On January 1, 1983 two historic Chicago churches, the North Shore Church and Norwood Bible Church, officially merged to form Shorewood Bible Church. This gives us a rich heritage going back into the earliest days of the twentieth century as well as the formative days of the so-called grace movement. As we press forward we do so with genuine appreciation for those who have so courageously gone before us and with a heartfelt desire to honor our heritage by being "faithful stewards of the mysteries of God" (I Cor. 4:1,2).

We are an independent, self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating local body of believers. We maintain no organizational affiliations with any other group, although we gladly fellowship with others of like precious faith.

Our purpose as a visible, localized manifestation of the Body of Christ is to glorify God by promoting "the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery" committed to the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:25, Eph. 3:1-9) and carrying out "the ministry of reconciliation" committed to our trust as Ambassadors of Christ (II Cor. 5:18-20, II Tim. 1:13,14).