What Is Savior’s “Outward Journey”? 

What Is Savior’s “Outward Journey”? 

By Fr. Kevin 

 At Church of Savior, we talk about the “Inward Journey” and the “Outward Journey.” These names were coined by Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, a church that inspired our own name. 

The Inward Journey stands for the life of prayer and worship, and from Savior’s beginning, we have done a lot of work here: forming our weekly worship as a place of meeting God, not performance; practicing Sabbath; resisting hurry and busyness; offering retreats; and more. Where our leaders are now giving us greater clarity is our Outward Journey--how we love and serve people outside of Savior. Of the many good ways churches serve people, here are three we feel drawn to, in order: 

1.Local Compassion  

People at Savior love to give to our neighbors in need, both in our monthly budget and through the yearly Good Friday Gift. This pleases God. As he says through Isaiah: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” 

So Savior has shared food with the hungry by giving to Peoples Resource Center, and provided the poor wanderer with shelter, by giving to PADS. Through our longtime ministry partners—Outreach and World Relief Chicagoland—we help teen moms and immigrants. 

Our growth edge here is to add to our giving, serving. So we not only give gifts to the Outreach Christmas Store, but this past Christmas, served there. 

2.Justice 

Isaiah points us to this: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” So we especially want to love those who have been unjustly treated. We have given to help fund church planters of color, provide water for people in the Navajo Nation, and much more.  By temperament, Savior is more likely to hug than to picket, but we want to educate ourselves and to advocate for others. We have done some educating and/or advocating for refugees and immigrants, and for persons with disabilities.  

Our approach is not so much focusing on Big Causes but on serving real people with names. As one member put it, “Church of the Savior has gifts in looking out for people who are in spiritual pain or physical pain or relational pain. We offer them our vulnerability and listening. It seems part of our DNA to slow down, listen, involve, learn from.” 

3.Church Planting 

It has been our joy to help launch Christ Our Peace Anglican Church in Oak Park, led by Mtr. Sandy Richter. We expect to release the church into full independence this year. So right now, we are resting and saving toward a future church plant, but here’s why church planting is part of Savior's 

Outward Journey:​

1. There is a great need for more life-giving, healthy churches.​

2. The way the apostles in Acts spread the Gospel was primarily by starting churches. ​

3. New churches have been shown to be the most effective form of evangelism because they tend to be easier for people to connect with.​

4. Our bishop, Todd Hunter, built our diocese, C4SO, to do church planting, so we have examples and encouragement and a culture that gives permission to risk and keeps red tape minimal.​

5. We have a steady source of funds for church planting. Many dioceses ask their churches to donate 10% of their operating budget to support the diocese. But Bishop Todd says, “I’ll run the diocese on 5%; put the other 5% into church plants.”​

6. Church planting fits a passion of Mtr. Karen's and mine to develop leaders.​

7. Church planting meshes with our desire to create relationship-sized churches rather than grow into a medium-size or large-size church.​

8. Savior can make a contribution that is still too rare: We plant by sending men or women, when many church-planting agencies exclude female church planters from receiving funds. 

I love this clearer Outward Journey. It feels like Savior. It expresses what God’s put in us, a natural extension, not something bolted on. And it gives us direction: we can take steps on this Outward Journey, year after year. If you’d like to learn more or get involved, please contact Pastor Sarah. 

Good Friday Gift: A Word from Rachel Wassink

Rachel Wassink is the Annual Giving Manager at World Relief Chicagoland. She shares with us the impact of our Good Friday Gift Donation, and who this donation will help.

  • What NEED IS the Good Friday Gift helping?

One of our top needs at World Relief is securing affordable housing for our refugee and immigrant neighbors. Amidst the shifting sands of the economy, the continued effects COVID has had on our communities, and the rising cost of housing, there has been a significant need for additional funding that supports the costs of transitional housing and bridges the gap as our neighbors work towards self-sufficiency to pay for their housing. This Good Friday gift will directly contribute to this need, which will allow the refugees and immigrants we are welcoming into our community to feel at home.

  • HOW DOES THIS HIT PEOPLE WHO HAVE RECENTLY COME TO THE U.S.?

    Many refugee and immigrants arrive with very little saved financially because of the right to work being taken from them in their refugee camp. When they arrive in the US, they partner with World Relief to begin working and committing to a budget that is sustainable for them. This empowers them to earn, save, and support their family. A crucial piece in this empowerment is the assistance World Relief is able to provide for the first three months of their arrival as they adjust to a very new culture and prepare to begin work. Additionally, there are many Ukrainians coming right now in need of permanent housing who do not have access to federal grant funding that supports housing.

  • HOW will the money be used?

    The money will be used in Chicagoland to pay for two primary areas:

    1. Transitional housing expenses such as hotels and temporary rental homes.
    2. The gap cost of permanent housing for refugees and immigrants as they begin working and saving to pay for their own housing costs.

