Church of the Holy Nativity

Church of the Holy Nativity opened on October 18, 1899 in a barn in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. It was originally called St. Luke's mission - a mission planted by Church of the Mediator in Morgan Park (closed) in order to serve the Episcopalians in neighboring Beverly. Within 4 years, what was thought to be the permanent church was built on the corner of 95th Street and Longwood Drive.

In the 1940s, the parish had grown so much that the church was too small. In the 1950s, after raising $40,000 for a new sanctuary, the parish moved to its new site at 9300 S. Pleasant Ave. The mansion located north of the sanctuary was graciously donated to serve as the parish house and rectory on the second floor. The two buildings were joined together with a parish hall and classrooms in the basement.

We are a welcoming, inclusive, and thriving parish in the Beverly neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago. We actively support the Maple Morgan Park Food Pantry. Our Lenten outreach has included assisting with reading at a Southside Chicago Public School, collecting and distributing coats to the homeless on Lower Wacker Drive, and even parishioners who are able giving platelets to the local LifeSource blood center. Our KnitWits meet on the first and third Fridays (and fifth is applicable). Their fall knitting project was making red newborn and preemie caps for the local hospital. Their Winter/Spring 2015 project is knitting squares to be assembled for quilts for children with AIDS in South Africa. We have participated in Ashes to Go for the last three years reaching out to all commuters on Ash Wednesday at the local train stations. 

We are listed with Equality Illinois as a parish that welcomes the LGBT community as well as a church for all legal marriages in the State of Illinois. In Spring 2014, we supported and provided housing for a deacon from Shelter Care in Rockford who was walking from Rockford, Illinois to Washington DC to raise awareness of homelessness in the US. In conjunction with the Feast of St. Francis, we welcome pets to mass for a blessing, and provide the blessing of dogs as part of the 22nd district of the Chicago Police Department's walk to end domestic violence.

Our Sunday worship is traditional with an emphasis on Rite I, though Rite II is used half the season of Pentecost as well as Christmas/Epiphany and Eastertide. Our choir is small, but mighty that has in their repertoire Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Berlioz's Shepherd's Farewell to name a couple. Last year, we grew by ten more parishioners, and have set the goal of ten more this year. Our average Sunday attendance is 35. We have a very active vestry.

Education for all ages is offered throughout the year. As a parish in the community for over 115 years, we have been striving to be prominent in the community. We are active members of the Community of Churches of the Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood neighborhoods of Chicago. This organization encompasses all of the congregations of all Christian faiths. The Community of Churches meetings include lay and ordained, and meets bimonthly. As part of the Community of Churches, the ministerial association of the clergy meets monthly for brainstorming over lunch.

In addition to outreach, we have our Annual Spaghetti Dinner that is a well known event in the neighborhood and well attended by so many neighbors. We are committed to and are looking to invite other churches and organizations to come and share our space with us. Our goal is "out of the church and into the streets". We have marched in the annual Beverly/Morgan Park/Mt. Greenwood Memorial Day parade. We have hosted two concert groups: Canticum Novum - a local choir as well as a local jazz band that played an outdoor concert in our courtyard.