History

Ascension of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church of Lincolnshire, Illinois was born in the fall of 1997, when a handful of Greek Orthodox families in southern Lake County came together with a shared mission: to bring a new parish to an area that had none. With the blessing of Metropolitan Iakovos, the parish celebrated its first Divine Liturgy on January 11, 1998, in an auditorium at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, with thirty families in attendance.

The following year the parish purchased a five-acre property at 1207 Riverwoods Road, including a ranch house and grounds for expansion. Volunteers donated their time and talents to build a temporary church addition, refurbish salvaged pews, and finish the interior. The first Divine Liturgy at the new home was celebrated on the Feast of the Ascension in 2001, and the official Archdiocesan charter was granted on April 24, 2002. Through the years that followed, ministries grew to serve all ages, and the community built a close-knit identity through outdoor liturgies, family picnics, youth programs, an annual Christmas Bazaar, and participation in Metropolis-wide events. A two-acre parcel adjacent to the property was later purchased and the debt retired ahead of schedule. Milestone anniversary galas marked the parish's tenth and fifteenth years.

The long-held dream of a permanent church building came to fruition on September 10, 2017, when the historic groundbreaking was held, with Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos presiding alongside the current and founding pastors. While construction proceeded, the congregation worshipped at Daniel Wright Middle School. On June 5, 2019, the Thyranoixia, or Opening of the Doors, was celebrated on the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, with Metropolitan Nathanael blessing the new sanctuary before more than 30 clergy and 550 faithful. The church had been built entirely debt-free, a goal the community had set from its very first days and never abandoned. The parish celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2023 with a Silver Anniversary Gala themed Honoring Our Past, Embracing Our Present, Cultivating Our Future.

Today, Ascension of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church stands at 1207 Riverwoods Road in Lincolnshire as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, a community that grew from thirty families in a high school auditorium into a vibrant and fully established center of Orthodox Christian life in the northern suburbs of Chicago.