Church of the Good Shepherd Congregational UCC
Chicago IL

We extend a warm and cordial welcome to you. We are very happy to have you worship with us or visit the various activities of our Church throughout the week.

We pray that your experience is or will be a positive one where Christian Fellowship worship, and bible study are taken very seriously. We pray that the peace of God’s presence will be your experience among our Church Family.

Mission

Striving to preserve the vision, wisdom and legacy of the Good Shepherd Founders while being inclusive of those whose realities differ from our own

Vision

Striving to preserve the vision, wisdom and legacy of the Good Shepherd Founders while being inclusive of those whose realities differ from our own

 

https://www.ucc.org/church/church-of-the-good-shepherd-congregational-ucc/  

 

 

Historical Background

Founded over two decades into the 20th century, Good Shepherd is, from its roots, an historic African American Church, a United Church of Christ affiliate with a Congregational heritage. It is now however, currently situated amidst a neighborhood in transition. Most of its oldest parishioners and their families generally commute to the area from other locations in Chicago and its environs. Historically, a whole complex of factors is involved in shaping such radically changing demographics, factors which here deserve mention; for in view of them, Good Shepherd Church is presently serving two distinct socio-economic communities – one middle income, the other, below the poverty line.

Since its founding, the 250 member Church has maintained a consistent concern for the surrounding community. Its location in the Washington Park area, now situates it on the site of one of the most depressed neighborhoods in Chicago. The median household income in the ear is $10,500, 40% of the city’s median; 60% of its predominantly African American residents receive public aid, and unemployment is 31%. While a high school diploma has become a minimum prerequisite for marginal employment, 50% of the population 25 years or older, has not completed secondary education.

The hundreds of empty lots now found throughout Chicago’s oldest black communities, are a symbol of the historic and steady exodus which is emptying what was once the city’s most populous and prosperous African American neighborhoods. This problem is rooted in the massive economic shifts, which have occurred in the last two decades. These shifts, particularly the disappearance of decent employment opportunities for low-income communities, have effectively removed the crucial rung from the fabled American ‘ladder of opportunity’. The movement of jobs overseas, progressive urban decay, and a regional shift in population and in development have all contributed. During this decade, the exodus still continues, and although it won’t be officially recorded until the year 2,000, its cessation is unknown. Under these conditions, the Church made a moral and administrative decision to remain in Washington Park, while coping with the disadvantages of a dwindling membership and shrinking resources.

If historically, Good Shepherd had once been a thriving ecclesiastical institution, surrounded by a prosperous metropolitan community, this situation no longer perdures. Within the last two decades, urban blight and decay have rapidly brought the Washington Park community surrounding Good Shepherd to a state of social, economic and moral crisis. Sociologically, the relocation of middle income residents to suburban areas, saw the disappearance of business, employment and consequently, the various amenities which characterize healthy communal development.

Current unemployment is moreover, exacerbated by the skills gap, a widely documented growing national trend. These circumstances, in part, form the context for Good Shepherd Community Services Organization (GSCSO), which was founded to remedy some of these desperate conditions, particularly the housing crisis, of the area. The most crucial issue facing Good Shepherd Church and GSCSO is twofold: first the widespread proliferation of distressed properties in Washington Park; second the demoralization of its residents in the wake of degenerative socio-economic patterns. In an area like Washington Park, which is plagued by high unemployment, low incomes, dependence on public aid, and low educational achievement, experience has consistently shown that the mere elimination of deteriorating housing is but one aspect of renewal. The situation demands a complex of mutually reinforcing conditions as well as a critical mass of development activity, to stabilize the social and economic environment.

While other organizations in the area are chiefly concerned with the housing aspect of renewal. GSCSO envisions a comprehensive plan, which encompasses residential restoration, new construction and community renewal through the support of anchor projects and mediating associations. The plan will involve three vital areas: finance, education and housing. Since the strategy to reverse urban decline demands a simultaneous strengthening of the existing social fabric, this plan will require years of work, substantial resources and extensive collaboration at the neighborhood and civic