Attend one of our Sunday morning worship services at 8:00, 9:15, or 10:50am or view one the live streams of our 9:15 and 10:50am worship services on our Facebook page. You can find directions to our church on this page. When you visit, we encourage you to fill out the Connection Card in the bulletin so we can get to know you a little better and can respond to your needs. From your first visit to your choice to become a member, we are here to support you and answer any questions. Please feel free to contact our office or contact Mary Williams, our Minister of Community Formation at 224-655-7211.
How do I find out what’s happening?
Please visit us on our Facebook page and then choose ‘like’ to be informed of activities, classes, celebrations and other events we offer. If you would like to receive regular email newsletters from Atonement, just click here, complete the online form with your information and we’ll do the rest.
Want to attend our next Newcomer’s Class?
What to Expect
If it’s been a long time since you have been to church, if you are new to the area or if you’ve never been to a church at all and just want to check us out—Atonement welcomes you. We encourage you to join us, however we know there can be many questions or concerns when visiting a church for the first time. Here’s a list of the top ten things you might want to know about visiting Atonement:
1. You can be comfortableYou don’t need to dress up to come to church. We want you to
Please come just as you are—church is about the people you’re with, not the clothes you’re wearing.
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2. You can fly under the radarWe love visitors and we don’t want visitors to our church to feel uncomfortable. As a visitor, you won’t be singled out or asked to do anything you don’t want to do. You can feel free to arrive at the last minute, take a seat and listen in. You can leave whenever you like. We want you to remain as anonymous as you want to be, but we encourage you to introduce yourself to us—we’d love to meet you.
And, if you would take a moment to complete a Connection Card, you can tell us a little about yourself, let us know if there’s a need or some way we can help you, and we can thank you personally for joining us in worship. |
3. You can feel welcomeVisitors are very welcome at Atonement.
There are lots of reasons people visit church. Perhaps you went to church as a child. Perhaps a friend invited you along. Perhaps you’d like to connect with God. Perhaps life’s been tough and you’d like some comfort and support. Perhaps you’re just curious about what happens at church.
Whatever your reasons, you’re very welcome to join us this weekend. |
4. Church for adults. Church for kids!
Older or younger—all are welcome at Atonement.
Kids are always welcome in worship at Atonement. Booster seats and activity packets are available at the back of the church and children are encouraged to participate in the service with you. Or, if you prefer, we also offer child care during Sunday worship hours in a staffed, secure nursery that will supervise your toddler or infant.
During the school year, we offer Sunday School for kids from preschool to fifth grade during the 9:15 worship hour. In the summer at the same worship time, kids can join their parents in worship and then are invited to go out for an activity during the message time.
Adults can choose a time and style of worship where they feel comfortable. Our two earlier Sunday services at 8:00 and 9:15 am are conducted in a more classic style with organ, traditional hymns, choirs, sung liturgy and vestments. The order of worship generally follows a more formal, liturgical format. Our 10:50 service is led by a live praise band using music in a style that might be closer to the style of music you might hear on a rock style radio station. The format is more casual and may also be a bit louder than our other services. From time to time, our worship will feature a special variety of musical leadership and we’ll usually do that at all three of our Sunday morning worship services. We’ve incorporated jazz, a Celtic style string band and even had a Caribbean Island style band lead us.
At all services we utilize multimedia to assist in following the service as well stimulating all the senses. We celebrate a meal of bread and wine, called Holy Communion. If you have not yet attended a worship service at Atonement, we invite you to view a video on our Vimeo page. We typically upload at least one full service each week.
Whichever service time or style you attend, you may always feel free to participate in as much or as little as you choose.
5. Expect . . . the expected
You might never have visited church before—that’s OK! We’d love you to join us. We understand that trying anything new can be a daunting experience. So here’s some other things you can expect if you visit one of our Sunday morning services:
- We’ll welcome you at the front of the building.
