Chicago Community Mennonite Church Leaders

We hold that every person who comes through our doors may minister to our community in some way. We build our weekly worship and fellowship around valuing the wealth of gifts of the community as ways for each of us to see the Spirit moving in our midst. We share the responsibilities of preaching, pastoral care, song leading, praying, service planning, and scripture reading.

Our church council is our governing body. It is composed of representatives from our committees. We have a spread-out distribution of power and make almost all decisions by consensus, except for the hiring and term renewal of our pastor, and other rare occasions. ​

​Alison Casella Brookins ​
Alison is our pastor at Chicago Community Mennonite Church. She strives to live into a theology of justice, joy, and humor and works to shape holy spaces where people can engage as their full selves.

Alison moonlights as a playwright with Ted & Company TheaterWorks and is the author of Discovery: A Comic Lament, a touring production exploring the Doctrine of Discovery.

She holds a Master of Divinity from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, and was installed as pastor of CCMC on August 13, 2017.



Russell Johnson
Russell is the chair of our church council. He joined CCMC in 2012 and since then has preached a few sermons, attended several meetings, and washed a lot of mugs. He is a student and teacher of philosophy and religion, currently at the University of Chicago. He lives in Hyde Park with his wife Charissa and their hedgehog Bernie.

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Celeste Grace Groff
The Rev. Celeste Grace Groff is ministry associate, a part-time role focusing on community partnerships. She is also a journalist and gardener, and loves to see plants and people grow and bear good fruit.

She holds a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and has spent several years as a hospital chaplain. She volunteers at RML Specialty Hospital in East Garfield Park and is co-coordinator of New Horizons Garden [link to new page being created], a ministry we share with First Church of the Brethren, one of our sister congregations.

​Sister congregations at 425 S. Central Park

First Church of the Brethren 

Iglesia Roca de Esperanza

Thank you to Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship for sharing some of its carefully crafted language about leadership in Anabaptist communities.