  • What DOES STABLE HOUSING DO FOR NEWER ARRIVALS?

    When refugees and immigrants have the stability of a home, this leads to significantly greater flourishing. They are able to have a gathering place to feel safe and secure. They are able to adjust to new styles of living, cooking, and learning. When children have a home to come to, they are more likely to grow in school. When adults are able to afford a living space, they feel the dignity and empowerment of caring for their family. Home matters more than we often realize, and for refugees and immigrants, their sense of home has been incredibly uprooted and lost for a long period. A welcoming home here in the United States reminds them that they are wanted and welcomed here.

Good Friday Gift: A Word from a World Relief Employee

Catherine Norquist is a longtime Savior Member and employee of World Relief. Even though the Good Friday Gift is going to housing benefits for refugees, Catherine is working hard in a different department at World Relief. I believe it is helpful and encouraging to see Catherine’s work as well as understanding the vast services that World Relief provides to our refugee and immigrant neighbors. Please connect with Catherine’s words below and how her department is serving those in need.

  • What's the need your department addresses? 

    My department is the Immigration Legal Services Department and we function like a non-profit law firm/Legal Aid. We provide mainly family-based immigration legal services, helping immigrants and refugees navigate the complicated Immigration system here in the United States. Many immigrants can't afford a private attorney but our team consists of both Department of Justice Accredited Representatives and Immigration Attorneys who are providing high quality legal services at either low or no cost. We help people find out if they have a path to legal status in the United States, family reunification processes, immigration assistance for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes to name a few things we do. This Fall we launched an Asylum Legal Clinic, which means we are helping people apply for asylum here in the United states and representing them at their asylum interviews with Immigration. 

  • What are some examples of someone in this situation?

    I'll answer this with a quote from one of our attorneys: 

    I have had a lot of consular processing (family reunification) interviews all over the world recently: Burma, Liberia, India, Mexico, Yugoslavia, and Ethiopia. Many of these families were separated due to civil war or ethnic conflict and are trying to reunite with children under 21, spouses, and parents. Most of these cases were delayed due to US government backlogs and then extra delayed due to the pandemic, and then further held up after the embassy interview by additional document requests. Even though these cases can seem like we overcome one obstacle just to run into another, this work is such a privilege to walk alongside our clients as an advocate; to reassure them that there WILL eventually be an end to the frustration and to celebrate with them when their loved one finally arrives in the USA.

  • Can you give a few examples of someone being helped?

    Our first asylum case we took was for an Afghan woman who was a reporter in Afghanistan who was highlighting the abuses of the Taliban. She had received multiple death threats and had been harrassed by the Taliban multiple times. After she was evacuated to the United states in 2021, one of our attorneys decided to file her asylum case. The interview was this summer and we are hoping to hear any day now whether she has been approved for asylum. This would give her a path to legal permanent residency (a green card) and eventually US citizenship. We have also helped multiple Afghan men apply for asylum due to their assistance with the US Military and Special Forces in Afghanistan. We are still awaiting results from Immigration post their interviews. 

Holy Week Guide

Help to Enter Holy Week

It’s intense and only once a year. What is going on?

For Christians, the most important week of the year is Holy Week—the name we give the final and ultimate week of Jesus’ earthly life.

We don’t so much study that as enter it. Holy Week began in the 4th century, as Christians in Jerusalem wanted to worship Christ in the exact places where he had been, to retrace his steps during those momentous events. Therefore, our worship during Holy Week is even more tactile, often primal—waving palm fronds, touching a wooden cross, lighting a candle, washing feet, dancing, ringing bells. (This is also why it’s a great week for kids. They often enter this worship better than we do.) Even Covid can’t take all of this away.

My final word of overview is that Holy Week works as one unified week, one giant wave rising and cresting and carrying us toward the shore. We aren’t used to thinking this way. Most folks I know grew up viewing Maundy Thursday as wholly optional, Good Friday as like going to a funeral service, and Easter Vigil as that weird thing Anglicans do. Actually, those 3 services are 1 joint service. We don’t “end” the service after Maundy Thursday or Good Friday; there is no closing hymn, no recessional, no dismissal; we simply allow you a break to go home and sleep, then come back to continue in worship.

And now a few pastoral and practical words for each service:

Palm Saturday

Saturday, April 1

5pm, Pleasant Hill Community Church (PHCC)

26W401 Geneva Rd, Wheaton, IL 60187

This service features two parts, in jarring juxtaposition: (1) An outdoor palm procession. We are the crowd along the road into Jerusalem, waving palm branches and singing to welcome Jesus as he enters Jerusalem as King. (2) The Passion reading—the account of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. Now we are the crowd that turns against Jesus, shouting “Crucify him!” (Join in loudly at this part of the reading.)

