2011 Congregations and Projects:
Worshiping God in this Place

The United Church of Santa Fe (UCC)

Santa Fe, NM

Team leader: Talitha Arnold

About this congregation

Shaping a Desert People

explores the ways our experience of worship in a desert landscape can deepen and expand our relationship with God, and, in the process, enable us to live in a more caring and just relationship with this part of God's creation. | read more

Idlewild Presbyterian Church

Memphis, TN

Team leader: Ted Gibboney

About this congregation

A Child Shall Lead

The Role of Children in the Faith Community of Idlewild Presbyterian Church

comprises a yearlong study of the role of children in Idlewild Presbyterian Church, culminating in a weekend conference in spring 2012. Consideration of the role of children in a faith community will compel us to develop a community that in good measure fulfills the ideal articulated in Isaiah, that is, to grant children their rightful place. This is about how attention to children will

CHANGE the church! | read more

St. Michael’s Cathedral

Boise, ID

Team leader: Lucas Grubbs

About this congregation

Come to the Banquet

Worship, Music, and the Art of Hospitality

draws inspiration from Jesus' injunction to invite to the banquet "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind." Once a month, the parish hall is transformed into a banquet hall where fine food is shared liberally with the hungry and homeless of our community around a well-set table with time for conversation, music, and the development of bonds formed around a common meal. The congregation seeks to grow the program both in numbers served, and in the musical and artistic offerings crucial to its identity. | read more

Central Presbyterian Church

Atlanta, GA

Team leader: David VanderMeer

About this congregation

Arts of the Spirit

Concerts, Classes, and Collaborative Worship Planning

Twice each year, Central Presbyterian’s clergy, musicians, and educators convene to plan worship for the upcoming months. Three times a year, a professional artist/ensemble comes to Central under the auspices of its Arts of the Spirit education / performance / outreach series. We envision combining these two established practices to extend their reach in ways that would serve the larger community and the larger church. | read more

Luther Place

Washington, DC

Project leader: Karen Brau

About this congregation

14th and Vermont

The Luther Place Sacred Commons

The mission and purpose of the congregation converge around biblical hospitality and social justice. We are a

welcoming and diverse community that practices what we call “rainbow hospitality.” Over the last year, we have been working with a group to engage our space with gardening and art, and we are advancing our vision of the land around Luther Place as a Sacred Commons. | read more

St. Monica Catholic Community

Santa Monica, CA

Team leader: Dale Sieverding

About this congregation

All Are Welcome

A Hospitable Community that Forms Loving Disciples to Transform the World

It might be said that our Hospitality Ministry welcomes people at the doors; our Music Ministry engages the assembly and keeps people coming back; our preaching feeds the soul and inspires us to transform our world as disciples. Our project involves deepening our own ministry of hospitality, and learning ways in which we can share this important work with the wider community. | read more

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church

Chicago, IL

Team leader: Craig Mueller

About this congregation

Sects and the City

Renewing Worship in an Urban, Millennial Context

Our project proposes to convene a worship conference in October 2011 that would focus on two aspects

of our context: its urban setting and the predominance of young adults, many in the millennial generation born after 1980. According to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one out of four Millennials claims no affiliation with a particular faith. Holy Trinity and several others of our neighborhood churches have bucked this trend. We believe we have something to

share through this conference. | read more