The Moody Church (often referred to as Moody Memorial Church, after a sign hung on the North Avenue side of the building) is a historic

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

(

Nondenominational Christianity Nondenominational Christianity (or non-denominational Christianity) consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian d ...

) church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Building

The Moody Church building is located at the corners of North Avenue, Clark Street, and LaSalle Street. It was designed by architects Fugard and Knapp. Construction was begun in 1924 and completed 1 year later, with dedication of the building on November 8, 1925. Covering an area of 140 feet by 225 feet, the church melds features of both Romanesque and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

architecture, and is one of the largest Romanesque churches in the US. Visually, it was intended to bridge the gap between the traditional

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and the typical Protestant church buildings of the late 19th century and early 20th century. The building was originally intended to be 20 feet longer, but due to widening of LaSalle Street, the layout had to be altered; this is believed by some to be the reason for the unusually steep choir loft. From floor to the false acoustic ceiling is 68 feet, and the structural ceiling is 10 to 15 feet above that. The resulting building remains the largest non-pillared auditorium in the Chicago area, and has permanent seating for 3,740 people, 2,270 on the main floor and 1,470 in the balcony. The curved balcony was one of the earliest examples of cantilevered construction, and its curvature – as well as the rest of the layout of the auditorium – was designed so that all lines focus on the pulpit. Designed in an era before modern sound systems, the building has almost-perfect acoustics, and it is reported that the only element detracting from this aspect is the floor carpet. Although a modern environmental system has been installed, when the church was originally built, summer cooling was provided by means of a large pit in an alley in back of the building, where large loads of ice would be dumped. Air was then blown over the ice and out of mushroom-shaped vents under the auditorium seats. The system could recirculate the church's air in six minutes. Above the balcony, around the perimeter of the building, are 36 large

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows, no two of which are alike. All were donated as memorials. When originally built, the church did not have an organ, but later a 4-manual Reuter organ with 4,400 pipes in 54 ranks was added. The pipes visible in the sanctuary are merely decorative, the actual instruments being hidden behind a black screen. In January, 1986, a fire in the front of the church caused $500,000 damage to the pulpit, choir loft and organ. During the rebuilding, a modern audio-visual system was installed. One of the newest additions to the sanctuary are a pair of "movie" screens. These ascending screens are currently the tallest in the US.

History

The church originally was the result of the sustainable work of famed evangelist

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 26, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massa ...

in the mid-to-late-19th century. Moody concentrated his efforts on promoting his Sunday school, and by 1860, over 1,000 children and their parents attended each week. It had become the largest and most well-known religious outreach of its kind, with the result that President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

visited the meeting one Sunday. Needing a permanent home, Moody's ministry built a 1,500-seat church at the corner of Illinois and Wells Streets, called the Illinois Street Church, which was formally dedicated December 30, 1864. That building was completely destroyed on Sunday, October 8, 1871, when the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

swept the area. That same year, a temporary structure is built, the North Side Tabernacle. A new building which could hold up to 10,000 people was dedicated in 1876 and the church was renamed Chicago Avenue Church in June, 1876. Dwight Moody died after an illness in 1899, and in 1908, the church was formally renamed The Moody Church in his honor. A.C. Dixon took over as pastor in 1906 and he stayed until 1911. In 1912, John Harper of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

was traveling to Chicago to speak at the church, but tragedy overtook him. Returning from Scotland with his daughter and niece, Harper booked passage on the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...

’s new ocean liner ''Titanic''. Although his daughter and niece were rescued, Harper was killed in the sinking. (Contrary to popular belief, Harper was never called to join the pastoral staff at the church.) In 1925, the congregation moved to the Church's current location. In 1930, well-known evangelist

Harry A. Ironside Henry Allan "Harry" Ironside (October 14, 1876 – January 15, 1951) was a Canadian-American Bible teacher, preacher, theologian, pastor, and author who pastored Moody Church in Chicago from 1929 to 1948. Biography Ironside was born in Toronto, O ...

became the pastor, serving until his wife's death in 1948. In 1953, popular British evangelist

Alan Redpath Alan Redpath (9 January 1907 – 16 March 1989), was a well-known British evangelist, pastor and author. Biography Alan Redpath was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the only son of James and Christina Redpath. He went to Durham School, and then stu ...

was appointed pastor, and served until 1962. From 1966 to 1971,

George Sweeting George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

served as pastor, before leaving to become the President of

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have i ...

, with his place being taken by Warren W. Wiersbe. On January 20, 1980,

Erwin Lutzer Erwin W. Lutzer (born October 3, 1941) is an evangelical Christian speaker, radio broadcaster, and author. He is the former senior pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois (19802016). Career Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Lutzer became ...

was installed as the 16th senior pastor of The Moody Church. He resigned on May 22, 2016, and the 17th Pastor, Philip Miller was appointed in 2020. In 2007, construction was completed on a three-story ''Christian Life Center'' addition to the original 1925 building, intended to provide sufficient Sunday School classroom space and accommodate new and growing ministries.

Senior pastors

During its history, 17 men have served as senior pastor of The Moody Church.

was the founder, but never served as pastor. # J.H. Harwood (1866–1869) # Rev. William J. Erdman, D.D. (1876–1878) # Charles M. Morton (1878–1879) # George C. Needham (1879–1881) # Charles F. Goss (1885–1890) # Charles A. Blanchard (1891-1893) # Dr. Reuben A. Torrey (1894–1906) # A.C. Dixon, D.D. (1906–1911) #

Paul Rader Paul Alexander Rader (born March 14, 1934), is an American religious leader, who was the 15th General of the Salvation Army from 1994 to 1999, and was the President of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, from 2000 to 2006. Biography Born in N ...

(1915–1921) # Rev. P.W. Philpott, D.D. (1922–1929) # Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1930–1948) # S. Franklin Logsdon (1951–1952) #

(1953–1962) # George Sweeting (1966–1971) # Warren W. Wiersbe (1971–1978) # Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer (1980–2016) #

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dictio ...

(2020–Present)

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Moody ChurchThe Moody Church's history websiteMoody Church Media Resource Library
Churches in Chicago Evangelical megachurches in the United States