church members helped fund a commercial popcorn machine for the school’s PTO fundraising effort and a washer and dryer that allows staff to launder garments and towels for students in the Life Skills program. Volunteers supplied popcorn supplies and assisted with a large school celebration. The church also pursued a Friday snack-pack program with the Midwest Food Bank to support students and families. The details show how a church can adopt responsibility for a nearby school without reducing the relationship to a single event.
Outreach reaches beyond the school as well. The church gives to local ministries, the district, and the global church through missions, education, and resources, and names local and global compassionate ministry and evangelism among its priorities. Its building vision repeatedly says that size and location do not determine what the church can do in Peoria. Outreach, partnership, and diverse relationships are the means it names for carrying the mission beyond the sanctuary.
Giving and Staying Connected
The church offers practical ways to give. An offering envelope is provided during services, gifts can be mailed to the church, and one-time or recurring gifts can be made securely through Church Center. The church strongly encourages electronic funds transfer rather than credit cards for tithes and offerings, both to discourage debt and interest and because card processors can take as much as 3 percent of a gift. Designated giving supports the local and global church, the building work, and family help. The clear emphasis is not only on the size of a gift but on using resources in a way that supports ministry without adding financial strain. Additional information is available through the church’s giving options.
Connection also continues beyond Sunday. The church’s YouTube channel carries the 10:30 AM livestream and past sermons, including messages on following Jesus, Romans, family worship, and emotional and spiritual health. A public Facebook page shares church news, and a private Facebook family group connects members by request. Church Center supports communication with ministry teams and community groups as well as giving. Together, these resources make it easier for people to keep company with the church, hear its teaching, participate in ministry, and contribute.
Connecting Generations and a Building Made for Welcome
Planning for Peoria Nazarene’s building has been inseparable from its mission. The church began as a mission without a building, moved through three buildings, and has used the structure on North University Street since 1975. During its building review, the church identified barriers to hospitality: long, narrow hallways with few places to pause; a layout that moved people through the building without encouraging contact; small rooms that restricted meals and groups; dated exterior and signage; a narrow sanctuary stairwell; an unreliable enclosed lift; a main-level men’s bathroom without ADA access; and children’s and youth rooms that were difficult to secure and not flexible enough for changing ministry needs.
The Connecting Generations design responds by opening the floor plan and putting relationships at the center of the work. Its changes include more open gathering areas on both levels, a fireside room for flexible use, dedicated small-group spaces for adults, teens, and children, and a larger youth commons that can also serve meals and family gatherings. Better sightlines to the sanctuary and restrooms would make the building easier to navigate, while translucent panels marked with a cross would bring more ambient light into the sanctuary. The design also centralizes children’s education in updated nursery, toddler, pre-K, kindergarten, and elementary rooms that can be secured more easily.
At the front, the design calls for a more visible entrance, a canopy for protection from inclement weather, a new stair tower, updated outdoor signage, and a patio at grade. Accessibility is a central aim, with improved entrances and egresses, an open lift, at-grade patio access, and accessible restrooms. The HVAC system is included in the building update. The church emphasizes that this is a renovation of its existing structure, not a new addition or a replacement church. The aim is a building whose spaces support the mission rather than working against it: easier to enter, easier to move through, more flexible for groups, and more welcoming to families and neighbors.
That building conversation is a practical expression of the same theme heard in worship, classrooms, and community service. Peoria Nazarene’s story stretches from a 1925 mission to a multigenerational church that still defines itself by relationships. At 10:30 AM on Sunday, the people of Peoria Nazarene gather at 5504 N University St to worship Jesus Christ, learn from Scripture, welcome children, share meals, build friendships, and send people out to serve Peoria with the love they have received.