How It Started
New Community Church was founded in July 1998 by Pastor Brad Paik. Korean-immigrant church leaders across the broader Chicagoland recruited Pastor Brad to plant a church in the city of Chicago with a vision to meet two growing needs: a generation of young Korean Americans drifting from their immigrant churches, and a growing movement of young people from the suburbs to the city.
What began with six people meeting weekly grew through seasons of change and renewal. Over our first 17 years, we gathered across Chicago—from the North Side to Gold Coast (Ogden Elementary & Fourth Presbyterian) to South Loop (Jones College Prep)—building a church centered on grace and community.
What began with six people meeting weekly grew through seasons of change and renewal. Over our first 17 years, we gathered across Chicago—from the North Side to Gold Coast (Ogden Elementary & Fourth Presbyterian) to South Loop (Jones College Prep)—building a church centered on grace and community.
Expansion and Growth
Over time, God revealed that our mission was not only to minister to those inside the church, but to become a movement that transforms the world. This calling led us to East Garfield Park in 2015, where we met at Breakthrough, a faith-based nonprofit. Here, we experienced a season of deep transformation as we sought to better understand our mission both within and beyond church walls.
Since returning to the West Loop in 2017, God has given us new opportunities to discern how to reach a generation searching for answers to the emptiness and hurt caused by the false promises of their surrounding cultures. This led us to briefly minister at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2022 and in Wicker Park in 2023.
Since returning to the West Loop in 2017, God has given us new opportunities to discern how to reach a generation searching for answers to the emptiness and hurt caused by the false promises of their surrounding cultures. This led us to briefly minister at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2022 and in Wicker Park in 2023.
Refining and Fulfilling
the Vision
Recognizing the deep longing and brokenness in every human heart, our hope is that people from all cultures and cities will experience the fullness of God’s love and grace—the true fulfillment of joy found only through faith in Jesus Christ.
Moved by this truth, we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by making mature disciples—people who obey God by helping others grow in faith and replicate through discipleship.
In February 2025, believing that God was calling him away from local church ministry, Pastor Brad Paik resigned as the senior pastor, and Pastor Frank Cho became the new lead pastor, continuing the church’s mission and vision to fulfill the Great Commission through the church of Jesus Christ.
Moved by this truth, we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by making mature disciples—people who obey God by helping others grow in faith and replicate through discipleship.
In February 2025, believing that God was calling him away from local church ministry, Pastor Brad Paik resigned as the senior pastor, and Pastor Frank Cho became the new lead pastor, continuing the church’s mission and vision to fulfill the Great Commission through the church of Jesus Christ.
