River Glen’s Mission Statement is: Experiencing God’s Love and Making Jesus Known.
As a progressive church with an inter-generational ministry focus and heart for service, River Glen is known for its warm, welcoming spirit and committed community. We believe that we "are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28) and intentionally create a safe place where people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, gender identities, and sexual orientations can come to worship God, learn to follow Jesus and be guided by the Holy Spirit.
JOIN US ON SUNDAY MORNINGS
TIME
Worship Service is 10:30 AM
Services can also be viewed on You Tube
ATTIRE
FELLOWSHIP
River Glen's hospitality provides a great faith community by offering space for people to feel comfortable and cared for when gathered together. Join us for coffee, treats, and fellowship before and after Sunday service.
River Glen is a “come as you are” church, which includes your attire. We welcome every look from t-shirt and jeans to yoga pants to Sunday best.
ALL ARE WELCOME
(click image above to learn more)
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday School is for children Kindergarden through 5th Grade. It takes place during worship every Sunday. Children attend the first part of the service with their families where they receive a message for young disciples after which they go downstairs for their own lesson and activities. On communion Sundays, the children have a shortened lesson and return to the service for communion.
During the summer, the children do not follow a Sunday School curriculum but do still go downstairs for an interactive story and activity during the sermon time and then return to complete the service with their parents.
OUR VISION
As the Father sent me into the world, so I send you" is a commissioned piece of art by calligrapher Timothy Botts over the exit doors. It reminds us that the church extends beyond the building - wherever our members gather, the grace and fellowship of Christ is present. We seek to worship and learn together as well as serve the community of Naperville, surrounding areas, and throughout the world by actively serving outside our doors. When we do this, we strive to live out our mission statement: experiencing God's love and making Jesus known.
CORE BELIEFS
We believe in the foundation of faith as found in the Scriptures, which tell the story of God's love throughout history. Because Creator God lives in community as the Trinity with Christ and the Holy Spirit, we honor God and live most faithfully when we seek to be in loving community with God and with others. We understand God to be at work in the world, believe in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, and seek the renewal and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We believe we experience Christ most fully in worship, service, and the celebration of the sacraments of communion and baptism.
HISTORY
River Glen Presbyterian Church was founded in 1985 and is a part of a collection of churches called the Presbyterian Church (USA) which work together for mission and ministry to spread hope and God’s love. We believe this kind of connectional church is valuable for spiritual growth and working together for good in the world.
River Glen is a progressive church with an inter-generational ministry focus and a heart for service. The congregation is led by a full-time head pastor as well as our governing board of spiritual leaders, the Session, and supported by a Board of Deacons and a parish associate. River Glen is known for its warm welcoming spirit, committed congregation, rich worship, and high-quality music programs (praise band, chancel choir, hand bells).
CHURCH LEADERSHIP & STAFF
Brent Anderson
Interim Pastor/Head of Staff
Pastor Brent is excited to walk
alongside our congregation as our interim pastor. Brent serves on the Commission on Ministry as a representative and liaison for Region 6 with the Presbytery of Chicago. He has served churches in CA, GA, IL, NJ, NC, and WA, as well as English-speaking churches in Switzerland and France.
Brent has served in ministry since graduating from Highschool in Bellevue, Washington in 1987. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara before transferring to Pacific Lutheran University where he graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Religion and a minor in Psychology. He received his Master of Divinity degree in 1999 from Princeton Theological Seminary. Materials for church officers which can be found on his website at www.revba.org
Email: brent@riverglen.org
Barbara Carmichael
Parish Associate
Pastor Barbara gives support to the leadership and staff in our various ministries. Her roles involve some preaching, teaching, pastoral care and resourcing of discipleship ministries.
Barbara served in full-time pastorates in Houston, Texas and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin before retiring and answering the call to serve at River Glen.
She has her Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Illinois and her Certificate in Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary in California. She is married with two children and two grandchildren.
Email: barbara@riverglen.org
Joyce Lawson
Director of Music
Joyce is River Glen’s Director of Music. She oversees and coordinates all of the music ministry programs in addition to directing the chancel choir and contemporary service worship teams. Joyce has served River Glen in this capacity since 2007 and has worked in music ministry for over 22 years. Joyce has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Ball State University and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University. She is married to Kent and they have two children, Aaron and Danielle.
Email: joycelawson@comcast.net
Kalina Waszak
Children and Youth Ministries Director
Kalina grew up at River Glen and grew up participating in our programs. She additionally has served as a volunteer in both children and youth programming off and on for the last 15 years.
She lives with her husband Matt and kids Kellen and Leo. She also works as a Speech-Language Pathologist at Soaring Eagle Academy, an autism school in Lombard. She has a deep passion for integrating neurodiversity affirming practices in all aspects of life, especially in ministry.
Email:
OPEN POSITION
Office Administrator
Email: office@riverglen.org
We are looking for a church office administrator to serve as the central hub of the church’s ministry creating an organized, welcoming, supportive environment in which the people, staff and leadership of River Glen can accomplish their mission. The Church Office Administrator plays a vital behind-the-scenes role supporting staff, committees, and ministries, and coordinating the church’s administrative operations, communications, and facilities management.
Joshua Pessetti
Audio Visual Coordinator
DIRECTIONS TO RIVER GLEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
River Glen Presbyterian Church is located on Raymond Drive just north of Ogden Avenue. If you are headed North the church is on your right (East) side.
Service is held on Sunday's at 10:30 AM.