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At a time when the Episcopal Church and other denominations are closing churches, the Episcopal Church Building Fund has expanded its mission to help distressed congregations think in new ways about their buildings and the future of the church.
When a pastor and her congregation built a labyrinth in the tough streets of East Baltimore, she began to understand the second half of Jeremiah's call. Sometimes you can't 'build and plant' until you 'pluck up and pull down.'
Students hard at work at St. James School, a faith-based Philadelphia middle school in the Episcopal tradition. Photos courtesy of Al Cassidy
A decaying and empty Episcopal church complex became an asset to its poor Philadelphia neighborhood after church leaders saw its potential as a free school for needy children.
The congregation, started by Zimbabwean immigrants, has begun attracting neighbors to its community. The church provides office space for area nonprofits, built a playground for local children and hosts after-school programs. Photo by Lissa Gotwals
Six years after being given a dying church's building, Shepherd's House UMC, an African immigrant congregation in Durham, NC, is a beacon of renewal.
The aesthetics of our sanctuaries and our fellowship halls, our offices and our meeting rooms determine much of the ways we relate to one another and how we meet God.
An Episcopal congregation’s decision to move and rebuild a historic church represents a commitment to cherish the past while making it new, to be rooted in tradition but not bound by it, says its founding vicar.
The bell tower of Salem UMC rises above flood waters in 2008. Photo courtesy of Salem UMC
After a flood destroyed its historic downtown church, a congregation had to decide: Are we a building or a community?
A dwindling congregation in Dallas shares its space with four international congregations and a health clinic as a way of ensuring that its legacy lives on after its members are gone.
When church property becomes a point of contention.
What do we have to learn from those who serve up comfort food, using local vernacular, with no building or advertising?