‘Yellow Box’ church in Naperville adding auditorium

The Naperville church known as “The Yellow Box” soon will have a different look.

The building still will be yellow and boxy, but bigger, as Community Christian Church’s Yellow Box campus adds an 18,000-square-foot auditorium in a project that also includes a redesigned lobby, a new training center and more on-site parking.

The church at 1635 Emerson Lane near the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Rickert Drive commonly serves more than 2,200 people at five weekend services held in a “gymatorium.”

As one of 14 Community Christian locations in Chicago and the suburbs, the Yellow Box campus’ mission is to “help people find their way back to God,” Rev. Shawn Williams said in a video describing the expansion project.

“Our current space is hindering our ability to reach more people who are far from God,” he said.

The church began planning to expand last summer on the 55,000-square-foot facility it has called home since 2001. The church-focused architecture and construction firm Aspen Group of Frankfort has developed plans for a 1,200-seat auditorium, the redesign of a lobby into a training space for teaching people to start new churches and 141 more parking spots.

“It really reflects our heart for reproducing more and more churches and campuses,” Williams said about the training center.

The Naperville City Council approved the expansion plan July 16 and the church held a groundbreaking the next day.