The life of Irving Park United Methodist Church has always been expressed through its ministries — the many ways a congregation worships, learns, serves, and cares. Together these ministries form a portrait of a community that takes seriously the call to love God and neighbor, and that has found countless practical ways to live that calling out across more than a century.
Worship
At the center of everything is worship. The congregation's worship services blend traditional, global, and praise music with prayer, preaching, and weekly Holy Communion, gathering the community around the open table and sending it out to serve. Everything else flows from this central act of gathering before God.
Children
Ministry with children has long been a joy and a priority. Through Sunday-school formation and nursery care, the youngest members have been nurtured in faith from their earliest years, always welcome in the life of the church. Learn more on the children's ministry page.
Youth
The congregation's youth ministry helps teenagers build a bridge between their everyday lives and their growing faith, through fellowship, service, honest discussion, and plenty of fun. Faith here is understood as a lifelong process, and young people are encouraged to ask questions and to put their faith into action.
Adults
Adults in the congregation have long had opportunities to grow through Bible study, book studies, and small groups. Lifelong learning and spiritual friendship have been hallmarks of adult ministry, giving members space to deepen their understanding and to support one another along the journey of faith.
Music
The music ministry — including the choir and a blend of traditional, global, and praise styles — carries the congregation's prayer and praise, and marks the seasons of the Christian year with song. From quiet ordinary time to the great feasts, music helps tell the community's story.
Care and Prayer
Through ministries such as the Care Ministry and Prayer Network, the congregation has surrounded those who are ill, grieving, lonely, or in need with tangible love — prayer shawls, handmade gifts, and faithful intercession. These quiet ministries embody the conviction that the church is, above all, a community that bears one another's burdens.
Mission and Outreach
The congregation's missions heritage reaches well beyond its walls — through apportionment giving, partnership with global relief efforts, scholarships for youth, and a long tradition of generosity. To be the church, this community has always believed, is to be sent into the world.
Community and Fellowship
Finally, the church has been a place of belonging — shared meals, conversation, and the everyday friendships that make a congregation feel like home. It has also been a neighbor in the truest sense, opening its doors and sharing its space with the wider community. Together, these ministries reveal a congregation in which faith is not an abstraction but a way of life, lived out in worship, service, and love.