About Us
South Suburban was born from the heart of Brother Bill Reed. God placed a burden on the heart of Bill and Diane Reed to reach the lost and South Suburban began as a Bible study in the home of Bill and Diane in 1986.
The group continued to grow and they began to meet at Dolphin Lake and Cathedral of Joy in the Homewood, Illinois area. In 1990, the group was blessed to purchase approximately 5 acres in unincorporated Homewood. With the help of brothers and sisters, especially the saints of Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church known as “The Orchard”, the church was built in basically one weekend.
Bro. Bill Reed served as the first pastor. He faithfully served from 1990 - 2002. The church continued to grow under pastor Reed’s leadership. The church continued to share the love of God and began to equip the saints to do the good works God had ordained for the saints to accomplish for His Glory.
In 2004, the church was led to call pastor Delbert D. Denny Jr. to serve as South Suburban’s second pastor. Pastor Denny continued to teach the unadulterated word of God. The church continued to strive and thrive to know God and to share God - by partnering with various agencies to reach the lost, to house the homeless, and to feed the hungry.
South Suburban Evangelical Free Church has been seeking to know and share God since 1986.
God has shown favor on South Suburban and we believe He still has much to accomplish here.
We follow the doctrinal beliefs of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) and are united on the following principals and convictions:
God
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
The Bible
The Human Condition
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Church
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
Christian Living
We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Christ’s Return
We believe in the personal, bodily and pre-millennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
Response and Eternal Destiny
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
Our church’s ministries focus on the 3 C’s: compassion, celebration, and community.
We enjoy our opportunities to gather to worship God through messages, song, dance, theatre, and more.
We faithfully carry our God’s Great Commission by reaching out to the lost and hurting.
We reach out to fellow saints to equip them to carry out the good works God has called all of us to do.
Meet Our Pastor, Joseph Hyligar!
Born in Sandy Point, St. Kitts-Nevis, a picturesque island nation in the Caribbean with a population of fewer than 50,000 people, Pastor Joseph Hyligar is the son of a pastor and one of 11 siblings. He marvels at how God has orchestrated the path of his life, leading him to serve as pastor in Illinois.
Pastor Joseph married his college sweetheart, Skeeter, and in 1997, he relocated to Illinois. They are blessed with three children: Rasean, Rachelle, and Serene. Since 2008, Pastor Hyligar has been a devoted member of South Suburban Evangelical Free Church (SSEFC), where he faithfully served as an elder. In 2024, he answered God’s call to serve as the pastor of SSEFC.
Humbled by the grace of God, Pastor Hyligar believes that grateful people do not complain. He remains in awe of God's grace, which saves through faith as described in Ephesians 2:8–10, and he cherishes the truth that God sees His people as masterpieces - specially chosen to do good works for Him. Pastor Hyligar passionately affirms that God is good, all the time; not only does God do good, but He is the very definition of what is good.