September 7, 2025
If numbers are an indication,
CU Church is thriving. This congregation, begun eight years ago this month, holds
multiple weekly services in the Illinois Conference Center at the I Hotel in
Champaign. Helpful traffic attendants dot the parking lot. Coffee and donuts
are available outside auditorium doors. I was struck by the contrast between
this place and the much older downtown church which I visited last month. For lack
of people and funds, that congregation has found it necessary to sell their stately,
historic edifice on campus. What a loss of grandeur. The hundreds of people I
worshiped with today, by comparison, meet in a big room with no noticeable
characteristics beyond a large wooden cross, a stage for the eight-person
worship band, and a bank of tech equipment in the back.
But free from the huge expense
of a building, the plain conference-room setting leaves this congregation able
to give more to the community. CU Church is known for its 1 for One offering
which, if I understood correctly, split $12,000 last month between three family
situations of need in the community (but outside of the church’s membership).
The service began on
time with a couple of worship songs. Multiple generations were represented in the crowd, but I saw few people of color. We read from Psalm 121 together and
people took communion from individual plastic containers we’d picked up on the
way in. Small paper sacks at the ends of all rows collected the empties.
Following the scripture reading, a man was baptized. He then proceeded to baptize
his two children and his wife as each assented to belief in Jesus. We sang “Lord,
I need You, oh I need You; Every hour I need You.”
A cheery young woman welcomed
us again and all were invited to roam the room and greet each other or to just
sit and interact with phones. Haha. I wandered around and took a few pictures.
The advantage or disadvantage of a large church, depending on one’s point of
view as a guest, is anonymity.
Today’s sermon was on
Psalm 125. Trusting God for our security and stability is crucial said the
pastor, taking the stage in an Illini sweatshirt and jeans. God is not going to
move if we’re not trusting him because God doesn’t want us to think we are the
ones doing the accomplishing. God wants to build our trust so that our house is
built on rock, not sand. “Anything you hold onto too tightly in this world that’s
not Jesus is a crisis waiting to happen.” Jesus’ brother James describes us as
restless and uncertain. Where do we find our security and stability? “Who are
you thanking for the victories and who are you going to in the defeats?”
Trust in
God is illustrated by a story from Florence, a medical student in Kenya. Her beloved mentor rejoiced when Florence tearfully reported to him after his surgery that he had only weeks to live. This mentor had spent his life
since a little child praising God and living for Jesus, and so, brushing aside
Florence’s concern at the dire diagnosis, he explained that he was ready
to go, that his stability and security were in Jesus. “The more that you trust in
God and the less you trust in other things," said our speaker, "the higher the expectation you can
have that God will move in your life.”