- There will be lots of singing throughout the service. You’re welcome to sing along, or just listen in.
- You’ll experience the words, lyrics and other parts of the service using multi-media projection.
- We’ll read a couple of passages from the Bible.
- One of our pastors will teach on the readings (10 to 20 minutes). We aim for each service to finish in about 60 to 70 minutes.
- There will be times of prayer (again, you can just listen as we pray).
- We’ll receive an offering from our members where a plate is passed as a form of worship during the service. You are not expected or obligated to participate.
- There will be a brief update with announcements and upcoming events.
- After the service, there’s plenty of coffee and a time to meet others out in the Gathering Place if you like.
We’d love to see you at church this weekend.
6. You can find a place to belong
Church is more than a place to go on Sunday morning. It’s a community to belong to.
If you’d like to discover what it means to belong to Atonement, we invite you to sign-up for the next Newcomer Class. You will discover what we’re about, what we believe, what’s expected, and how you can be a part of our community.
7. Why bother with Jesus?
There is no one who has transformed the world more than Jesus Christ.
More songs have been sung to him, more paintings painted of him, and more books written regarding him than anyone who has ever lived in the history of the world.
But Jesus is more than just an important person; we believe that he is, in fact, God, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
At Atonement, we expect our members to be actively growing in their relationship with Jesus. We believe that God wants to have a relationship with every one of God’s children. God has made himself known to us most fully through Jesus Christ and his Word.
We don’t, however, expect that all who come to Atonement profess to have the same understanding or are at the same place in their faith journey. In fact, that may be the reason you want visit: to find out just who Jesus is and who he can be in your life. You’ll have plenty of time to work that out. As you grow and spend more time with us at Atonement, you’ll learn more about him in the messages from our pastors, perhaps from sharing with other Atonement members or perhaps while participating in one of our adult ed classes or small groups offered from time to time.
We invite you to explore for yourself as you move along in your Faith Journey at Atonement—and make the decision for yourself why Jesus is such a big deal.
8. You’ll encounter people just like you
Different types of people belong to Atonement. All are welcome.
Teachers. Doctors. Moms and Dads. Photographers. Landscapers. Students. Accountants. Sales People. Retirees. CEO’s. Carpenters. Nurses. Grandparents. Programmers. Cooks. Teenagers. Attorneys. Writers.
We don’t care who you voted for in the last election. And please, don’t feel the need to pretend about anything. Everyone is welcome here, whatever your story, your questions, doubts or struggles.
9. You’ll be able to share when you’re ready
We respect the pace at which individual people connect. Members and even regular visitors often help contribute to the vitality of the Atonement community by sharing their time and talents in many areas of ministry. Opportunities are available for volunteers to help within our walls, in the community and even globally.
10. Stay as long as you like or feel free to get on with the rest of your day
Some folks like to linger after worship, catch up on the latest news in the community or just chill out with friends. We have a spacious Gathering Place with great coffee (and sometimes other treats) where you can meet and greet other worshipers after service. But we know we’re part of a very busy community and sometimes there’s simply no time for chit chat. Feel free to get on with the rest of your day—no pressure to stick around. By the way, you can park in our main lot on Main Street or, if it’s full, swing on over to the school lot located on the south side of our campus and use the convenient rear entrance.
If there’s anything we forgot to cover, just give our church office a call Monday thru Friday from 8am till 4pm or click here to submit your question to us online. Someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
What do we expect in return?
We expect that you’ll be welcome here and that if there are questions or concerns you have that you will be sure to let us know. If you decide that Atonement is a place that you would like to consider as your church home, then there are a couple of things that we would expect of you. First, we would ask that you check out one of our Newcomer classes to explore a little more about us and how to participate as a member of this faith community. Second, we would expect you to grow. Once you’ve been around here a while, we hope that spiritually, you are not the same person you were six months or a year ago. We call this growth our Faith Journey and only you can decide to move on that Journey and grow closer to Jesus Christ!