From Overflowing Services to One Big Family

January 27, 2026

Redeemer Church should feel more like family following expansion plans

When you are a 20-something-year-old church and your attendance every Sunday morning keeps growing by leaps and bounds, there can exist the temptation of taking credit for that growth. But for Redeemer Church in Rockford, Illinois, it’s about giving credit where credit is due.

Redeemer, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, began as a church plant in 2003, meeting in a local high school with a couple of hundred worshipers. But it quickly became apparent after four years of worshiping in that same locale, more space was going to be needed – and quickly!

Redeemer soon purchased the property at its current location in Rockford where they also added office space, a gymnasium, and kid’s space. Four years later, in 2020, they were bursting at the seams once again, so much so that a second and third worship service were added to the Sunday morning lineup.

“When all the other churches were declining [because of COVID-19], we started growing. We had to go to three services at first because of social distancing, but then all three filled up. We’ve just been growing ever since, just faithfully preaching the Word of God with exciting and engaging worship.”

Perry Gagliano

Executive Pastor, Redeemer Church

As part of its everyday mission to multiply courageous Jesus followers and churches in their region and around the world, Redeemer has already planted several autonomous churches in Rockford and internationally. It has also started Redeemer Institute, providing theological training for young men who want to be pastors. “The more we plant, the more people God’s bringing us!” Gagliano said. With the addition of more people comes the need to provide a larger space to handle that growth. And God has been faithful to meet that need.

“We’ve seen over 200 new attendees attend our church in the last year. So, we’re just seeing the hand of God financially and numerically. We’ve seen over 60 people baptized in one year, which was a record high,” Gagliano said.

In early 2025, Redeemer Church leadership, including Gagliano and John Dirkse, senior pastor since 2005, met with WatersEdge representatives seeking a loan to build a new 30,000-square-foot facility adjacent to their current facility. The new space will include a 750-seat auditorium, a large lobby, administrative offices, and expanded parking.

Although Redeemer was approved for a $9.5 million loan from WatersEdge, Gagliano said the church won’t need to borrow as much as it has already raised nearly $12 million through a capital campaign it launched in late 2024.

Construction on the new addition has already started. Gagliano said he expects the facility will be completed later this year, just in time for Christmas Eve services.

Once the new building is finished, Gagliano said the current space will then transition to more kids and youth areas. In addition, the old auditorium will become the worship center for students and the 20s ministry, an area that has recently seen tremendous growth.

“We want to have enough space that anybody that comes to our church, they feel like there’s a space for them and that they can come in,” Gagliano said. “Having a bigger space will allow us to do two services instead of three, and that’s going to allow a lot of crossing of people in between services. It’s going to feel more like a family.”

– by Harve Allen

Renewing and Redeeming

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