(Abbreviated Version)
Village Bible Church’s mission is “Striving to be, and helping others to be, passionate followers of Jesus Christ.” The six core values that help each member of VBC (Village Bible Church) to live out our mission are:
WORD OF GOD - We value the Bible, the Word of God. It is God’s infallible, inspired, flawless communication to teach us truth about what to believe and how to live. So in our services the Bible is preached, explained in detail and communicated as to how it applies to our lives. (Jn 17:3, 2 Tim 3:16 – 17).
PRAYEr - We value prayer. It is the means by which we communicate with God in order to express our worship, thankfulness, gratitude, personal needs and the needs of others. So time for prayer is included in both our Sunday service and one designated evening weekly (Acts 2:42, Col 4:2).
SERVING - We value serving others. It is using the unique abilities God has gifted us with to minister to others. It helps others grow in Christ. So we encourage people to find ways to help others, whether it’s in ‘official’ ministry roles or meaningful encounters as we gather during the week. We also encourage people to find ways to show God’s love in serving in the community (Matt 20:28, 2 Col 4:5, 1 Pet 4:10).
SHARING THE GOSPEL - We value sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Christ. The gospel is the message that Jesus died and rose from the dead to pay for our sins; sinful man’s only hope for forgiveness from God. So we provide training, schedule outreaches into the community and encourage all to go speak to anyone they encounter about Christ (Acts 1:8, Matt 28: 19-20, 2 Co 5:20).
MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS - We value meaningful relationships with others who know Christ. We are united by Christ’s love and forgiveness. How we relate is living out that reality. So we take opportunities to encourage and build up one another. We take the time to spend quality time together and invest in one another’s lives (Heb 10: 24-25, Rom 12:10, Jn 13: 34-35).
WORSHIP - We value God, therefore we value worshiping Him. It is our expression of devotion, thanks, love and adoration to our Lord and Savior. So our services include singing songs, time for prayer and giving of our tithes and offerings, all as a form of worship. In addition, we strive to live our lives daily to glorify God (Eph 5:18-20, Matt 14:33).
VBC currently consists of a mixture of longtime members (20+ years) and more recent attendees (<5 years) with the average age approximately 50 years old. Active membership is just under 30 members with average weekly church attendance about 40 -50 people.
The congregation is composed of several families whose children have grown up, went off to college, and now reside elsewhere. There are a few multi-generational families who have been involved at VBC since the beginning. Currently there are only a few families with younger kids but the demographics is skewed towards the 50+ age range. As a result, a number of youth ministries have been halted due to lack of kids and staff to run the programs.
The following table represents approximate age range of people from the church directory (total 64).
|
Age range |
percent |
|
70+ |
8% |
|
50-69 |
54% |
|
30-49 |
18% |
|
18-29 |
6% |
|
<18 |
14% |
VBC has a congregational form of government. All officers are elected from the membership and by the membership of the church. The Church Board oversees the business and administration of the church, at times delegated through the following committees: Elder Board, Music Committee, Deaconesses, Christian Education Committee, and Trustees. The Elder Board oversees the spiritual direction and health of the congregation.
VBC meets weekly for Worship Service (Sundays @10:30am) and Bible Community Time (Adult, Young Adult and Children’s Sunday School: Sundays @9:15am). Children under the age of 5th grade attend Children’s Church during a portion of the Worship Service. The Jr/Sr High School Youth Groups are currently on hold. Both these groups and a once-thriving AWANA ministry have been stopped due to diminishing numbers of students and program leadership. Two Bible study groups are currently meeting in homes, one is a Ladies’ Bible Study and the other is open to all. Men’s Prayer Breakfast meets at church one Saturday a month.
The format of worship service is composed of music, prayer, offering, announcements, and a sermon. Our music style is blended, containing traditional hymns, choruses, and contemporary songs. Twice a month a Praise Band leads the worship time (piano, drums, bass, guitar, and three vocalists). The remaining weeks of the month a trio/quartet of singers lead the worship time with piano and electronic keyboard accompaniment.
From the early days at VBC until the present, there has been a strong emphasis on the importance of missions and a desire to make Christ known to all people. VBC has committed to keeping a large percentage of the annual budget set aside to support missionaries, both in the United States and around the world. Due to the value of engaging the local congregation in coming along side each missionary family supported, missions giving is designated separately from regular giving to the general fund. This allows individuals to proactively participate in sharing the gospel around the world in partnership with our missionaries. VBC currently supports 9 missionary units, both active and retired, serving in North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Attenders are also encouraged to participate in short term missions trips, both domestically and abroad, whether through church sponsored trips or through other like-minded organizations.
VBC strengths include a friendly, community environment, sermons preached straight from God’s Word, a strong Global Missions program, praise band, and members that are willing to use their gifts with a strong commitment to serve.
Areas of improvement would include our structure of government that prohibits fast change, local outreach, and worker burnout due to insufficient amount of people to fill the positions.
Approximately 50% of the people in the immediate area surrounding the church (3 mile radius) are age 34 or below. An additional 30% are age 35 to 55.
A couple years ago a vision team was formed to define our mission as a church and to address the aging congregation and figure out how to attract and retain younger families again. Part of the vision team output was to propose a change in leadership at the senior pastor level.
VBC was started in 1960 and by 1964 members had raised enough to purchase land and build the current facility. The building sits on two acres in Carol Stream. The church body grew to such a size in the 1990s that required a larger building. Once again, the members raised enough funds to purchase a new property with plans to possibly build a new facility. The new property was sold after the church attendance declined and the building project was put on hold. In 2000 and 2018 cosmetic updates were done to update the interior of the current building.
The Village Church was established in 1960 by a group of believers who had recently moved into the new community of Carol Stream. In 1964 property was acquired on the edge of town, surrounded on three sides by farmland. In 1966 the building was completed and the first services were held. Over the past 59 years, 14 men have served as Pastor, either full-time, part-time, or interim. The longest tenure by any of these men was by our most recent full-time pastor, the Rev. Raymond P. Gurunian, who served from October of 1996 to September of 2018. Since October of 2018, the Rev. Ronald Mangin has been serving as Interim Pastor.
The name of The Village Church changed in 1987 to Village Bible Church in an effort to more clearly identify what kind of church it was to potential visitors. Coincidentally, at this time the church experienced the highest growth rate in its history, peaking at approximately 200 attenders in the early ‘90s. However, this peak was short-lived as attendance began to drop in the late ‘90s. VBC experienced another smaller growth spurt in the mid 2000’s but, for the past 10 years the church has seen a decrease in attendance and membership, particularly in the young family demographic, resulting in the cutting of several youth and children’s ministries.