Stations of the Cross

Wednesday, April 5 through Friday, April 7

Various times, PHCC

In this self-guided, interactive journey, move through the final 14 key moments of Jesus’s life, from his betrayal to his burial. Good for most ages. Reserve your time slot here. Wednesday, 2-6:30pm, 8:30-10pm. Thursday, 1pm to 4:45pm. Friday, 10am to 3:15pm.

Maundy Thursday (Eve)

Wednesday, April 5

7pm, PHCC

The word “maundy” relates to “mandate,” because on the Thursday night before he died, Jesus gave his followers a mandate: “Love each other just as much as I love you” (John 13:34). In this service, we are the disciples, and we see how much Jesus loves us: (1) Footwashing: He washes our feet (optional; wear socks and shoes easy for you to remove); (2) Communion: He gives us his life in the Last Supper; (3) Prayer Watch: He prays in agony in Gethsemane until he can take on the suffering for our sake. (You’re invited to remain in prayer following the service, as the disciples were invited by Jesus to pray with him.)

Please note: this year’s service will be on Wednesday at 7pm.

Good Friday

Friday, April 7

4pm, PHCC

Christians call this disastrous day in Jesus’ life—an event of government-sponsored torture and public execution—“good.” In what possible way could “Good Friday” be good? Because a greater plan was at work. Several times Jesus predicted that he would be betrayed, tortured, and killed (Luke 9:22; 9:44; and 18:31-33)—and, incredibly, this was part of God’s plan (Luke 22:22) and the reason Jesus came (John 12:27-28). Therefore, our worship is subdued and grateful but not like a funeral. As Ellen Richard Vosburg has written, “This is not a somber recapitulation of Jesus' death, but rather a thankful and reverently joyful recollection of his death that gave us life.” In the Good Friday service, we are eyewitnesses of Jesus’ suffering and death. We hear and participate again in the Passion narrative. And we take time to pray at the cross.

The Great Vigil of Easter

Saturday, April 8

5pm, PHCC

In the early church, new believers could not receive the sacred mystery of Communion until they had been taught and trained. The final night of their training was the night before Easter. They would stay awake all night. At dawn, as the Easter sunrise began to light the sky, they would be baptized and put on white robes. That’s how the Easter Vigil began.

Like those early believers, we spend a long time in worship (so bring water and maybe a power bar). The service comes in 4 parts:

1.     Service of Light: a new fire is kindled, and from it the Paschal Candle (Easter Candle) is lit, symbolizing Christ, the light of the world. We share in that light by lighting our own candles

2.     Service of Lessons: we hear how God saved his people in ages past and respond with songs and prayers. That culminates in the Acclamation that “Jesus is risen!,” which is shouted and celebrated. (Bring a bell to ring!)

3.     Baptism: we baptize new believers and renew our own baptismal vows.

4.     Communion: we celebrate the victory of Life over Death in this holy feast.

Easter Sunday Celebration & Brunch

Sunday, April 9

10:30am, Tyndale House Publishers

351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188

Our joy continues! We will hear the Gospel account of the 1st Easter, sing favorite Easter songs, and set up the flowering cross. Following the service, enjoy brunch, get to know people, and thank God for all he has done among us during Holy Week.

Good Friday Gift

Each year, Savior takes up a special offering on Good Friday to support our neighbors in need. This year, our Good Friday gift will help provide stable housing for recent refugees and immigrants, through World Relief Chicagoland. Newcomers need help with security deposits of first and last months’ rent; and the need for housing is great, as asylum seekers are bussed here. Learn more from the flyer at the Info Table in the lobby at PHCC. You can give any time during Lent: write “Good Friday” in the memo line of your check or select “Good Friday Gift” as the fund on Savior’s online giving page.

Connect with the stories below of those World Relief helps:


Farzana is an Afghan Paralympian who was forced to flee Kabul in August of 2021. As a leader and advocate for women in her country, she was no longer safe. She found herself living in temporary quarters at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. After several months, she was sent to Chicagoland for a better living situation. Because of partners like you, World Relief was able to find a place for her to live that accommodates her mobility devices.


Yomardy left her home in Venezuela to come to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship. Fully intending to return to Venezuela and use her status as National Teacher of the Year, she soon discovered that she was declared an enemy of the state in Venezuela. Her honesty about the conditions in her country meant that she could no longer return to her home. Thanks to partners like you, Yomardy was able to find support and a place to call home here in Chicagoland. Her new dream is to buy a house to be able to welcome others like
her who need a place to call home.

Jerome lived in a refugee camp for 19 years. Can you imagine that? During his time in the camp, Jerome was already working to make a difference and that made him a target. Thankfully, he was selected to be resettled and came to the United States. When he arrived at his first apartment, he was finally able to live in a secure and safe place. He was able to find peace again thanks to people of peace who supported the finding and filling of his new apartment.