Messiah Baptist Church stands on South Villa Avenue in Addison, Illinois, a western suburb just south of O'Hare. From that address the congregation carries on a witness that began on Chicago's West Side in 1887, when fifteen people gathered in the home of Grandma Spriggs for a cottage prayer meeting led by deacons from Western Avenue Baptist Church. The church was organized as a regular Baptist body on April 22, 1890, and a century and a third later it still holds to the same calling: preaching the Bible, baptizing believers, and passing the faith to the next generation.
Sunday Mornings: Sunday School and Worship
Sunday School opens the day at 9:30 AM, with classes for every stage of life. Adults meet in three rooms down the hall - the Singles Class (ages 18 to 30) in Room 103, Growing in Faith I in Room 105, and Faithful Servants in Room 106. Children and teens gather for their own graded classes at the same hour, including an elementary class for first through sixth graders.
At 10:30 AM the congregation gathers for the worship service. The order is a traditional Baptist pattern shaped around the preaching of Scripture, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. The church practices baptism by immersion as a public witness of faith and prerequisite to church membership, and the Lord's Supper is observed as a memorial of Christ's death, always preceded by self-examination.
Wednesday Nights: AWANA, Unlimited Youth, and Prayer
Wednesday is the other heartbeat of the week at Messiah. From 6:30 to 8:00 PM, AWANA fills the building with Cubbies (ages 3 to 5), Sparks (kindergarten through second grade), and Truth and Training clubs (third through sixth grade). Each club uses handbooks, games, and verse memorization to plant the Scriptures in children's hearts, and a new club year typically begins in mid-September and runs through the following May.
At 7:00 PM the Unlimited youth group meets for students in seventh through twelfth grade. Sunday mornings add a teen Sunday School class at 9:30 AM, and the youth ministry coordinates retreats, service projects, and fellowship events through the year. Adults who are not driving children to AWANA gather for the Prayer Meeting, also at 7:00 PM, a long-standing midweek time of corporate intercession.
A History Shaped by Chicago and Addison
Messiah's first chapel went up in 1888 on the northwest corner of Flournoy and Washtenaw on Chicago's West Side, financed by four western district Baptist churches. The young congregation outgrew the space almost immediately, added twenty-five feet to the rear, and in 1896 dedicated a new building on Flournoy between Francisco and Sacramento.
Over the next sixty years the church cycled through more than a dozen pastors, including Rev. Fred Donnelson, who later served with the Baptist Bible Fellowship in Springfield, Missouri after imprisonment in a Japanese camp, and Rev. Torrey Johnson, who would go on to found Youth for Christ. In the late 1950s, under Pastor Lon Stewart, the church voted to move west, broke ground in Broadview in 1959, and twelve years later purchased nine acres in Addison, Illinois, the property where the church still stands today. The congregation worshiped in its new Addison facility for the first time on July 26, 1976.
Along the way, Messiah started Villa Christian School in 1966, which grew to serve 129 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade and 95 preschoolers before closing in 1986. In 1990 the church marked its 100th anniversary, and on its 111th the mortgage note was burned, leaving the building and land debt free. David Aycock became Senior Pastor in July 1989 and served for thirty-six years until his homegoing in July 2025; he was the longest-tenured minister in the church's history.
What Messiah Believes
Messiah holds to a detailed confession of faith rooted in historic Baptist convictions. The church affirms that the sixty-six books of the Bible are the verbally inspired, inerrant Word of God, and that it is the only complete and final revelation of God's will to man. The doctrinal statement covers the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement, salvation by grace through faith, the new birth, the perseverance of the saints, and the bodily resurrection and visible return of Jesus Christ.
On the church, the confession teaches that a church is a congregation of baptized believers, covenanted together, observing the ordinances of Christ, and self-governing under the lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. The church reserves ordination and licensure for men, in keeping with what it reads as the Bible's pattern of male pastoral leadership.
On giving, Messiah teaches tithing as a matter of grace, with members bringing their gifts into the common treasury of the church on the first day of the week. Offerings support the ministries of the congregation and the missionaries and partner organizations it underwrites.
Children, Teens, and Adults in the Life of the Church
Children are welcomed from birth. The nursery serves infants through age three during any service, and the Beginner Department gathers threes through kindergartners. First through sixth graders attend graded Sunday School at 9:30 AM and age-appropriate children's churches at 10:30 AM.
Teens are shepherded through the Unlimited youth ministry, which meets for Sunday School at 9:30 AM, for the Wednesday gathering at 7:00 PM, and for periodic fellowship events. Adult discipleship centers on the Sunday School hour, where classes dig through books of the Bible and apply them to daily life.
Missions Around the World
Messiah supports roughly two dozen missionary families on six continents, including workers in Cameroon, Costa Rica, Panama, Zambia, Russia, Spain, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Burkina Faso, Israel, Japan, Italy, the Navajo Nation, Australia, Great Britain, Thailand, Belize, Kenya, New Guinea, and Slovenia, plus Rosalie Marshall, who ministers to the U.S. Armed Forces. Jim and Phyllis Childress are highlighted as the missionaries of the month, with the church posting their most recent prayer letter for the congregation to read.
Beyond individual missionaries, the church also supports a circle of partner ministries: Baptist Bible College and BBF Missions Office in Springfield, Missouri; the Baptist Bible Tribune; the Biblical Counseling Center in Arlington Heights; Baptist Bible Seminary in Cebu, Philippines; the Caring Network in Downers Grove; the Christian Law Association; and Evan Child and Family Agency in Wheaton. Local church plants, a Christian day school, and youth camps have grown out of the same missions vision over the decades.
Caring for One Another
Two long-standing ministries carry the church's compassion outward. The Benevolent Ministry assists members and others in the community who are facing financial setbacks, pairing practical help with prayer and spiritual care. Cup of Cold Water focuses on encouragement, sending cards to those who are homebound, ill, or simply in need of a note to lift their week. Both ministries are open to anyone in the church family who feels called to participate.
Visiting Messiah Baptist Church
The church building sits at 600 South Villa Avenue in Addison, with parking on site. Visitors are warmly welcomed and can fill out a Connect Card in the lobby on their first visit. Sunday dress at Messiah is typically a step above casual; jeans are common and a suit or dress is welcome. Children of every age join their parents in the worship service at 10:30 AM, with nurseries and graded children's churches available throughout the morning.
The church streams services and maintains a sermon archive on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person. A calendar of upcoming events is maintained by the church, and midweek activities resume in mid-September and run through the spring. Visitors are welcome to come as they are and to stay as long as they like.
Joining the Church Family
Those who wish to make Messiah their church home are invited to follow the path of salvation described in the church's brochure, "God's Plan for the Ages," and to be baptized by immersion. The Church Covenant, signed by every member, commits believers to walk together in Christian love, contribute cheerfully to the support of the ministry, maintain family devotions, watch over one another in times of need, and unite promptly with another church family when they move away. Membership materials are available at the church and online.
How to Give
Giving is a privilege rather than an obligation, and members and friends support the work of the church in three ways: by placing gifts in the offering boxes in the lobby on Sunday mornings, by mailing a check to 600 South Villa Avenue, Addison, IL 60101, or by giving online through the church's giving page. Every gift underwrites the ministries of Messiah Baptist Church and the missionaries and partner organizations the congregation supports at home and abroad.