Please see the Events Page for coming events.

From the Transition Committee:

Update - February 18, 2021

I am writing to provide you with an update from the Transition Team which has been closely monitoring the ongoing COVID pandemic over the past eleven months. As you may recall, we resumed in-person worship for Reformation Sunday last October--and spiking positivity rates and hospitalizations forced us to suspend in-person worship the very next week.

We are excited to report that we have finally returned to the same low positivity and hospitalization rates that allowed us to briefly resume in-person worship in the fall, and if the numbers stay low we are ready to welcome back those of you who wish to worship in person on Sunday, February 28th. Now to reiterate what we told you in the fall, please keep in mind that things are not returning to "normal." In-person attendance will be capped at 40 worshipers. You will have to register online beforehand if you wish to attend. You will have to remain masked and socially distanced. There will be no singing, and there will be no in-person fellowship beforehand or afterward.

For those of you who would rather continue to attend virtually, we wish to reassure you that our online services will continue to be available via Facebook. We do not want anybody to feel pressured to attend in person, and we would not resume in-person worship if it were at the expense of our members who would prefer to worship with us virtually.

Finally, we realize that despite the encouraging numbers right now, this pandemic is by no means over, and we will not hesitate to suspend in-person service if we feel that it is no longer safe to do so. With that in mind, we would like to share our requirements for both resuming in-person worship and subsequently suspending it if necessary. Once Chicago's 7-day averaged positivity rates drop below 4.5% (which they already have, thankfully) we will resume in-person worship after two weeks so long as the numbers don't rise back above 4.5% for two or more consecutive days. And once we resume in-person worship, we will continue unless the positivity rate exceeds 5.5% by the Thursday before worship--this way we can inform everybody in the Thursday weekly email if in-person worship will be suspended for Sunday. We're happy to discuss these metrics further if you like, but rest assured we'll be tracking them so you don't have to.

We thank you for your patience throughout the past year. The members of the Transition Team have been trying our best to balance our desire to return to the sanctuary with our obligation to keep both our members and the community safe. If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to call (312-316-3326) or email (rchibe@gmail.com). We look forward to seeing you soon, whether it's in two weeks or next year.

~Russ Chibe

Transition Team Chair

Bethlehem’s online worship service will continue with a live stream.  To make viewing the service easier, follow these instructions. These apply to those who are members of Facebook. Those who are not members should be able to go to our page at 9:30 and view the live video.

• Go to Bethlehem’s page. Please be sure you “like” the page. Click the button with three dots. Select “follow settings”. Under “Notifications” choose either “standard” or “highlights.

• Before Sunday, look for the scheduled live video post on Bethlehem’s Facebook page. Click “Get reminder” on the post.

• When Bethlehem goes live you should receive a notification that will take you immediately to the live stream video.

All live stream videos will be able to be accessed after they are completed. Go to the “live” tab on our Facebook page to access all past videos. Live streaming will also continue after we have returned to in-person worship.

Call in worship: Do you know someone who wants to participate in our worship but does not have access to a computer or other streaming device? We have set up a live streaming phone number: 773-932-5545.

People can call the number and listen to the entire service both in real time (at 9:30 Sunday mornings) or after the service is over. People can opt in to have the service call them when worship is starting! Please share this information with friends who might be feeling particularly isolated without internet access at this time. 

Continuing Contributions

Members who normally contribute to our budget are encouraged to please continue to do so either by mailing a check to the church office or by making an on-line contribution.  Detailed instructions on how to do this, follow below. 

At the upper right corner of the home page is the word Donate. Click that and scroll down on the next page to the words MAKE A DONATION and click that. Scroll down again and it leads to a series of blue boxes with a range of amounts from $10 to $500 or a box where you can type in your own amount. Click one of these boxes and you are given a credit card option where you can type in your name, card number, expiration date, and CVV2 ( the security number from the back of your card), and your billing information (the envelope number is optional). Finally click the blue option that reads Make a Donation.

You may also see a tutorial video on on-line giving by clicking this link.

For more information about upcoming events, please see the Events page..

Click here for this month's calendar.