On a quiet stretch of South Quentin Road in Palatine, Illinois, All Saints Lutheran Church has spent more than four decades introducing children to Bible stories, sheltering neighbors in winter, and packing groceries for families a mile or two up the road. Founded in 1978 and rooted in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America through the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, All Saints today lives out a mission it sums up in four words: For All to Know Christ. The phrase echoes through worship, hangs over its social ministry committee, and frames an explicit welcome that extends across age, race, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and family circumstance.
Worship Sunday Mornings, Saturday Evenings in Summer
All Saints gathers twice on most Sundays. Worship begins at 8:30 a.m., followed by an Education Hour at 9:45 a.m., and a second worship service at 11:00 a.m. Each service runs about an hour and follows a four-movement rhythm the congregation calls Gather, Word, Table, and Send. The music rotates: some Sundays draw from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, others feature Marty Haugen's "Now the Feast" communion liturgy, and a third style is led by the All Saints Praise Band. All are welcome at the communion table. Visitors do not need to be members of All Saints, need not be Lutheran, and need not have anything memorized. Hymn lyrics, prayers, and congregational responses are printed in the bulletin; the Apostles' Creed and Lord's Prayer are provided for those who want to follow along.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day the schedule shifts to a single Sunday service at 9:00 a.m. plus a Saturday evening service at 5:00 p.m. During the rest of the year, Saturday weddings must be scheduled around the regular calendar and need to wrap up by 4:00 p.m. in summer.
Children are expected in the sanctuary, not segregated out of it. At most services, younger worshipers are invited forward for a brief children's sermon in which a pastor retells the day's reading in language kids can follow. The Bible verse behind that practice, Matthew 19:14, is printed on the children's ministry page: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." A nursery playroom with a changing table and toys is available when a child needs a break.
There is no dress code. Members arrive in everything from business casual to jeans, shorts, and the occasional soccer uniform on a game-day morning. Visitors are not asked to stand or introduce themselves, and greeters handle welcomes before and after worship instead.
"All Means All": A Decade-and-a-Half of Welcome
All Saints' welcome is unusually explicit. The congregation welcomes everyone, in its own words, "without regard to abilities, addictions, health, level of education, life choices, mental challenges, physical challenges, political views, religious background, socio-economic circumstances, or anything else that could divide us," and "regardless of age, race, culture or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or personal relationship status." The congregation has committed to promoting racial equality and states plainly that All Saints is "a safe place for everyone."
That posture is woven into how the church talks about itself and how it plans its ministries. The Vision statement describes All Saints as "a diverse but united family of God's people" whose campus is meant to be a gathering place "filled with its community members from morning to night and from Sunday through Saturday" - a worship space that uses multiple forms of music and liturgy, offers learning at every age, and hosts both ordinary-week fellowship and special celebrations.
Three Choirs, One Cantor: Music Across the Week
Music at All Saints is led by Cantor Douglas S. Williams, who directs the adult, children's, and handbell choirs, plans worship, and plays organ and piano for both traditional and contemporary services. Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Parish Music from Concordia College (now Concordia University Chicago) in River Forest, Illinois, and has served Lutheran schools and congregations in Elgin, Oak Lawn, Chicago, Des Plaines, Schaumburg, and Dallas.
The music program spans the week:
- Alleluia Choir (children age 4 through grade 3) rehearses Wednesdays from 4:15 to 5:00 p.m. and sings in worship about once a month.
- All Saints Bells (adults and high school youth) rehearses Thursdays from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. and rings monthly in worship; music-reading ability is desirable but not required, and substitute ringers are scheduled week-by-week.
- All Saints Choir (adults and high school youth) rehearses Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. and sings three times a month. The choir forms the core of the annual Cantata Choir.
- A Praise Team of vocalists and instrumentalists leads the contemporary service once a month and rehearses Saturday mornings.
Short-term and seasonal commitments are welcomed; the choir notes that newcomers can simply show up to a rehearsal to sing.
Little Saints Christian Preschool
Sharing the building at 630 S. Quentin Road is Little Saints Christian Preschool, a ministry of All Saints serving children ages two through four. The preschool holds a license from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), maintains a low student-to-teacher ratio, and uses spacious classrooms equipped with developmentally and age-appropriate materials. A fully fenced playground lets children play outside safely.
Teachers, in the program's words, "believe that every child is a gift from God and teach Christian values in addition to preparing your child academically and socially for kindergarten." Registration for the 2026-2027 school year is open to children of any race, color, or national or ethnic origin, and both members and non-members of All Saints are welcome to enroll. Director Michelle Gutmann can be reached at the preschool office at 847-991-2334 or via littlesaintspreschool@allsaintspalatine.org.
