We Are the People of God
NOVEMBER 25, 2025
Thankful for the Legacy Gift Fueling Formation at McCormick
from Evanshire Presbyterian Church
At a recent meeting of the Presbytery of Chicago, Evanshire Presbyterian Church offered a gift that felt like a benediction and a commissioning all at once — a $278,301 Legacy Gift to McCormick Theological Seminary. We are deeply grateful. This gift is more than a line in a ledger; it’s a living testimony to a congregation that has long believed what our students are trained to practice: the Church is called to be the Church — here, now, and for the sake of the world.
A STORY OF FAITHFUL IMAGINATION
Evanshire’s own litany — shared at the gathering — traces a story of beginnings, reinvention, and resilient hope. From worshipping with orange crates for a communion table to building a sanctuary in Skokie, welcoming neighbors in a “nice Jewish neighborhood,” sharing space with immigrant congregations, hosting social service partners, to nurturing a signing choir when deaf members joined — Evanshire kept answering God’s call, reframing scarcity as opportunity and difference as gift. The congregation’s refrain says it best: “We are the people of God, called to be the Church.”
WHY THIS MATTERS FOR MCCORMICK … RIGHT NOW
McCormick forms leaders for active, engaged ministry in exactly the kinds of contexts Evanshire embodied —multilingual, intergenerational, rooted in neighborhood life, attentive to justice and care. Evanshire and McCormick have walked together for decades through field education, even when the church itself could not underwrite the full cost; McCormick stepped in with scholarships because we believed in what students learned there and what Evanshire learned from students. Designating this Legacy Gift to McCormick affirms that shared conviction: formation happens best where classrooms meet communities —and where God’s people keep making room for one another.
THE IMPACT YOU HELP MULTIPLY
This gift will strengthen student scholarships, expand practice-based learning, and resource partnerships with congregations — especially smaller churches — so that both students and ministries thrive. It helps us keep sending leaders who can preach with clarity, organize with wisdom, and accompany communities with courage. In the language of Evanshire’s litany, it ensures that “by God’s grace,” the work continues — through new pastors, chaplains, organizers, and educators who will carry this legacy into their own neighborhoods and networks.
JOIN THE CONTINUING WORK
Evanshire’s generosity invites all of us to participate. If you are an alum, friend, or congregation who has seen the impact of McCormick-trained leaders, consider adding your voice and support. Pray for our students. Host a field education placement. Make a gift to the Annual Fund or to student scholarships. Share this story, and tell your own, so that future leaders know they are not alone in the calling God has placed on their lives.
To the people of Evanshire: thank you for a legacy that still teaches us how to be the Church.
And to all who believe in this mission: walk with us. Together, we will keep forming leaders who serve with boldness, tenderness, and hope, confident, as Evanshire’s litany proclaims, that “nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”