Elmbrook Church - Lake Country is a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

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 ...

church located in

Hartland, Wisconsin Hartland is a village along the Bark River in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States, that is a suburb of Milwaukee. The population was 9,110 at the 2010 census. Geography Hartland is located at (43.100180, −88.344452). It is in the ...

, a suburb of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. The church is

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

and independent of any denominational control.

History

Elmbrook Lake Country began in 1981 as a church plant called Westbrook Church. Several small neighborhood groups of people who attended

Elmbrook Church Elmbrook Church is a non-denominational, Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian megachurch located in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield (town), Wisconsin, Brookfield, Wisconsin, in Waukesha County. Since the church's founding in 1958, it has become ...

in Brookfield began holding worship services on Sunday evenings at Cushing School in Delafield with average attendance between 25-30 people. In 1982 slow growth had leaders set to hold Westbrook’s final service due to low attendance. However, seventy-five people who wanted to know when the church would be started showed up, saving the church. In 1983 Westbrook was officially born as a church plant of Elmbrook, and worship services were held at Delafield Town Hall. Also that year, International Ministries was founded with the mission “to know Christ and to make Him known”. In 1985 Westbrook started meeting at the

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Center strip mall in Delafield and began supporting their first four missionary families. In 1986 the church supported eight missionary families. In 1988 the church purchased the cornfield in Hartland where the church is currently located and added an associate pastor. In 1989 growth led to a second worship service being added, services moved once again to Wales Elementary School, and Westbrook hired its first youth pastor. In 1993 Westbrook broke ground on Phase I of its new campus and temporarily moved yet again to Kettle Moraine High School. In 1994 Phase I was completed and the church moved into its first permanent building, with worship services held in the gym. By 1996 the congregation had doubled in size since moving into the new facility. In 1999 plans began for adding a worship center and additional classrooms. In 2002 the debt on Phase I was retired allowing construction to be planned for Phase II. In 2005 Phase II was completed, consisting of a new 1,000 seat worship center. In 2008, Scott Grabendike became the new lead pastor of Westbrook. In May 2016, the congregations of Elmbrook Church and Westbrook Church voted to merge into a single, multi-site congregation. The Westbrook Church site was renamed “Elmbrook Church-Lake Country”.

References and notes

External links

www.elmbrook.org
- Official web site {{coord, 43, 03, 47.7, N, 88, 21, 57.8, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title Evangelical churches in Wisconsin Churches in Waukesha County, Wisconsin Christian organizations established in 1981