By Lily Groves, Staff Writer
404 N. President St., a church building next to Wheaton College’s Saint and Elliot Apartments, was listed for sale on Aug. 26, 2025, and is under contract for purchase by Glen Ellyn Bible Church. The contract is scheduled to close on the final day of 2025.
The building is currently rented by three separate churches. Many Wheaton College students attend them, and some students live just one door away. Two of these congregations — Holy Covenant Church and Christ Our Advocate — have been using the building for Sunday services and will have to find new meeting places by January 2026.
John Vandervelde, lead pastor of Glen Ellyn Bible Church, said the new building will allow the church to host programs that compete for weekday space at their location in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Glen Ellyn Bible Church also has plans for a new congregation in the chapel. Beyond extending existing programs, they plan on having worship services at 404 N. President St. geared toward nearby residents. “The primary ministry there will be to revitalize that church into a vibrant church in all the ways that a church should be in a neighborhood,” said Vandervelde.
Glen Ellyn Bible Church previously launched Bartlett Bible Church in 2023, using a similar method. Vandervelde said this model reflects the church’s work of “reaching people with the gospel.”
“One way to do that is to expand into churches that need revitalization, and that’s really been what we’ve been doing,” Vandervelde said.
Glen Ellyn Bible Church’s “404 North Campaign” was established to help with the purchase and renovation of the chapel at 404 N. President St., with a final fundraising goal of $1 million.
The current owners are connected to Bethany Chapel Church, which operated in Wheaton for nearly 60 years. The church began meeting in homes in the late 1940s, during which time Wheaton College students Jim and Elisabeth Elliot attended. Bethany’s congregation dwindled during the COVID pandemic, and the church stopped meeting in 2022.
On Sunday mornings, Holy Covenant Church, a nondenominational and semi-liturgical congregation, rents the space. The congregation began meeting in backyards during 2020 before moving to 404 N. President St., and has been in communication with Glen Ellyn Bible Church to discuss when they must vacate their current location.
Dan Godoy, one of the church’s five primarily bi-vocational elders, said Holy Covenant uses their space while prioritizing strategic smallness and catholicity, or unity within the global Christian church. Each week, the church prays for leaders of another local congregation.
“We take the opportunity to contact the other church’s pastors and elders to ask for prayer requests and offer encouragement,” said Godoy.
Wheaton College students who attend Holy Covenant Church or Christ Our Advocate, many of whom are without personal transportation, will be affected by relocation.
One student, Mikaela Curtis, a sophomore studying English writing, began attending Christ Our Advocate two months ago. She said the church’s liturgical services have helped her manage anxieties about attending church and that she sees “so many people with a heart for Jesus and a desire to do good for others in the community” in the congregation.
She was at church when the purchase of 404 N. President St. and the date of her church’s final service, Dec. 28, were announced to the congregation.
“I don’t associate the church much with the space,” said Curtis. “To me, the church is more the people.”
Christ Our Advocate’s clergy—including Rev. Emily McGowin, one of Wheaton’s associate professors of theology—are continuing to lead as the congregation determines the next steps for its ministry location.
Glen Ellyn Bible Church and the other churches currently renting Bethany Chapel are just a few of many churches located in Wheaton. In response to concerns about establishing another congregation in an already church-saturated area, Vandervelde said, “Every church has a unique philosophy of ministry.”
Referring to College Church, a congregation located two blocks west of Bethany Chapel, Vandervelde said:
“Their style of ministry will be different from our style of ministry, and that will draw some people and we’ll draw others, so we’re okay with that.”
Glen Ellyn Bible Church plans to initially staff the new church with some of the current pastors and staff and open on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026. Vandervelde said his church’s vision is for people living around 404 N. President St. to have a neighborhood church.
“Having a church in your community is how most people grow in their faith,” he said. “It’s how most people find Jesus or Jesus finds them.”
