Grantee Directory

The Narthex is a project of Christ Church Denver (christchurchdenver.org), in partnership with Caffeinated Church (caffeinatedchurch.org), seeking to develop the digital capacity of mainline, sacramental, liturgical churches for prudent virtual engagement. Furthering the pandemic-prompted trajectory of online ministry, this five-year project begins with a pilot group of six Episcopal and Lutheran peer-mentoring congregations, then broadens out to a 31-church network with four foci: 1) Digital Ministry Assessment + Strategic Planning: Working with the Unstuck Group, pilot congregations will establish an assessment baseline for current online offerings and a common framework for planning intentional digital offerings. 2) Curating + Creating Online Content: Christ Church Denver will curate and create digital resources to reach a rising generation of “nones,” catechize new believers, and encourage whole-life discipleship. 3) Capital Subgrants + Learning Cohorts: Broadening out the parish network from an initial six to an additional 25 (in 2027), pilot churches will solicit subgrant applications for a larger peer-mentoring network, sharing learnings and best practices for digital ministry. 4) Training + Capacity Building: Lay and ordained network leaders will offer peer-to-peer, parish-to-parish consultation, with all resources widely and freely disseminated through various online forums (e.g., Caffeinated Church’s resource hub, commblog, and forum) to multiply impact. Our end goal for this project is threefold: 1) virtual community-engaging content (aimed especially at the “nones” where they are––i.e., online), providing resources to explore the life questions they are asking; 2) digital whole-life discipleship resources reacquainting existing believers with ancient faith practices, accessible online and relevant to their Monday-through-Saturday lives and mission fields; 3) a learning cohort of like-minded mainline churches committed to ongoing peer-mentoring.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) envisions a world experiencing the difference that God’s grace and love in Christ make for all people and creation. And yet, overall, the ELCA continues in a pattern of macro decline, with aging members and a membership profile that does not reflect the diversity of the United States. As ministry challenges and opportunities only become increasingly complex, congregations must be grounded in Lutheran faith practices and be equipped and inspired to adapt and innovate for the future -- not just to survive, but so that their communities may thrive. In collaboration with strategic partners, including four ELCA synods, and through a congregational team cohort model, the ELCA churchwide organization seeks to unleash and harness the collective genius of congregations as they discover new and useful ministry innovations for the sake of this world God so loves, sparking the ELCA “innovation denomination” movement. By the end of this project, more new, young, and diverse people will know about life in Christ through the bold, faithful, courageous witness of these congregations — so that all might “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 NRSV).

The Jordan Project will ignite new life and innovation into women-led rural and small-town congregations across the Midwest in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and other full communion partner denominations. Pastors and leaders from their congregations will explore their congregations’ rapidly changing social and cultural contexts, gain clarity about their values and mission, and draw on Lutheran theological practices and traditions to adapt their ministry to the demands of their changing contexts.

This grant gives 12 congregations an opportunity to explore how congregational storytelling might become a renewing force by connecting directly to persons searching for meaning and the revelation of Jesus Christ. This grant discovers how congregations can accompany people in narrating, interpreting, and integrating their direct encounters with the living Christ. Storytelling, Luther Seminary believes, creates encounters that shift the congregation’s identity from resource-provider to a community of discernment and meaning-making. The learning takes place as 12 congregations engage in a process of experimenting with identity- and community-forming practices and reflecting on the Christian narrative in a secular age. Luther Seminary hopes to embed a small group of thinkers and scholars among these 12 congregations. They will foster theological reflection in and through the stories that come from each congregation about each congregation, but also reflect on the stories shared by the distinct persons in these communities, exploring the concrete marks of peoples’ encounters with God and how they are making meaning in their day-to-day lives.

What will a thriving congregation look like after a global pandemic? Closer to home, what will a thriving congregation look like in a city that’s just witnessed the unconscionable killing of George Floyd at the hands of police; a state with one of the highest opportunity disparities across people of different races? We believe the initiative works to address these questions, as well as the Lutheran catechism question, “What does it mean to love God and neighbor today?” We are excited to invite a select group of congregations to wrestle deeply with this question. In each two-year phase of our proposed initiative, 15 churches will be selected to participate. One congregational cohort will include five “like-sized” congregations, another will include five “like-mission” congregations, and the third, five ELCA and African Methodist Episcopal congregations serving “adjacent neighborhoods.” Each of the congregations will be represented by five leaders. Thus, 75 congregational leaders will be trained during each phase, 150 over four years. Cohort groups will learn faith practices and neighboring practices from experts and each other. The groups will be well coached, committed to meet monthly, and given the tools to immediately teach the practices they are learning to their own congregations. We will partner with the Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement (a new organization birthed by four congregations, the synod, and two social service organizations). In addition, we will partner with the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University, not only for their models of public church, but to co-host the summit for our congregations at the end of each two-year cycle.

The South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will support the learning and leadership of ordained ministers, emerging lay leaders, and the people in their congregations with virtual and embodied accompaniment through the Journeying Together in Christ initiative. First, the SD Synod will leverage robust digital technologies to bridge the geographical barriers that rural and frontier congregations face. This work is both urgent and timely. During the past two years, South Dakota has connected more than 26,000 homes, businesses, ranches, and farms to high-speed broadband through both public and private efforts. This increase in connectivity includes our rural and frontier churches, who now have greater access to the critical infrastructure necessary to support their learning and connecting with digital technologies. Through this project, we intend to support the creation of a digital learning community. Second, we will work with congregations and their leaders to recognize and overcome the urban-rural cultural divide that often disrupts the ministry of rural and frontier churches in the communities that they serve. In conversation with neighboring synods, the wider ELCA, and other ecumenical partners, we are discovering new ways to bridge this divide. Specifically, we will nourish immersive learning experiences ideally suited to this purpose. Grant funding will be used for two complementary rural immersion ministries: bringing leaders to South Dakota’s frontier churches in transition to develop deep relationships while identifying potential local lay leadership and second, to immerse seminary students within thriving rural congregations so that they can experience a deep dive into the joy-filled waters of rural parish life. We are confident that virtual and embodied accompaniment through the Community Hub and Rural Immersion Ministries will help congregations serving in South Dakota’s rural and frontier communities to thrive!