Simple Beginnings Northwest Fellowship Baptist Church traces directly back to October 31, 1858, when 16 German-speaking Chicagoans joined to form the Erste Deutsche Baptisten Gemeinde, that is, the First German Baptist Church (FGBC). A 32’x52’ frame church, built in 1866 on Bickerdike and Huron streets, served as their house of worship for 22 years.

In its first 20 years, FGBC grew from 16 to 220 members. It focused on establishing “mission churches”. By 1908, the church had grown to 2,000 German Baptists, comprising eight German and two Bohemian congregations. Two of these churches, East Side Community (est. 1882) and Forest Park Baptist (est. 1889), are still in existence today.

Three offshoots of FGBC would later directly impact the development of Northwest Fellowship. Grace Baptist Church organized in 1886 at Burling and Willow streets (originally known as Second German Baptist Church), and Humboldt Park Baptist Church formed in 1898 at Spaulding and Cortland. In 1907 Grace Baptist birthed Gross Park Immanuel Baptist Church on Roscoe and Damen Avenues.

The FGBC moved to a new facility at Superior and Paulina in 1888. (This building stands today, protected by the city of Chicago as a historical landmark. The interior was converted to 11 condos in the 1990’s, but the exterior remains the same). FGBC added English youth ministries and English Sunday services in the 1930’s and 40’s.

 

New Location, New Name, New Developments

In 1949, FGBC merged with its granddaughter church, Gross Park Immanuel Baptist, forming Foster Avenue Baptist Church. They built our current building on Foster and Meade avenues, and held the first service there on July 9, 1950. Shortly after in 1958, several members of Foster Avenue sought to renew a ministry to the German immigrant population. With the church’s blessing, they formed the Baptist Mission Church Church. They were able to purchase the facilities of Humboldt Park Baptist, which had merged that same year with Grace Baptist to form the First Baptist Church of Norridge on Lawrence and Canfield.

It All Comes Together

In the ensuing 30 years the ties between sister churches remained strong. As community and church needs continued to change, Foster Avenue Baptist and German Mission Baptist (now named Mayfair Park Baptist Church, located at 4519 West Lawrence) felt that their individual ministries could be greatly enhanced by reuniting. On August 28, 1988, the people held their first service under the name Northwest Fellowship Baptist Church in the facilities of the Foster Avenue church.

Three years later, First Baptist Church of Norridge sought to join with Northwest Fellowship. In June of 1991, 30 people transferred their church membership. The Norridge facilities were sold to Church of Our Savior, a Polish congregation, which joined the North American Baptist conference.