Buildings

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Man painting sign for St. John's Episcopal Church 2000 Mural March

The artists of Washington, D.C’.s, P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute spent all day Sept. 5, 2020, creating vivid, social justice-themed images on the plywood-covered stained glass windows at historic St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House. Photo by Rachel Jones

Congregations, Buildings

Churches in the nation's capital seek to balance welcome and security

After a fire, protests and the tear-gassing of peaceful demonstrators, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., boarded up its stained-glass windows and reluctantly agreed to the installation of a chain-link fence. But the congregation is finding ways for their building to remain a place of welcome and refuge, as are others in the city.

Photo courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis

Congregations, Buildings, Christian Leadership

Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows: Congregations should see their buildings as assets, not albatrosses

Talking about church buildings is fun for the bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis -- not just because she is trained in architecture and historic preservation, but also because it leads to questions like, “What is this congregation for?”

Stephen Roberts sits on the grounds of All Saints Church on Christmas morning, where he and others enjoyed an outdoor community breakfast. Photos by Noé Montes

Congregations, Buildings, Health & Well-being

A congregation helps homeless people during the pandemic by offering refuge and support

When shelter options began to close for people living on the streets in Pasadena, California, All Saints Church stepped in by developing a system to offer its property safely and sustainably and to create a model for other churches to do the same.

Representatives of Park Street UMC consider options for the church property in Belmont, North Carolina, at a design charrette, which is a process in which stakeholders gather to map solutions to complex problems. Photo courtesy of Wesley CDC

Congregations, Buildings, Money, Budget & financial management

A North Carolina nonprofit helps churches convert property from liabilities into assets

Leaders of a community development corporation believe that even struggling congregations can survive and thrive if members take stock of their assets and put them to use as resources for their communities.

Josary Moreno Mejia interprets as the Rev. Dr. D.K. Kearney preaches and the Rev. Cesar Moreno prays during a revival on the grounds of Turner Memorial AME in Hyattsville, Maryland. The two pastors and their congregations jointly hosted the four-week event in September. Photos by Pete Marovich

Congregations, Buildings, Reconciliation, Racial & ethnic, Missions & Evangelism

Sharing a building leads to a shared mission for an AME church and a Latino congregation

Two pastors built a friendship across barriers of language and culture, uniting their congregations and together reaching out to their community.

After years of struggling to keep up its 1928 building, the congregation of First Christian Church of Oakland decided to make it a center for nonprofits working for peace. Photos courtesy of Oakland Peace Center

Congregations, Buildings, New forms of church, Innovation

A tiny congregation with a big building is resurrected as a center for peace

Concerned about violence in their city, members of a declining church in Oakland shifted focus, redefined its ministry and invited nonprofit service agencies to work together as the Oakland Peace Center.

The Rev. Emily Hull McGee, pastor of First Baptist Church on Fifth, stands with her son Liam in the breezeway between two of the church buildings. The building on the left is slated for removal; it's part of an ambitious plan to tear down, rebuild and renovate the church's buildings in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Photos by Alex Maness

Congregations, Buildings, Money, Sustainability

A downtown church forges a new path when it decides to tear down two decaying buildings

The 146-year-old Baptist congregation hopes a smaller footprint will allow the church to redefine its mission and identity while saving its historic sanctuary.

Bread Church participants gather ingredients for an evening of baking and spiritual discussion. Photos by Brian Diggs.

Christian Leadership, Pastoral leadership, Congregations, Buildings, Growth & renewal

A struggling Texas church is slowly rising again, becoming leaven for the community

Despite years of decline and worries about the future, Austin's Memorial UMC is moving forward in ministry, with bread baking, ESL classes and a decidedly Wesleyan model of church focused not on themselves but on their neighbors.

Bigstock/holbox

Congregations, Buildings, New forms of church, Laity, Clergy/lay relationship

Catherine A. Caimano: What if church was more like a gym?

An Episcopal priest and longtime runner wonders what would happen if church was a ‘spiritual training center,’ a place that combines a drop-in feel with an established routine and considers anew how and why we gather together.

A small boy eyes the waters of baptism during worship at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photos by T.J. Hamilton/SaboPR

Congregations, Buildings, Missions & Evangelism

A Grand Rapids church chooses people over historic space

Eight years ago, a Grand Rapids congregation left its stately but deteriorating church for a plain, empty building in a tough part of town. Today, the risk has paid off with a smaller but committed congregation heavily involved in neighborhood ministry.

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We underestimate the brokenness brought about by racism -- and the creativity needed to reverse it -- but Christianity offers a way forward to healing and reconciliation, says the executive director of Arrabon.

A learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity