My name is Stephanie Escher and I am the new pastor here at Cornerstone UMC. I was born in Fargo, North Dakota and I am a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe. I grew up in Wisconsin and graduated with a psychology degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. A recent graduate of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, I am a new resident of Oak Park as of July 1, 2010

Cornerstone UMC is a wonderfully intimate, missional, welcoming congregation. We are in the midst of a transitional time when we get to rethink Church and together figure out how to be relevant and contextual in the present day and community. As a visioning church, this is an exciting time to join our family and assist us with your time and talent in this important next step. What activities would you like your local church to offer? Are there small group ministries we can engage in that address relevant issues to our community? Worried about school violence? As we partner with a community organizer, are there issues we can address systemically in order to provide a healthy, safe and diverse educational environment for our kids? Are there service ministries that we should look into providing? What kinds of issues would you like to unravel theologically both in the worship service as well as outside of the service? Are you of the formerly churched and feel that church is no longer relevant to your life today? Help us build a church that is relevant, dynamic and attuned to the realities and challenges of life in the 21st century. Come check us out on a Sunday at 10 a.m. for worship and experience the action inspiring love of a radically inclusive God. All are welcome.

Pastor Stephanie Escher
You may contact Pastor Escher here.

Community Outreach

One of our core values is the belief that God's love is extended to all. We support that belief in our support of PADS, the CROP Walk and the OPRF Food Pantry. We also participate in the Community of Congregations.

Brief History of Cornerstone

The congregation was started around 1898 by the same pastor who founded Euclid Avenue UMC. The original name was Third Methodist Episcopal Church which was incorporated in what was then Cicero. The land was given to the Methodists by an ecumenical group group. By the time building of the church started around 1900 - the name was changed to Cuyler Avenue Methodist Church.

The sanctuary was built in 1912. The educational wing was built in the 50's. The church became Faith UMC when they merged with LeMoyne UMC. It merged again in 1997 and became Faith Williard . In 1998, Trinity UMC (formerly EUB) joined with Faith Willard and a new church, Cornerstone, was formed.

Funds frim the sale of the Trinity building and the Willard building was used to remodel the sanctuary in 2000.

Members of Trinity and Willard are still part of the congregation today.

Worship and Sunday School

Our worship service is 10:00am and Sunday School is held during the service.

All Are Welcome!

We are a warm, welcoming community who seek to celebrate and share lives nurtured in Christian values and reflect God's love for all creation.

We are family friendly and mission minded.

We believe God's gracious love is available to all and extended to all.

Our mission is to reach out to all God's children at the point of greatest need.

Activities at Cornerstone

Though we are small, there's always something going on!

Through our church, our affliliates and groups who use our space, Cornerstone houses a variety of activities that connect us to the community and the community to each other.