New Ministry Brings New Life

by Diane Strzelecki
May 2007

Eleanor Pattie had been living in the Glenview-Northfield area for a little over two years when she began looking for a childcare facility for her first child, daughter Oula. The search was frustrating, to say the least, as there seemed to be a waiting list at every facility. “I found out that in this area, you practically have to get on the waiting list when you first know you’re pregnant,” she says. Once she began touring daycares with openings, she found that most of them were overcrowded.

“The kids were pretty packed in there,” Pattie remembers. “I also noticed that most places were extremely regimented as far as eating, naps, and activities—probably due to the number of children enrolled. There was no individualized attention.”

In fall 2006, Pattie was driving down Chestnut Avenue in Glenview when she noticed a large, colorful banner had been hung on the former Immanuel Lutheran school building. It read “Opening Soon: Open Arms Christian Child Development Center.” Several phone calls, visits and tours later, the Patties decided that Open Arms was the right place for their daughter. They became one of the first families to enroll a child in the new ministry of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Glenview, Illinois.

“The building and grounds were something we considered when making our decision,” Pattie says. “Open Arms has a huge gym and large outdoor space, which is unusual for daycare facilities in the area.” The Christian aspect of Open Arms also appealed to the Patties, especially as their 10-month-old daughter learns to talk and begins to participate more interactively in the Bible stories and Bible-based lessons of the center's curriculum.

“We saw that as a very important factor in our decision,” she notes.

Rev. David Barber, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran, knew that Open Arms would have a unique niche in the community.

“There are a few daycare operations located in area churches, but they are not integrated as a ministry of the church,” Barber says. “The Open Arms ministry is who Immanuel Lutheran Church is; it is what we are about.”

For many years, it seemed that Immanuel Lutheran in Glenview was only all about survival (see "From Maintenance to Mission," our May 2006 story on this congregation). A significant decline in school enrollment and congregational membership led the congregation to vote in August 2003 to close the school.

Faced with an empty building on their property, Barber and church leaders examined potential ministries that could be housed by the school facility. When a survey conducted by the United Way of Glenview identified childcare as the most critical need in the community, Barber was ready to present his vision of developing an Open Arms ministry at Immanuel.

That vision became a reality when, after months of extensive facility renovation, Open Arms officially opened its doors on January 2, 2007, with two children enrolled. The following week, the number of children doubled. As of May 1, Open Arms teachers care for 19 children from infant to age 4, with 5 children expected to be starting up in the summer.

“It’s been a lot of work, but very rewarding—I don’t think I would have changed anything about the whole process,” notes Wendy Pritchard, director of the Open Arms ministry. Permit and construction delays pushed the opening date from fall 2006 to January 2007, a less than ideal time to take in children. Yet some parents have been impressed enough with the ministry that they pulled their children out of their current daycare arrangement to enroll them at Open Arms. Pattie even chose to bypass her employer’s less expensive on-site daycare.

“To us, it was worth an extra $5,000 a year to avoid the crowded conditions and get Christian care,” Pattie says.

Soon after Katie Bolling began looking for childcare for her son, she received an Open Arms mailing. “It seemed like it would be a good fit for us. After I met Wendy and took a tour of the facility in November, I knew it was.” When delays moved the official opening back, Bolling was fortunate that her employer was flexible enough to accommodate her selection of childcare. She says it was definitely worth the wait.

“Even among the ‘premier’ area daycare options, Immanuel Lutheran’s Open Arms Childcare is nicer, more of a family environment,” she notes. “The outdoor play equipment is unbelievable, there are activities for all the children, and the teachers are wonderful.”

Parent and Open Arms Ministry board member Debra Zara agrees. “The teachers are very open and friendly – they truly love those kids. I give Wendy a lot of credit for that. She has an incredible gift to recognize those positive strengths in the people she hires.”

Interest about the ministry continues to grow. Pritchard fields several phone calls each day with inquiries about Open Arms, and expects the trend to continue throughout the summer. And it seems that word-of-mouth marketing has picked up. “Now parents are hearing about the school from other parents—it’s a really neat trend,” she says.