Episcopal congregations in Indiana continue to find new ways to thrive through the Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) initiative, as we first shared with Vital Practices in 2022.
CBCP provides a model that any church can follow to increase vitality and serve mission by making the most of their buildings as assets and by developing new and stronger community partnerships. Here are two examples:
In The Art of Organizing, written during the early stages of the emerging COVID pandemic, I focused on the relational aspects of organizing, often rooted in one-on-one conversations, and shared an example of an ecumenical, community-based campaign focused on housing justice.
Five years later, we find ourselves in a different set of crises, one of rising authoritarianism at the highest levels of political office and targeted attacks on many of the most vulnerable members of our community. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. mentioned generations ago—the “triple-prong sickness that has been lurking within our body politic from its very beginning…the sickness of racism, excessive materialism and militarism”—remain at an all-time high, and have metastasized to include many intersections of exploitation, injustice, and suffering to both people and planet. He called for a reordering of society, a revolution of values in fact, away from the “thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.”
We’ve all heard the narrative: Church attendance and congregational practices have changed and the buildings and spaces of the mid-20th century aren’t as functional as they once were. At the same time, many cities and towns are experiencing an affordable housing crisis and with each passing season, more individuals and families are experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
In light of this confluence of circumstances and needs, congregations are reassessing their response to the Gospel in the 21st Century. They are rethinking mission in their communities, considering anew how God might be calling them to share the resources they have, and realizing resources they had not considered before. Notably land and buildings. Through it all, over it all, the Spirit whispers a call to welcome the stranger, share what we have, rekindle the ancient flame of holy hospitality.
What does congregational solidarity look like? Trinity Church of Morrisania's story is not one of traditional congregational growth or increasing Sunday attendance. Trinity’s story is of ministry rooted in relationships, mutual care, and radical welcome.
Jacob
I remember shifting anxiously in my metal folding chair. I was seated around twenty or so others in a circle at the foot of the chancel of the dimly lit sanctuary. No one wants to be here, I thought. I keep stumbling on my Spanish. The bilingual bulletin was written badly and everyone is getting lost throughout the service. Everything is going wrong.
In Fall 2024, small and rural Episcopal congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas were offered the opportunity to participate in Pivot, a hybrid program offered by ECF to have us reflect on our faith community identities, learn about our neighborhood composition, and develop a mission that meets the needs of our respective contexts. This gave St. Andrew’s Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas, the chance to learn something new about how to develop a more outward-facing posture. Through an online curriculum, in-person gatherings, and Zoom sessions, we were encouraged to draft new Gospel-rooted, neighbor-focused mission and vision statements. This was all very exciting to us, and as a parish going on four years without a paid priest, we had come to realize that we laity are, in fact, the church.
The journey to finding a spiritual home is a deeply personal one. For many, The Episcopal Church has become that place of refuge, growth, and community. Understanding how people discover our church can help us extend a more effective and heartfelt welcome. That’s why one of our Episcopal Pulse members suggested that the research team publish a survey on the diverse paths that lead individuals to our congregations.
From being raised in the faith to the influence of personal invites, and the active search for progressive and inclusive communities – the insights are telling. As we reflect on these findings, we recognize a few steps we can take to make our churches more discoverable and welcoming to all seekers.
These days it seems like the leadership of every congregation thinks the answer to their dwindling or stagnant membership and attendance numbers is to attract young families: specifically, growing their congregations by bringing in families with young children. But is that really the answer? And if it is, how do we go about attracting them? Here are a few thoughts, based on research and experience.
On All Things Considered, a program of National Public Radio, the story was told of two couples in Brooklyn, New York, maintaining a practice begun in the days of COVID isolation. Every day they lean out a window or stand at their doorstep and ring bells, shake a tambourine and bang wooden spoons together in support of health care workers. Because, they maintain, health care providers still need our support.
Now the odds are there aren’t many healthcare workers who know about this ongoing sign of support for them, at least until NPR ran the story. But the support was there nonetheless. And one neighbor observed, “it’s kinda cool” that his neighbors are remembering those who can so easily be forgotten, and he likes being reminded of the importance of health care workers each night.
I’m intentionally borrowing one of Peter Steinke’s titles, even though this is just a blog post and not Steinke’s really solid book. Actually, I’m only thinking about the cover image on his book, A Door Set Open. There’s this absolutely captivating picture, taken from inside a church, down near the floor level, looking out through the ‘west’ doors. The doors in this case are set wide open, and we can see outside from the perspective of the floor and the pews the blurred images of trees and a landscape.
This may be the most rudimentary blog post on hospitality ever written, as it’s so simple. Here’s the point: Open the doors of your church. Open them wide. Leave them open whenever you’re inside. Leave them open the entire time. And figure out the dynamics of heating and cooling and securing the space otherwise.
For much of my life, Jewish High Holidays, a time of reflection and quest for redemption, have always included a visit to the local Episcopal church. I can explain.
