HISTORY

Exodus Church began in October 2020 as a “scratch plant” of the Presbyterian Church in America in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Presbytery of Northern Illinois commissioned planting pastor Stephen Lawrence, along with his wife, Courtney, and children to move to Springfield and begin the work of laying a foundation for the church and making personal connections in the Springfield area.

After assembling an Equipping Team (a core team of founding members from all walks of life in Springfield who came alongside to engage the vision for the church), Stephen and Courtney began hosting Bible studies in their living room for small groups of people connect people with one another.

One of several early Exodus Church Bible studies.

Exodus then hosted several “vision nights,” which soon transitioned into a handful of “preview services” in the summer of 2021. Later in September of that same year, Exodus began meeting every Sunday morning as a small congregation.

Much of the work of the first three years as a “mission church” was to establish core leaders and beginnings of ministry involvement in the Springfield community.

In September of 2023, Exodus petitioned and was granted permission by the Presbytery of Northern Illinois to transition from a “mission church” to a “particularized church” within the PCA.

This culminated in our official Particularization Service, held on Sunday night, November 19, during which Exodus installed our own ruling and teaching elders. Dr. Bryan Chapell was our guest preacher and spoke on “Church Expansion” from Acts 13:1-5, elders from churches within the Presbytery of Northern Illinois charged and prayed for our ruling and teaching elders after leading them (and our members) through the appropriate vows, and our members coordinated a reception afterward. It was a beautiful evening.

Exodus Church Particularization, Sunday, November 19, 2023. Thanks be to God!