We believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of all men;

We accept, without reservation, the entire Bible as the written Word of God, and regard it as the only source of our church's teaching;

We believe that God speaks to us and to our human problems in His Word, leading us to confess our sins and failures, and to trust in His forgiveness and strength, which He gives to us in His Son;

We believe that God is gracious and forgiving to us, not because of our own good works and attitudes, but only through faith in Jesus Christ, who gives Himself to us in Word and Sacrament as the one who made full atonement for our sins;

We believe that with God's help, a Christian is able to respond to this "Good News" of the Gospel by leading a life of cheerful service to God, his family, his church, his community, and his fellow man;

A plan to use a branch school of Zion, Bensenville located north of town had to be dropped. Finally a building was located at the corner of Wood Dale Road and Irving Park. This building has now been torn down.

Rev. Norman Streufert arrived in August of 1940. With a great deal of labor on his part and on the part of a few men in town, a school was opened the day after Labor Day. The building had to serve as a school during the week and as a church on Sunday. The first service was held on September 29, 1940.

At about the time Pastor Streufert accepted a call and left Wood Dale, the school also had to be closed because of sanitary problems. This was in 1943. Until 1946 the children form Wood Dale were transported to St. Luke’s School in Itasca. Rev. Fred Bartling became the second pastor of Calvary. He lived in Northlake and served Christ Lutheran there as well as serving Calvary. Plans for building a new church in Wood Dale had to be postponed because of war conditions. During Pastor Bartling’s stay a build fund was started, but the time was not yet right for construction.

The discontinuing of the school arrangement with St. Luke’s the cold and drafts in the old building, the forced cessation of Sunday School, all were great discouragements for the members.

In 1950 Pastor Bartling accepted a call to Freeport, Illinois and Dr. John Klotz, a professor at Concordia Teachers College, became the interim pastor. When Christ, Northlake was combined with a new mission in Franklin Park, Dr. Klotz was prevailed upon to continue serving Calvary.

Under the leadership of Dr. Koltz things began to happen. A canvass was conducted. A Sunday Morning School was started. The building fund was reactivated. The members of the congregation began to fix and paint. The Lord blessed the efforts of these people. Dr. Klotz was a dynamic preacher. One humorous anecdote many will remember. Dr. Klotz to this day holds the record for the longest sermon at Calvary! He always timed his sermons by the 10:15 train but on one particular Sunday the train never came!

Not only did the congregation begin to grow during this time, but by 1955 the congregation began planning for a new church.

On August 19, 1956, a groundbreaking ceremony was held and construction of the new church was started. The hearts of many people were gladded when on June 23, 1957 it was possible to dedicate the present structure.

By 1959 the congregation had grown to about 175 communicants. The request for a candidate was accepted and so Dr. Klotz resigned. At about the same time he moved to Fort Wayne to become a professor at our Senior College. On July 12, 1959 Rev. Carl Egloff was ordained into the ministry and installed as the fourth pastor of Calvary Church.

The village of Wood Dale continued to grow, and as new people moved in many of them transferred their membership into the church. The Sunday School, the various church organizations and a new school relationship with Zion, Bensenville, flourished.

In 1964 Pastor Egloff accepted a call to serve at the Lutheran High School in Milwaukee, Wis. He became the counselor and religious instructor there.

After a vacancy of over half a year Pastor Edmund Nieting accepted the call and was installed as the fifth pastor of Calvary on Feb. 14, 1965. Pastor Nieting served Calvary until 1976, at which time he took a call to serve two churches in Wisconsin.

Pastor Thomas Niermann was installed as Calvary’s sixth pastor on July 11, 1976. He came to us from Saratoga, Wyoming where he served two parishes since August 1969. Pastor Niermann served Calvary until October 25, 1987 at which time he accepted a call to St. John’s Elgin, Illinois.

After a twelve-month vacancy, Calvary was blessed with their seventh pastor, the Reverend Carl W. Bassett who was installed on October 9, 1988. Pastor Bassett had served the Northern Illinois District since July 9, 1987 as Pastor-at-Large for the Hearing Impaired Ministry. Pastor Bassett left in July 2002 to become head pastor at St. Paul in Niles, Michigan where he had served his vicarage.