Despite only living a few miles from my family’s synagogue (Shomrei Torah in Wayne, NJ), attending Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services still proved to be a journey.
It started with the mad scramble to get my family of four all ready in time to depart for the synagogue in one car. In reality, coordinating “getting ready” rituals and requirements rarely made it possible to have fewer than two “departures”.
The sentiment included is well known but bears repeating. In my travels over the last few months, I have visited a few churches in different countries and can again reiterate that hospitality and welcoming the strange visitors is the greatest evangelism asset that a congregation can possess. The size of the congregation, the clergy, the choir, the worship experiences all pale in comparison to the simple act of welcoming and providing hospitality to someone as they enter your church. The experiences varied across the churches. Some greeted with smiles and handshakes while others did not acknowledge until introduced by the clergy. Some did not offer a glass of water, while others provided food in abundance from the little they had.
This month we offer five resources on radical hospitality. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers, blogs, and the monthly digest.
ECF Fellow Sarah Barton discusses the varying degrees of welcome accorded adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in her article Welcoming Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
This month we offer five resources on Welcoming Families in Worship. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers, blogs, and the monthly digest.
Much of what we see in the Gospels happens around a meal or in general food. Whether it was Simon Peter’s home, the wedding at Cana, the feeding of 5,000, Zacchaeus’ house and many others; sharing of food was a common means of sharing the good news of the Kingdom. There is food involved in every resurrection account and Jesus founded the church in a sacramental, covenantal meal. If Jesus had a Day-Timer recording his activities, we would see that he prayed, taught, performed miracles and healings, and he ate.
Somewhere along the way the church lost the centrality of the meal as ministry. Since the Reformation, church became a place you went on Sunday to primarily be taught and sufficiently catechized.
I will never forget a sweet widow I interviewed during a feasibility study for a capital campaign in a parish in Pennsylvania. As we discussed the various proposed projects, it seemed she had a story for each one. Her children were baptized in the sanctuary, she taught Sunday School in those classrooms, she donated china tea cups for fellowship in the lounge. There was no hesitation when asked about her support for the campaign. Of course she would give.
Nothing in the conversation surprised her until I asked if she thought the campaign would be successful. “What do you mean?” she wanted to know. When I explained that questions are being asked to determine how much money could be raised, her bright face suddenly faded.
“What were they thinking?” is often the head-shaking lament of congregational leaders surveying the obstacles inherited from architects and renovators in previous decades. Up three steps to get to the nave, down a flight to reach the fellowship hall, through a narrow hallway to get to a restroom with even narrower stalls.
Recognizing these barriers, many churches really, really try to make changes to increase accessibility. For most of us, our first thoughts are of stairs and restrooms, but there is so much more.
There is a growing movement of food awareness in our society and in our church. Fruit is being added to school lunches, soda machines now include water and juice. Movie theaters now provide information about the calories in every snack they offer -- a small popcorn often runs over 500 calories, and a soda more than 400. And then there is the sugar content…
But our growing food awareness isn’t just about calories and fat content. Nor even about healthy diet, though that is part of it. More and more, we are also becoming aware of the source of our food – where it comes from, how it is grown, the treatment of the laborers who harvest it. It is certainly a secular movement, with the health food stores of the 1970s becoming substantial chains, and leading grocery store chains without health food heritage are finding ways to get on board with the trend. Foods are promoted as organic or fair trade, and some small sections of the market are set aside for local products or produce.
This month we offer five resources on generous hospitality. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practicesto receive Vestry Papers and the monthly digest.
1) Do you take notice of members who aren’t at church? How can we practice mindfulness in caring for our church family? In his blog, Who’s New and Who’s Missing, Peter Strimer shares his method for keeping everyone in the loop of ministry.
Whether you think it’s merely a fad or you know someone who has been severely affected by Celiac’s Disease, many Episcopal faith communities have made the decision to make certain accommodations for those who abstain from any food products made with gluten (wheat, barley, and rye). Though most coffee hours haven’t yet made the leap, many an Episcopal Eucharist boast they have gluten-free wafers upon request. Which is great. Sadly, though, the accommodations fall short.
Though I, myself, am gluten intolerant, I don’t feel ill if I ingest gluten. One of my daughters, on the other hand, has a severe gluten allergy and can get pretty sick. Consequently, Mama Bear pays attention. Since most of the internet traffic on gluten-free (GF) accommodations at churches were about how the Roman Catholic Church has banned gluten-free wafers (a non-wheat host is heretical in their eyes), I decided to share some best practices for our Episcopal friends who want to be truly hospitable to those with gluten allergies.
There once were young parents who decided to find a church family with whom they might raise their family in the faith. Though they’d attend the occasional Christmas and Easter service, they wanted to be more intentional. They committed to attending regularly, and after a little, they began being recognized as regular church attenders. People began to learn their names and that of their little girl. They eventually met with the priest and decided to have their toddler baptized.
As their little girl grew, they began looking forward to when she could participate in Sunday morning formation. It was about that time when they learned they’d become parents to a second child.
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