Pathways to Faith: Sunday School, Confirmation, and Youth
Children's and youth ministry at All Saints is built around a pathway the church calls "Pathways to Faith: A Journey of Faith Formation," rooted in the promises made at Holy Baptism. During the school year the Education Hour begins at 9:45 a.m. in the sanctuary, where children from age 3 through grade 8 gather for singing, a children's offering the kids themselves direct, and an introduction to the day's Bible story before being dismissed by age to classrooms. Parents are invited to a "Coffee and..." gathering in the fellowship space while classes are in session.
Sunday School serves preschoolers (ages 3-4) and children in kindergarten through fifth grade. The curriculum uses kid-friendly Bible lessons to teach about God and Jesus throughout the school year, with classes ending at 10:45 a.m.
Confirmation is for students in grades 6 through 8. Sunday morning classes meet during the Education Hour and focus on Bible literacy, Lutheran doctrine, Luther's Small Catechism, and what it means to live out a public faith. A second Confirmation touchpoint is "Sunday Night Live," an evening program held on the first and third Sundays of the month during the school year. Sunday Night Live begins at 5:30 p.m. with a family-style meal shared with the high school youth and confirmation students, and formal confirmation class begins at 6:00 p.m.
High School Youth is for grades 9 through 12 and meets during the school year at 9:45 a.m. on most Sundays, sharing the Sunday Night Live evening block with confirmation students. The group draws teens from Fremd, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Conant, Lake Zurich, Hoffman Estates, and Barrington high schools, and is led by a team of parents, pastors, and former All Saints Youth Group alumni. Annual highlights include a fall planning retreat, an annual bake sale that supports the congregation's PADS ministry, service trips such as Feed My Starving Children, a Brookfield Zoo Community Tree Trim, the January Youth Service, lock-ins, senior nights, picnics, and "Random Acts of Kindness" days.
Each year, high school students are forming a group to attend the ELCA National Youth Gathering, with the 2027 gathering set for June 27 through July 2 under the theme "Imagine More," grounded in Ephesians 3:20.
PADS: An Overnight Shelter on Saturday Nights
For more than a quarter century, All Saints has been part of PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter), the faith-based emergency shelter network that supports JOURNEYS | The Road Home in northwest Cook County. Every Saturday night from October through April, the church opens its doors from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. as an overnight shelter for homeless men, women, and occasionally children.
Volunteers prepare and serve dinner, spend the evening as hosts and hostesses alongside guests, prepare and pack brown-bag lunches during the overnight shift, cook and serve breakfast, and clean the space Sunday morning so it is ready for worship by 7 a.m. Each Saturday requires a minimum of 18 volunteers, and the program draws more than 100 volunteers and 2,000 hours of service across the cold-weather season.
Volunteers need not be members of All Saints, but anyone in a role with guest contact must complete a JOURNEYS | The Road Home online volunteer orientation. Adult volunteers are welcome; per JOURNEYS' youth protocol, those in guest-contact roles must be at least high school juniors. Cooks typically prepare meals at home and deliver them to the church early Saturday evening; the sign-up sheet in the narthex lists specific needs such as entrees, side dishes, and desserts.
Faith Feeds Food Pantry
Faith Feeds Food Pantry, an extension of All Saints' ministries, has been serving residents of Rolling Meadows, Palatine, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, and surrounding communities for several years. The pantry operates out of the Community Resource Center at 1585 N. Rand Road in Palatine, distributing groceries on Thursday evenings from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to noon. A "Pantry on Wheels" brings food weekly to apartment communities in the area for residents who have trouble reaching the main site.
Faith Feeds is an agency of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Donations of unexpired non-perishable staples - rice, beans, canned fruit and vegetables, pasta, sauce, and peanut butter - are accepted Thursday mornings between 10:00 a.m. and noon, when volunteers can meet donors at the loading door. Monetary donations can be made online or by check, and volunteers are needed to receive and sort donations, stock shelves, prepare grocery bags, direct traffic during distribution hours, and help clients load food into their vehicles.
Summer Suppers and a Year-Round Social Ministry Committee
When the PADS season ends, All Saints shifts from overnight sheltering to a summer feeding program. Summer Suppers is a free monthly community meal served from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening during the summer months. The meal is open to anyone in the community, and the congregation specifically invites patrons of local food pantries and senior centers as well as clients of partner agencies including the WINGS program (Women in Need Growing Stronger).
The All Saints Social Ministry Committee oversees these efforts along with a broader portfolio that includes:
- Spring of Life Partnership, the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, for which All Saints has long been a volunteer and donor congregation.
- Apple Tree Project, Christmas Angels, Easter Baskets, Adopt-a-Family, Blood Drive, CROP Walk, Souper Bowl, and Relay for Life.
- Financial support of local life-skills agencies including Boy Scout Troop 335, Women in Need Growing Stronger (WINGS), Home of the Sparrow, The Bridge Youth and Family Services, and JOURNEYS | The Road Home.
