A Lutheran Congregation and School on Bryn Mawr
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School sits on the north side of Chicago at 2500 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, in a stretch of the city known for its ethnic and cultural variety. The congregation was organized in 1893 as a storefront mission of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke, and the school that grew up alongside it has been educating children on the same campus since 1937. Together, the church and the preschool-through-eighth-grade school share one property, one faculty, and one mission: "engaging the mind, nurturing the spirit and transforming the world."
Both the church and the school are part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the parish belongs to the Synod's Northern Illinois District. A link on the church's site points visitors directly to the LCMS home page, and the school's mission statement is unmistakably Lutheran, with weekly chapel services, daily religion lessons, and a Biblical worldview threaded through every grade.
Worship on Sunday Morning
The Sunday rhythm at St. Philip is simple. From the Sunday after Labor Day through the spring, the congregation gathers at 10:00 a.m. for a Divine Service, with Sunday School offered for children at the same hour. In summer the schedule is abbreviated to a single Divine Service at 10:00 a.m., running from June 11 through Labor Day weekend.
The worship is traditional and liturgical, in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod style. Members come expecting to hear the preached Word, to sing together, and to receive the Lord's Supper. The church's own statement of purpose describes worship as the gathering of God's people to "bring to Him their prayers" and to be "nourished and strengthened by God's Word and Sacraments." In keeping with that, services include the historic two-mark mark of Lutheran worship: Word and Sacrament.
Services are livestreamed. The Sunday 10:00 a.m. service is broadcast live on Facebook, as are midweek chapel services and the special Advent and Lenten services. Anyone unable to attend in person can follow along from home; recordings of recent services are also kept online for later viewing.
Wednesday Nights: Church Night
Beginning after Labor Day, the church opens its doors every Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. for what is called Church Night. Two Bible study groups - one for men and one for women - meet at the same time, giving adults a regular midweek touchstone for reading Scripture together and sharing what they are learning.
For parents who want to come but need somewhere for their children, the church offers Tutoring and Enrichment Childcare during Church Night. Staff and volunteers help the kids with homework and lead them in activities while the adults study, so a family can arrive together and stay together for the whole evening.
The Parish School at 85
The school opened in 1937 with twenty-three first and second graders meeting in one room of the Parish House. It has grown continuously since. Today the school serves children from preschool through eighth grade on the same Bryn Mawr campus, and the congregation regularly highlights a few telling numbers: 75% of the teaching faculty hold master's degrees, 99% of graduates are accepted at their first-choice high school, and the school has served more than two thousand students since its founding.
St. Philip's school is small enough that classroom teachers know their students well, and large enough to offer a full program. The faculty includes dedicated teachers for each grade band, a religion teacher who also serves as the parish pastor, and a team of specialists for music, athletics, and social-emotional learning. Alumni of St. Philip are currently attending selective high schools around the city, including DePaul College Prep, Northside Preparatory, Lane Tech, Walter Payton College Prep, and Senn and Amundsen.
From Preschool Through Middle School
The Early Childhood program serves children ages 2.5 through 5, with flexible scheduling that includes five-day, three-day, and two-day options, each available as either a half day (8:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.) or a full day (8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Play is treated as essential: every preschool schedule builds in time outdoors, in the gym, and in quiet rest, alongside basic math and reading readiness, hands-on science, and fine arts. Children must be potty trained before starting and must be at least two years old by March 1 of the year they enroll.
The elementary school (grades 1 through 4) and middle school (grades 5 through 8) follow the same daily rhythm: school begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. Each grade has its own classroom teacher, and middle schoolers rotate through specialized instructors for math, language arts, science, social studies, and religion. An eighth-grade schedule posted by the school offers a representative day: Religion and SEL at 8:30 a.m., Science, Social Studies, Math, Lunch, Language Arts, Specials or Electives, and Physical Education, wrapping up with a 3:00 p.m. dismissal.
Extended Care is available every day from 7:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Before Care (7:30 to 8:15 a.m.) is $10 per child per day; After Care (3:15 to 6:00 p.m.) is billed at $20 per hour per child, and includes a snack, homework time, gym play, and outdoor recess in the school's play lot. Extended Care is staffed by members of the faculty and staff and does not require a reservation; families can call the front office the same day.
Faith on Campus
Faith formation runs alongside academics at every age. The school holds weekly chapel services for students, with guest preachers invited in throughout the year; classroom teachers reinforce the lessons through daily religion instruction and by modeling their own faith in the classroom. The church pastor, Reverend Thomas Engel, also serves as the religion teacher for the school, giving the parish and the school a single theological voice.
For older students, the middle school schedule begins each day with Religion and Social-Emotional Learning taught back-to-back, and students may also take on service projects through the school year. A Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum runs from kindergarten through eighth grade, supported by the LCMS Commission on Education. Monthly SEL assemblies bring the whole school together to talk through themes of self-awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.
