Incorporated on December 31, 1882, the Chicago City Missionary Society (CCMS) was created to promote religion and morality through Congregational Churches in Chicago and its vicinity. The Society was established to tackle questions surrounding the influx of European immigrants to Chicago in the late 19th century. The original Executive Committee comprised three ministers, three laymen, and a professor from the Chicago Theological Seminary. Caleb Foote Gates was elected first President and Dr. Julius C. Armstrong first Superintendent of CCMS. Caleb Gates wrote of the Society's creation, "It will be seen... that the Society was brought into existence to meet a felt want, and for the discharge of a sacred duty that burdened the hearts of the churches."

At the CCMS's founding, there were thirteen Congregational Churches in Chicago. (Congregational Churches came belatedly to Chicago due to the Plan of Union between the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches.) The CCMS held strong early ties with the Chicago Congregational Club and the Illinois Home Missionary Society. The Society was interdenominational in the sense that it partnered with other Protestant denominations at times when there was a need and opportunity to provide service together. As Chicago's population grew and diversified, The Chicago City Missionary Society too grew to meet the need of the city's underserved and neglected.

The Society's core mission, serving the city's underserved populations, never changed though the way in which the Society accomplished it changed with the times and the needs of different groups served. The Society's various name changes throughout its history highlight this evolution as well as its own sense of self-identity. In 1919 the Chicago City Mission Society was renamed the Chicago Congregational Missionary and Extension Society (CCMES), in 1930 it was renamed the Chicago Congregational Union (CCU), and in 1967 it became the Community Renewal Society (CRS).

CCMS's early success led to an era of expansion during which it founded additional churches, Sunday schools, neighborhood centers and missions, kindergartens and industrial schools. Some early missions included: Bohemian Mission, Clinton Street Mission, Harrison Street Mission, Twelfth Street Mission, Ewing Street Mission and Church, Bethesda Mission and Church, and the Doremus Mission (organized by members of the Plymouth Congregational Church).

The Chicago Congregational Missionary and Extension Society's focus was more denominational though it was still ecumenically involved in the 1920s. During this time additional missions were established as well as the Onward Neighborhood House. CCMES opened the Tower Hill Summer Camp for Chicago city youth in Sawyer, Michigan and also began providing services to Chicago's growing Mexican population. In 1925 Victor F. Lawson, proprietor and publisher of the Chicago Daily News, died bequeathing the Society $4 million dollars. The Society created The Lawson Trust which allowed the Society to extend its services to all Congregational Churches in Chicago and the vicinity. In the early 1930s, the Chicago Congregational Association proposed a merger with the CCMES, but it was initially rejected. Instead, the CCMES constitution was revised to define the Society as a service based agency available also for churches within the Association, ushering in the name change to the Chicago Congregational Union (CCU) in 1930.

The CCU carried on its mission during the Great Depression and World War II when it assisted approximately 2,000 Japanese Americans relocated from the West Coast to Chicago after the attack on Pearl Harbor and hired a part-time Japanese minister to attend them. This ministry grew into the Issei-Nisei Congregational Church in 1948 which later changed its name to Christ Congregational Church located on the North Side of Chicago.

During the 1950s, Chicago's suburban population grew by 72% creating a massive turnover in the city and marking the age of white flight in Chicago. While the Society provided limited assistance to Chicago's historically black Congregational Churches and neighborhoods in the past, it became the Society's focal point during this era. The Society identified five areas it felt needed city-wide attention: juvenile delinquency, racial tension and conflict, housing and living conditions, schools, and crime and politics. In 1953 the Society developed a new facility for Outdoor Programs at Pleasant Valley Farm, in Woodstock, Illinois. In 1956 the Society began the Casa Central program to serve the growing Spanish speaking population of Chicago. Both of these programs would become major initiatives marking an increasing focus on social programs developed during this era.

During the 1960s, as the Society continued its commitment to the poor and neglected of Chicago it became deeply involved in issues of racial equality, poverty, and civil rights in Chicago. Reverend Donald L. Benedict directed the Society during turbulent years between 1960-1982 and oversaw the Society's name change to the Community Renewal Society (CRS) in 1967. This final name change represented a new philosophy of providing capital, technical, and consulting assistance to local neighborhoods and programs where the assistance would be applied to problems and issues locally. The Model Cities Project was a major initiative during this time and the CRS became deeply involved in issues of fair housing for all. The Community Renewal Society continues its mission today.