The modest room looks like the perfect place to hold a convention or community meeting.

The ceiling is low, the carpet busy with a dark pattern. Purple chairs face a slightly raised stage. There are no statues, no stained glass, no pews.

It doesn’t look like a church, but people still gather here to practice their faith.

It’s the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The two-story brick building at 2128 Ashland Ave. was constructed in 1992 in four months using volunteer labor and donated supplies.

“There’s very much a sense of family here,” said Lisa Neal, an Evanston resident who has been going to the Kingdom Hall for 17 years. “We call each other brother and sister. Things that divide people normally don’t divide us.”

The Evanston branch has grown from one congregation of 25 people in the early 1960s to five congregations, with services held in English, Russian and Spanish.

Jehovah’s Witnesses began as a Christian Bible study group started in the late 19th century by Charles Taze Russell. Every follower is a minister and is expected to “witness” others by canvassing neighborhoods.

Twenty-three Jehovah’s Witness Congregations are within a 50-mile radius of Chicago, and there are about 6 million followers worldwide.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians that take very seriously Jesus’ command to spread the good news of the kingdom,” said Charles Waller, a traveling overseer who gives talks at nearby Kingdom Halls.

Ask Waller or Presiding Overseer John King a question about religion, and they will often answer by quoting a Bible verse — fitting for a group that bases its beliefs on scripture and rejects a strict church hierarchy.

King, who was baptized into the group in 1974, said the consistency of their teachings sets Jehovah’s Witnesses apart from other religions. Witnesses around the world read the same publications and meetings are conducted identically, whether in Haiti or the Czech Republic.

“We’re more unified than any organization in the world,” King said. “Our unity and love are earmarks of the organization more than anything else.”

‘GOD IS NOT PARTIAL’

At a Thursday Bible study, piped-in piano music played as about 110 people streamed into the room, carrying worn Bibles and small children. Although it was a weekday, people dressed in their Sunday best, with men in suits and women in dresses or skirts.

Children ran up and down the aisles, politely saying hello to the people they passed. Members mingled while they waited in line at the literature counter. They made a beeline for any new faces, warmly introducing themselves and adding, “I hope to see you soon.”

Members attend two meetings a week, in addition to the Sunday service. The Evanston Kingdom Hall also has about 100 “publishers” who go door-to-door on weekends to tell people in the North Shore area about their faith.

Although those in attendance at the Thursday Bible study and Sunday public meeting were predominately black, officials were reluctant to talk to about the racial makeup of the congregation.

“We don’t do demographics because the message we carry appeals to all races and nationalities,” King said. “We feel races and the designation of races are divisive. God is not partial. We welcome anyone who’ll listen.”

The Bible study and Sunday public meeting were as simple as the Kingdom Hall building.

King and another congregation member led a solemn but open discussion, using “The Watchtower,” a Bible-based Jehovah’s Witness publication. Members answered questions printed in the booklet, in which many had taken notes or highlighted.

Children sat quietly, some reading along and answering questions, others scribbling on pads of paper or sleeping.

Members were eager to help visitors navigate the Bible — and King’s wife gave one newcomer her own dog-eared Bible to use.

Only the occasional crinkle of thin Bible pages and pens scratching notes broke the reverent silence during Sunday’s talk. In a small, separate classroom, a Witness translated the talk into sign language for another congregation member. Men wrapped their arms around their wives and women hugged during prayers and songs. Voices — young and old, gravelly, operatic and wobbly — lifted softly into the hymns such as “Stay Awake, Stand Firm, Grow Mighty.”

A FAMILY FEELING

Evanston resident Rose Tillman said she converted after a co-worker began talking to her about the Bible. Tillman, who was 5 years old when her mother died, said religion helped her grapple with the hard questions surrounding her mother’s death. She has been a member of the congregation for 28 years.

“When we first came to Evanston it was just one congregation — one big happy family,” said Tillman, 60. “As we continue to grow, we still have a close-knit family feeling.”

Tillman spends her weekends doing field ministry. Her 32-year-old son, Keith, is a watchtower conductor at Kingdom Hall, and Tillman said the religion “helps guide young people in a corrupt world.”

“It gives them a focus, a purpose, a hope for a better life,” she said.

Jessica Smith, a Communication sophomore, started attending meetings earlier this year and is studying to become a Witness. Her stepfather attends a Kingdom Hall on the South Side of Chicago and she first started learning about the group when she was 11 years old.

Smith said she resisted joining the religion at first because “you have to change your life” by not celebrating holidays like Christmas and birthdays or watching certain movies or television shows.

“When I go home for Thanksgiving I’m going to have to go to my room and not feast,” said Smith, whose family members aren’t Witnesses.

Smith tries to attend meetings three times a week, even if she is swamped with homework, because of the sense of community at the Kingdom Hall.

“If I can make time for midterms, I can make time for this,” she said. “It’s really good to get away from campus. I’m at peace when I’m here.”