We are stories God is writing about Jesus making things new.
The word "Renovation" literally means to make something new. Jesus came to extend hospitality to people that might make us new. When we experienced his hospitality and believed his message, we became different. The Bible says that when we believe and follow Jesus we become new creations through the power of his death and resurrection. We're welcomed into restored relationship with our Creator and our stories of renewal are stories that we live and share among friends and neighbors that all might know that Jesus hospitably invites us into a renewed life.
Our Vision
We exist to BLESS, BELONG, and BECOME
God has been so welcoming to us and we want to honor him by blessing our neighbors and extending his hospitality to them.
It is difficult to grow alone so we foster a place of belonging, filled with people who will walk with us through the ups and downs of life.
We are not perfect. We don’t expect you to be. We believe Jesus meets us where we are and guides us into the renewal that he wants to bring about
Our History
Building A Church
Our church started in 1983 when Rev. Edwin Bernard led a team of people from Lombard Bible Church in Lombard, IL to put their energy towards starting a church in a place where they wanted to see God go to work. We originally met in Independence Elementary School in Bartlett and officially organized on December 11th with 25 charter members. Since then, Alliance Bible Church in Bartlett has had a long history of effectively sharing Jesus with people and pouring their energy into the community.
In 1987, Michael Mercurio became the Senior Pastor and led our church to develop a permanent presence in the community. Christians from other churches in the community of Bartlett came together and through the collective effort and energy of many people, a building was completed in 1991 and became a solid base of operations and gathering place for worship.
In 1999, Pastor Tim Poferl was called as the Senior Pastor and led ABC into an incredible season of growth and development. In 2002 Pastor Don Romano joined the ministry team. Under their leadership, our church grew significantly and our ministry impact was expanded. Tim poured intentionally into the discipleship of a small group of men who would eventually go on to be major ministry influencers. Several of these men play key leadership roles for us today.
This group of men led ABC through several significant outreach strategies including “Local Noise” which was an outreach to the hardcore/metal community, providing a place for bands to showcase their talent and opportunities for people in the church to build relationships within that community.
The economic recession in the late 2000s impacted us significantly and led to a number of families relocating to find new jobs. In 2014 ABC faced the reality of these circumstances and started a revitalization effort. Under Pastor Tim’s leadership, we made a number of significant decisions to invest intentionally in a 2-mile radius around the church. This led to starting a partnership with Crossroads Kids Clubs, an after school program which provides games and a bible-lesson for kids. Today, ABC runs two Crossroads clubs at Sycamore Trails Elementary and Horizon Elementary, sharing truths about God with over 70 kids each week.
In 2018 Pastor Tim was called to a new ministry effort and in 2019 we called Alex Culpepper to be our new Lead Pastor and to carry on the effort of leading our church into greater gospel impact that was initiated by his predecessors. In recent years, the church has undergone significant change including relaunching under the name Renovation Church as we seek to tell the story of Jesus who makes things new to our friends and neighbors.