- Partnerships through the ELCA with Bethel New Life (Chicago), Bread for the World, ELCA World Hunger, Holy Family Ministries, and Young Adults in Global Mission.
An All Saints Ministry Endowment Fund (MEF), seeded by a charter member's bequest and grown through investments and a gift from the sale of Bethel Lutheran Church, provides grants to community agencies and ministries within the Metropolitan Chicago Synod and the wider ELCA, as well as funds capital improvements at All Saints.
Social Groups: Book Club, Quilters, Men's Lunch, and Annual Traditions
All Saints' Fellowship Committee organizes a steady slate of social activities that double as small-group ministry. The Chapter One Book Club meets on the third Monday of each month from September through May to discuss works of fiction; new members are always welcome, and anyone who hasn't finished the book brings chocolates. Quilters gather monthly to sew quilts that are donated to Lutheran World Relief, where they are distributed around the world as warm bedding, simple tents, or floor coverings; no prior sewing or quilting experience is required. The Men's Lunch meets monthly at Jelly Cafe for food and fellowship with no reservation required, and the Women of All Saints organize annual gatherings including a Christmas Dinner. A Young Adults group coordinates outings for adults in their twenties and thirties.
Annual social traditions include a Golf Outing, a Young Family Picnic, God's Work Our Hands Day, a Progressive Dinner, the Taste of All Saints, a Trimming the Tree event, a Bunco Party, and Cantata Sunday, on which the choir and orchestra present a major choral work in both morning services.
Weddings and Baptisms
All Saints hosts weddings in a contemporary worship space that accommodates approximately 225 guests and feels intimate with smaller groups as well. Couples meet with a pastor for five to seven sessions of premarital counseling and planning; the pastors use the PREPARE/ENRICH premarital inventory (www.prepare-enrich.com) and typically discuss finances, communication, conflict resolution, and family of origin. Pastors from All Saints will also preside at off-site weddings when availability allows, and all couples - member or not - are welcome.
Baptisms are scheduled to take place during worship so the gathered congregation can make its promise to uphold the newly baptized in faith and prayer. Baptism is open to anyone who wishes to make a public profession of faith in God; membership at All Saints is encouraged but not required for parents who want their child baptized there.
Mid-day Devotions, Bible Study, and a Calendar of Recurring Rhythms
Outside of Sunday worship, All Saints keeps a light rhythm of midweek touchpoints. Mid-day Devotions meet on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. for a half hour of prayer and reflection led by Pastor Linda Davies. The Pastor's Bible Study meets on Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. and runs an hour. A mid-week cadence of children's and adult choir rehearsals, handbells, and Praise Team preparation fills out the week for musicians, and Sunday Night Live anchors first and third Sunday evenings for confirmation students and high schoolers during the school year.
A Building Designed to Be Accessible
The All Saints building sits on Quentin Road in south Palatine. A small step leads to the front sidewalk, with a ramp immediately to the left of the front door. The worship space, offices, and fellowship space are all on the main level. The lower level - which houses Sunday school classrooms, fellowship space, and the rooms used for Saturday-night PADS shelter - has its own accessible exterior entrance and is also reachable by elevator.
Inside the sanctuary, assistive listening devices (headphones that enhance the sound system) are available. Ushers are glad to bring communion to anyone who finds walking or kneeling difficult, and the church encourages congregants to remain seated whenever standing is hard.
Leadership, Giving, and Governance
Pastor Linda Davies is the church's primary pastor. A lifelong Lutheran originally from northwest Wisconsin, Davies earned a Bachelor's degree in Broadfield Social Studies and Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, and her vocational path has included retail management, pharmaceutical research proposal writing, and teaching before she answered God's call to seminary. Her ministry focus is on sharing God's word, equipping others, fostering care for neighbors, and youth ministry.
Cantor Douglas S. Williams directs the music program (see above). The church staff also includes Secretary Vicky Schnackel.
The congregation is served by a council and a series of standing committees - Stewardship, Learning, Outreach/Evangelism, Property, Social Ministry, Financial Support, Technology, and Worship - whose members are appointed by the council and serve as volunteers.
Giving to All Saints can be made in person during services, by mail to the Quentin Road address, or online through a Simply Giving electronic giving form. Gifts are tax-deductible.
Staying Connected and Coming Home
All Saints maintains an active Facebook page (with a Sunday 8:30 a.m. livestream) and an Instagram feed under the handle @allsaintspalatine, along with a sermon archive of recent messages by Pastor Linda. People interested in joining the church email list can write to the church office. Visitors are welcome to attend a worship service without any commitment to membership; anyone considering membership can speak with Pastor Linda or call the church office at 847-991-2080 to talk through the process.
What members and neighbors encounter on a typical Sunday is the same thing the congregation has tried to be for more than forty years: a church whose doors - and classrooms, food pantry, choir lofts, and Saturday-night shelter mats - are set out wide enough that "all means all."