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 Diocese of Iowa’s Regional Mission Initiative (RMI) is an immersive program to support and strengthen our lay and clergy leadership in small churches to address the challenges facing our shrinking, rural communities. We divided the state into 3 regions. Members from 8-9 small churches in each of those regions will gather in a cohort of mutual learning and support over 3+ years. The three cohorts will engage with rich theological formation and spiritual practices, alongside community organizing methods, and asset-based community development, led by a Regional Missioner and supported by other regional clergy. They will draw on data-driven research and learning modules developed at Iowa State University as part of the Rural Shrink Smart Initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and other tools to build new partnerships to strengthen the networks of relationships, interactions, and resources within the community. The prophet Jeremiah told the people, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (29:7). The need and opportunity we seek to address with this initiative is this: How can our faith communities, working alongside others, seek the welfare of the city and sustain a thriving and vibrant community in the midst of depopulation realities in rural Iowa? The Regional Mission Initiative is hope-filled path to meeting a real and pressing need for our small and rural churches. Most of those already had been living into a primarily lay-led, clergy-supported model of church, and more are moving in that direction quickly out of necessity. We believe that the RMI will support our congregations' ability to thrive and to be vibrant and vital participants in the mission of God in their communities into the future.

The purpose of the Albany Blooms Thriving Parish Initiativeis to support, equip, and strengthen the work and ministry of the 100+ congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany. We will do this work by nurturing the spiritual health of our congregations and encouraging them to abide in the Lord via Benedictine practices, practices that create hearts ready to learn, prepare, and share the gospel with their local community. This work will be accomplished through retreats, workshops, and web based resources, which have several aims: 1) Nurture: Teach parish leaders how Benedictine Spirituality practices can be used to grow disciples and lead people towards a deeper walk with God 2) Produce: Guide leaders in clearly defining the challenges of modernity and develop strategies for the mission of the parish in relation to the broader diocesan mission to be “Disciples Making Disciples” 3) Sustain: Nurture and support parishes in their work to grow and thrive as congregations working to both abide in Christ and reach outward in their communities.

Recognizing that the pandemic is changing the world that congregations occupy and serve more rapidly than ever before, and that challenges to -- and opportunities for -- thriving and serving are also greater than ever, the two Episcopal dioceses in Indiana are collaborating on this project to build parish health by helping them maximize the value of their properties in service to mission. The dioceses are creating a program that integrates diocesan resources that have been successful in igniting congregational thriving, with proven tools, trainings, and resources from partner organizations Partners for Sacred Places and Indiana Landmarks. This collaboration builds healthy, thriving congregations throughout the state of Indiana, able to fully activate their spaces and enliven their buildings in partnership with their communities in a way that is sustainable and generates new resources for parish life. The dioceses also disseminate this project widely so that it can serve as a national model that excites and informs other judicatories across the nation.

The Episcopal Diocese of New York, in collaboration with The General Theological Seminary, launched Episcopal Futures to support 15 congregations of diverse contexts within the diocese that have discerned a call to missional transformation. The project seeks to collaboratively build an Episcopal culture of adaptive leadership, catalyze renewal of congregations, and plant new, imaginative worshiping communities and outreach ministries. The diocesan commitments to participants are to foster collaborative culture, faithful renewal, and radical reconciliation. The diocese employs inter-congregational, three-year learning communities that are equipped with seed funding to launch new ministries as well as simultaneous research and evaluation. Ultimately, the diocese seeks to design, implement, and sustain Episcopal Futures as an initiative that will be a step towards a holistic, energized, and Spirit-led ecosystem for all Episcopalians and their neighbors in the Diocese of New York.

In this context of social, cultural, and political divisions, our program supports congregational learning and the development of ministries that acknowledge and bridge the divides both within our congregations and in the communities they serve. Building Bridges; Healing Divides is designed to advance our current strategic priority of creating a culture of listening, learning and development. Our program includes two learning cohorts of congregational leaders and focuses on growing in skill development, practice, and reflection, with the end goals of 1) helping leaders to develop new clarity of mission and patterns of ministry that are responsive to their changing contexts and 2) deepening leaders' connection to God through our ecclesial tradition in The Episcopal Church.