Who We Are

Shepherd Reformed Baptist Church is a church plant in the area of Joliet, IL.

We began as a small group in a local church in Bourbonnais, IL where several of us were members. Sharing a common conviction of Reformed Baptist doctrine and practice and a desire to see a church planted in the Joliet area for reaching the lost and worshipping God in Spirit and Truth, our group began pursuing oversight and support for this mission. Luke S. and Mario M. went through a year of elder training and were considered men with the character, calling, and qualification to lead a church, so the church planting process began in early 2023 with their two families and Landon J., a missionary in training with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.

Since our home church was not able to support us as a church plant, we were adopted by Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Decatur, IL, who now serve as our sending church, providing oversight and accountability. With the help of the North American Mission Board and the Three Rivers Baptist Association, we started meeting in Shorewood to begin gathering a core group to plant a church. We started meeting for worship together Sunday afternoons in August, studying a few core elements of our faith and then preaching through the book of Philippians, then through the Apostles’ Creed.

Several more families have joined our core group, and in May of 2024, we moved to our new location at Westview Baptist Church and began a sermon series in 1 Timothy. By God’s grace, we intend to constitute as an independent church in the next few months!