Join us on Sundays at 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.
REMINDER: FALL PICNIC THIS WEEKEND!
Join us at Leeper Park on Sunday, October 11 from 11a-1p for our fall picnic. No normal gatherings at the Tribune.
We’re aiming for a beautiful, intentional simplicity in our life together. If we can stay clear on what’s most important, we can leave the clutter behind.
Your life doesn’t have to be a performance. Neither does church. Failure isn’t fatal. And we’re here to practice together in the rhythms of grace and peace that Jesus teaches.
The first word in the Bible about humanity is that we bear the image of God. It’s an assertion of profound dignity, and it’s our starting point with every person we meet.
We’re a Jesus-centered community. We trust the Bible as it points us to Jesus, and we trust the Apostles’ Creed as a guiding interpretation of what it teaches. Outside of those essentials, you’ll probably find a diversity of perspectives within our community. (We actually think that diversity is a good thing.) If you’re wondering what our pastors believe on any number of questions, the best way to explore that is to listen to the teachings on our podcast. Or better yet, join us in person for a gathering!
Among the members of our leadership, staff, and community, you’ll find a wide spectrum of beliefs about questions related to human sexuality and gender identity, and we believe that agreement on these questions should not be the basis of our unity. We also believe that LGBTQ people have a right to know what they can expect from us in terms of belonging, involvement, leadership, and marriage. Our lead pastor, Jason Miller, addressed these questions in two teachings that you can hear on our podcast: A Sacred Conversation: Sexuality, and Male and Female God Created them… We strongly encourage you to listen to these teachings to understand our approach to these questions in a way that can’t be accomplished on an FAQ page. You also may want to take advantage of the reading lists supplied in each teaching’s episode notes for further learning.
However, the bottom line is that no one at South Bend City Church will be excluded from belonging, involvement, and leadership on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity, and we have pastors available to perform weddings for same-sex couples.
We’re committed to the inclusion of women at every level of leadership across the board, including staffing, preaching, ordination, and board membership. You can learn more about this commitment and its grounding in Scripture by listening to this teaching on our podcast: Male and Female God Created them…
South Bend City Church began in 2016 when our lead pastor, Jason Miller, discerned a calling to launch a new Jesus community where doubt and faith could coexist, where people could wrestle with the challenges of an ancient faith in a modern world, and where everyone could belong.
In the fall of that year, we began meeting on Wednesday nights to worship, pray, and study the book of Acts. We kept asking one question: what is a church? And each week, the answer we kept hearing from Acts was that the church is nothing more, and nothing less, than the expansion of Jesus’ work in the world.
In our first year, we gathered at an event venue, a downtown hotel, and a convention hall. We threw a donut party on the streets of South Bend to raise awareness and funds for the cause of chronic homelessness in our city. We experimented with different ways of worshiping, learned about historic practices of faith, explored the theme of doubt within Scripture, and listened to our neighbors as we dreamed together. We set up and tore down chairs and sound equipment more times than we’d like to count. And in June 2017, we finally found our first home in a building with a legacy in the South Bend community and beyond: a once-abandoned Studebaker car factory.
While many of the Studebaker buildings have been torn down since the manufacturer went out of business, one major complex remains, and we planted our church on part of that old factory floor.
Our time at Studebaker was a gift that we cherished, but we also began to dream about securing a long-term home for our community where we could own our building. We also hoped for a more accessible location in the heart of the city, and we found it at the former printing press building of the South Bend Tribune. In October of 2021, through a process of communal discernment, we settled on a plan to pursue the Tribune as a place for the people, not just for our church, but for the common good of the people of South Bend. In July 2022 we closed on the sale. And in March 2024, we made the move and the Tribune became our new home.
We continue to grow in our calling as a community of grace and peace for our city and the world, exploring ancient teachings, asking new questions, working with partners both here and around the world, learning to walk in the way of love that Jesus teaches. We’re an independent, nondenominational church. We trust the Bible as it points us to Jesus, and we trust the Apostles’ Creed as a guiding interpretation of what it teaches.
Experimental gathering at The Brick, 2016
Sunday at Studebaker 112, 2019
Consecration at The Tribune, 2023
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226 N Lafayette Blvd, South Bend, IN 46601
Questions? Email info@southbendcitychurch.com