Downers Grove celebrates 50
On July 20, the First Christian Church of Downers Grove, Illinois, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The congregation, started in 1964 by William E. Crowl, who was then a DDH Scholar, is now led by alumna Teresa Hord Owens, who serves as Senior Minister and also as Dean of Students at the Divinity School. “Our congregation has a real heart for our community, a love that stretches from Downers Grove to children across the globe in Belarus,” Terri Owens says. That commitment goes back to the church’s early years. Bill Crowl tells the story of the Planning Commission hearing to approve the plans for the building in 1967. When a local resident asked, “Do you sing with the windows open?,” he replied, “[W]e are not only a people who sing their faith in the building, we are also a people who live out our faith outside the building.” Commitment to and support of ministry students has been an important part of the congregation’s ministry. Katherine Newman Kinnamon was the first of many Disciples House Scholars to complete field education there. Others include Nancy TannerTheis, Peter Browning, Randall Russell, Susan Miller, Doug Job, Katy McFall, Andy Snyder, Michael Karunas, Sarah Chenoweth West, Tish Duncan and Brandon Cline, and current Scholars Hye In Park and Danielle Cox.