LOGAN SQUARE — A 114-year-old church made of brick, stone and handcrafted amber glass could lose its Logan Square congregation and more, depending on decisions made in the coming weeks.
After a straw poll of more than 90 percent of the congregation, the financially strained St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square has decided to explore moving to a new location in Logan Square.
The congregation at St. Luke’s, 2649 N. Francisco Ave., will vote again on Jan. 25 to decide whether the church’s governing board will have the power to put the building up for sale.
While an approval vote wouldn’t guarantee the sale of St. Luke’s, the vote could begin dictating what an eventual sale of the building might look like. Though it appears to meet many of the guidelines, the building is not protected under the city’s designated landmark status, leaving it open to a range of development and demolishment options.
Like many churches, St. Luke’s is financially underwater, facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred maintenance costs, according to the Rev. Erik Christensen, the church's pastor.
“Churches are challenged in general to figure out how the challenges of property ownership challenge the congregation,” he said. “The sort of equation that allowed churches to build and maintain these beautiful buildings is waning.”
One cause could be Logan Square’s radical demographic shift, Christensen said. While the church enjoyed a congregation of hundreds during the 1900s, it had shrunk to 12 by 2006. The church has seen a relative revival — today standing at 60 to 70 attendees on any given Sunday. But the core congregation isn’t enough to support a building with such weighty costs, he said.
At least two Logan Square preservation groups have suggested ideas to keep the church and its burgeoning cultural center in the building, according to Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago.
Miller, along with members of Logan Square Preservation, said both groups would prefer to “keep the church functioning in its historic use.”
“[St. Luke’s] has a long history in the community. It was part of the early village of Maplewood, a suburb prior to the annexation of Logan Square as we know it,” he said. “We were all shocked by the news of a possible sale. Looking to the future we would really love to see a St. Luke’s partnership with other community organizations in the city to create a small cultural center.”
The church already is very active in the community. In addition to food pantries, weekly dinners for those in need and regular church service, St. Luke’s is also home to performance art troupe Theater Y, local nonprofits, Queer Contra nights and tai chi classes.
And all of those activities may need to find a new home, depending on the church’s upcoming decision.
“The question is how do we line up the assets with our vision for being a progressive public church in the neighborhood,” said Christensen, an openly gay clergyman who has been at the church since 2006. “It’s beginning to become clear to us that it’s eating up more of our time and resources than makes sense as people who want to be focused more on relations with our neighbors than relations with our property.”
The congregation will stay intact and will remain in Logan Square whether the building is sold or not, Christensen said, adding that the church is committed to serving Logan Square, including its underserved populations, new residents and the neighborhood’s LGBT community.
“We’re open to receiving any proposals,” he added.
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