Missions & Community

Empowering teens: Youth learn job skills and serve their community through a workforce development program

Richmond’s Church Hill Activities & Tutoring adapts to a changing neighborhood while preparing young people for their next step.

By Edie Gross Journalist

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Plants can teach clergy a lot about building networks

Gardens grow in ways that are mutually supportive and connected. That’s an underground lesson for pastors, writes the director of the Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

By Alaina Kleinbeck Director, Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program

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Living into the kingdom of God by believing in its abundance

We can live out our beliefs as the early church did by stewarding resources to meet the needs of all, writes a director of programs and grants for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

By Mycal X. Brickhouse Director of programs and grants, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

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A partnership rooted in God’s love builds affordable housing in New York City

The Trinity-Rev. William M. James Senior Apartments is a collaboration offering affordable housing with wraparound services for seniors, intentionally including the formerly incarcerated.

By Genine Babakian Journalist

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A new garden of Eden: Eden Theological Seminary’s Gleaning and Garden Project flourishes

More than just a space to grow food, the seminary garden serves as a hub for local gardeners and community activists pursuing racial and economic justice.

By Chelsey D. Hillyer

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What happens when an ‘Old First Church’ needs to change?

Eight years ago, First United Methodist Church of Miami faced the fact that its history and prestige weren’t going to keep it alive forever. It has found a way to honor its past and grow into the future.

Audrey Warren Kenneth H. Carter Jr.

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An underserved neighborhood needed a community center, not another church

After a satellite campus of a large church struggled, a pastor decided to reformat his church into a community center to address needs in his hometown of Blue Island, Illinois.

By Laura Rodríguez

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Long-term adoption of hybrid services represents a major shift from the traditional church model

The pandemic has drastically changed congregational leaders’ attitudes about virtual services, experts say.

By Shari Finnell Journalist

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Asylum seekers in San Diego find a network of support

Jewish Family Service of San Diego has joined with other local organizations to help recent arrivals fleeing persecution.

By Kate Morrissey Journalist

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The gospel lived out in the company of friends

Do we make church more complicated than it needs to be? A social entrepreneur revisits her hometown friends and reflects on friendship and what is holy and enduring about life in community.

By Shannon Hopkins Co-founder & lead cultivator, RootedGood

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An experiment in housing and health: Tiny homes, burgeoning community and respite care

A Nashville church shares its property with a cluster of tiny homes where unhoused people can recover from illness and injury and move closer to stability.

By Fiona Soltes Journalist

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