Athletics, Music, and the Arts
St. Philip competes in the Lutheran School League, a coalition of Lutheran schools on Chicago's north side. The school fields teams in cross-country, volleyball, basketball, track and field, and bowling, with separate squads for boys and girls. The athletic program's stated aim is to "develop Christian character and excellence in its student-athletes through life-transforming experiences and opportunities," and games are framed as an extension of the classroom. Mr. Osterhage, the school's Athletic Director, oversees the program.
Music runs from preschool through eighth grade. Every child receives weekly music instruction, and the school supplements classroom music with vocal choirs, a handbell choir (the parish owns a two-octave set of twenty-five Schulmerich handbells, dedicated in 1988), a band program, and annual musicals and Advent services. The church's own music program is similarly long-standing; the parish installed a two-manual, twenty-six-rank Holtkamp organ in 1965, a Rueckpositiv included, and added a Kawaii grand piano in 2007 and a harpsichord in 1983. A Ziebelstern was added in 1993 to enhance the organ for the congregation's centennial year.
Parents and Community
The school is supported by an active Parent-Teacher League, which holds monthly meetings, organizes fundraisers, and welcomes new helpers at any time. Parents can also volunteer directly in their child's classroom - helping with parties, field trips, and class communications - or in the school library, with shifts as short as thirty minutes.
Tuition is billed through FACTS, a third-party tuition management service. The school posts its rates for the 2026-27 academic year: preschool half-days range from $3,050 (two days per week) to $4,450 (five half-days), full-day preschool runs $7,800 for five full days, and K-8 tuition is $7,600 for one child, $14,860 for two, and $21,200 for three. A non-refundable $150 application fee is required per student, and a $50 PTL fee is charged per family. Financial aid is available for K-8 families through FACTS Grant and Aid, with the school's Financial Aid Committee making the final award.
Two long-running fundraisers help bridge the gap between tuition and the true cost of a St. Philip education. The school participates in AmazonSmile (shoppers designate St. Philip as their charity, and Amazon donates 0.5% of eligible purchases) and the Box Tops for Education program, now entirely app-based.
Visiting St. Philip
The main entrance to the school is on the west side of the property, off Bryn Mawr, marked with a "School Entrance" gate; visitors use the buzzer to notify the office of their arrival. Parking is available in the campus lot during non-school hours; during the school day, street parking on Bryn Mawr is the usual option. The school office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the school day itself runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Tours can be scheduled online through the campus tour booking calendar, and families interested in applying can request information through the school's online forms. The admissions office can be reached at (773) 561-9830 or admissions@stphiliplutheran.com; non-enrollment inquiries go to dtennis@stphiliplutheran.com.
Seven Pastors in 130 Years
St. Philip has had seven pastors over its history. The first, Reverend William Ganske, organized the storefront mission in 1893 and led it for thirty-three years. Reverend Edward C. Kuehnert succeeded him in 1926 and is remembered for beginning the use of English in worship; under his leadership the congregation moved to the current Bryn Mawr and Campbell site in 1929, building a church, parish house, meeting rooms, and rectory in one campaign. The third pastor, Reverend Victor C. Rickman, served for nearly forty years until his death in 1980; the Parish Activities Building was renamed in his honor in 1981.
The next decades saw several shorter pastorates: Reverend Robert P. Rickman (the fourth pastor), Reverend Christopher C. Browne, and three interim pastors served between 1997 and 2017. Reverend Lance A. O'Donnell, the sixth pastor, was installed in 2009 and helped guide the church through its sesquicentennial-era years. Reverend Thomas Engel, the seventh and current pastor, was installed in 2017 and also teaches religion in the school.
What the Parish Believes
St. Philip articulates its beliefs around five activities of the church: Worship, Nurture, Fellowship, Evangelism, and Service. Worship is the gathering of believers around Word and Sacrament; nurture is the growth of God's people through private study, public teaching, and mutual conversation; fellowship is the communion of believers around the Lord's Supper and the everyday "up-building" of one another; evangelism is the carrying of Christ's message into the world through daily life, congregational witness, and support for the Gospel proclaimed around the globe; and service is the Christian vocation lived out in home, church, and community. The parish does not regard any of these as separate programs so much as five faces of the same Christian calling.
Looking Ahead from the Same Corner
For more than a century, St. Philip has been educating children and serving its north-side Chicago neighborhood from a single corner at Bryn Mawr and Campbell. In 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the school pivoted to temporary e-learning for preschool through eighth grade; the church moved its Sunday service online, streaming live on Facebook at 10:00 a.m. Both adaptations have continued as regular offerings, so that members at home and students learning remotely can stay connected to the parish community.
The school continues to grow into its middle-school program, which is designed explicitly to prepare students for the rigors of selective Chicago high schools. The church, meanwhile, keeps its doors open for Divine Service on Sunday morning, Bible study on Wednesday evening, and the occasional family seeking a campus where Christian formation and academic preparation share the same mission.