United Lutheran Church became a congregation in 1925 with the merger of three Norwegian Lutheran congregations in Chicago that had been established by immigrants from Norway in the last half of the 19th century. Almost all of United’s charter members were Norwegians, and for several decades United was probably the largest Norwegian Lutheran church in the Chicago area. During those years the congregation did not envision a time when its future vitality might require a different, non-Norwegian identification. For a generation or more, the church was an ethnic island in the Village of Oak Park.

By the 1950’s United recognized a need to orient itself to the community. In 1956 the congregation voted to join the Oak Park-River Forest Council of Churches. A few years later United was part of the merger that created the American Lutheran Church, bringing in Lutheran churches whose ethnic roots were German and Danish. In 1988 United Lutheran joined other congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a union of the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.

Today a roster of United’s members and its pictorial directory provide vivid evidence of the move toward greater diversity in ethnic background, age, family structure, and socio-economic level. United’s membership includes single adults, both young and old; teenagers who’ve joined on their own; one-parent as well as more traditional families. And new members nowadays are likely to have various religious backgrounds and experiences, even within their immediate families; no longer are the pews at United filled with so-called cradle Lutherans.

There is strength to be taken from United’s nearly 75-year history, for it is a narrative of fulfillment in meeting the challenges and opportunities of change. There is promise of a bright future as contemporary needs dictate still more change through new programs and ministries. United Lutheran will continue to stand tall and proud on Greenfield hill, its stately tower and classic Gothic lines reminding us of our heritage, and inspiring and nurturing the faith of the ever-changing family of God that worships here under the banner of Christ the Lord.