The Rev. Barbara Ross had a dream.

It was July 12, 2004, and she clearly heard two words in her sleep: Naperville! Naperville!

"I woke up, sat up in bed and was convinced that the Holy Spirit was telling me to relocate my church to Naperville," said Ross, dressed in black with two small crosses hanging from her neck.

Although she already was pastor of a church in Calumet City, she said she had no doubts about what she was going to do. A few days after her dream, she decided to move and rent an apartment in Naperville.

"I was taken aback," Ross said. "Naperville is an affluent community, where many of the people there make salaries in the six figures. I had never been to Naperville, but I knew that the people there needed Jesus, too."

Ross soon began to hold a weekly church service at the Naperville Public Library at 75th Street and Naper Boulevard. Since July 10, she has been conducting her Sunday services in the former Nichols Library building on Washington Street, where she rents space. The building is owned by Truth Lutheran Church, which also holds services there.

The name of Ross' congregation is Philip R. Cousin African Methodist Episcopal Church, named for her bishop, the senior bishop of the AME Church.

Founded in 1787, the African Methodist Episcopal Church started after black people resented being segregated while praying at St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. By April 1816, five churches had come together to form the AME Church, which followed Methodist doctrine and discipline but abhorred racial segregation.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church now has 1.9 million members in the U.S., and most of its members are black.

According to the city of Naperville, 5 percent of the city's population is black. Ross said her church is multicultural. Seven people are regular members of the congregation, some of them students at North Central College in Naperville.

"My immediate plan is to build a community with a strong and solid foundation," Ross said. "We want to grow and build the spiritual lives of the people we come in contact with."

Ross hopes to start weekly Bible study and Sunday school groups soon and find ways to reach out to the community.

Marty Chapman, a sophomore at North Central College, was the first person to join Ross' congregation in Naperville. Ross baptized him in March.

"The church is young and still in the process of being shaped," Chapman said. "It is trying to attract new people. Because the church is small, you don't feel like you are part of a bureaucracy."

Patricia Andrews attended Ross' church in Calumet City and occasionally participates in worship services in Naperville. "Pastor Ross is an inspirational person," Andrews said. "She loves people, and she's very dedicated. She tries to bring out the best in people while bringing them the Word of God."

Ross felt called to religion at an early age. As a child in Mississippi, she invited other children to attend Sunday services at her church. Her father typically drove neighborhood children to church in his station wagon after they met at his house.

Ross decided to become a minister in 1989. "I had my doubts at first, but eventually I grew convinced that this is what I was supposed to do in life.

"There are so many people who are hurting — people who have lost jobs, who are going through a divorce, who have a serious illness. People want to find peace. Fulfilling their spiritual needs can bring joy into their lives.

"I'm here in Naperville only because God sent me here. I believe everything I need is right here in Naperville."

AT A GLANCE
What: Philip R. Cousin African Methodist Episcopal Church
Worship service: 3 p.m. Sundays
Where: 110 S. Washington St.
Call: The Rev. Barbara Ross, (773) 457-3681, or visit www.philiprcousinamec.org