The former Saint Bernard’s Catholic Church in Peoria’s East Bluff neighborhood soon will be home to a new ministry.
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria recently announced that Centerpoint Community Church has acquired the historic church building and surrounding property.
“We wish them all the best as they bring an encounter with Jesus Christ to those they serve,” Bishop Louis Tylka said in a statement announcing the sale. “We are grateful for their willingness to take up a shared mission in bringing Christ’s love and mercy to the community.”
Opened in 1903, the St. Bernard parish closed last year as part of the diocese’s restructuring, after attendance and membership dwindled.
Centerpoint Community Church Pastor Brian Russell hopes to carry Saint Bernard’s spiritual legacy forward. Russell, whose father is Pastor Sam Russell of New Testament Fellowship Church, said it’s a calling focused on faith, family and community.
“Our desire is to serve alongside our neighbors, as a trusted presence, steady resource, and church that grows with the neighborhood we cherish,” said Russell.
WCBU’s Joe Deacon recently spoke to Pastor Russell about Centerpoint’s mission and the acquisition of the St. Bernard’s property.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What does it mean to be moving into this historic St, Bernard’s Church building?
Pastor Brian Russell: There’s a lot of rich history with my family that’s connected to this, my wife in particular. My wife’s grandfather used to be a Catholic priest at this church, so we’re coming full circle. It means a lot to Centerpoint to be able to be in the neighborhood, building families and spending time in the community.
How did this agreement come about for Centerpoint to acquire the St. Bernard’s property from the diocese?
Pastor Russell: God gave us a vision to plant a church in the East Bluff years ago. It’s been our heart for years, but it’s been something that we’ve been in pursuit of for probably the last year and a half, almost two years. We contacted the diocese and we poured our heart out to them and informed them of our intentions, or our want to continue their legacy that they actually built in the community. Since 1903, they did a phenomenal job.
We just saw these buildings just sitting empty, and we thought that it would behoove us and be beneficial for the community for another church, to go on that community and continue on spreading the love and of Jesus Christ and encouraging people in the Gospel.
Will there need to be any work done on the church or rehab to bring it up to your needs since the parish vacated?
Pastor Russell: Right now, the buildings are in great shape. We’ve actually been in the buildings a few times; we’ve done some community engagements in the neighborhood, which involved us using the building. We did some of that stuff last year. So the buildings are in great shape.
There’s just a few cosmetic things that we want to correct. But really, if we wanted to have our very first service tomorrow, we could do that and it would go off without a hitch.
What is Centerpoint Community Church and what is its mission?
Pastor Russell: Centerpoint is a new church. It came about with just this desire to see communities change. We feel and know that communities thrive where Jesus is alive, and what we are geared toward is to see Jesus at the center of every heart and every home.
That’s the plan for us — we want to be just a hub for the community. We want to support our community in every way possible, spiritual ways and practical ways. We want to just walk alongside people.
The East Bluff community has, over the years, socially developed this bad reputation for being a bad neighborhood. A lot of people have renamed it that, and we see beauty and brokenness. We see a beautifully broken community There’s just so much rich history, so many beautiful people, and then there’s that brokenness part that we want to come alongside, and we want to help build that up to where everything there is beautiful.
Can you tell us about your background and your journey in faith?
Pastor Russell: In church since I was a child — I grew up in church in my grandmother’s church, and then my dad is a pastor. He started his own church when I was 15, so I’ve been a part of that and I’ve watched that transpire. It was just some years later, after being in my dad’s church, that I developed this desire to want to do more. So I just got more involved in the church, and I became an elder at my dad’s church.
Then we ventured out. We ventured out into new churches, my family and I. We started going to Richwoods Christian Church about 15 years ago. I became an elder there, and I sing on the worship team.
It’s always been a desire of mine to be in ministry and to follow Jesus, since I was a child. So to be able to carry all of what I have and all of what I know in my experiences, and bring in the Centerpoint, that’s my true desire.
What do you hope your presence there will mean for the East Bluff neighborhood?
Pastor Russell: My hope is that the community knows that they have people that they can rely on, people that they can trust, people that they can depend on, people that they can help build their lives with, build their families around.
Like I said, we want to see Jesus at the center of every heart and every home, and we know that can only happen through relationships. So our hope is that we can build those relationships in that community, and people can start to experience the love of Christ that I’ve known all my life, and the grace and mercy that he’s shown me. We want to share that with the people in the community through building as many relationships as possible.
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Russell said Centerpoint is on track to hold its first official service in the former St. Bernard’s Church on April 5, which is Easter Sunday. He said East Bluff residents interested in being a part of the church’s mission can find more information at CenterpointCommunityChurch.life, or find them on Facebook and Instagram.
