Imagining an Abundant Future
For Our Churches
 

Too often our churches are trapped in a scarcity mindset, but the economics of God's reign is marked by abundance not scarcity. How are our minds transformed from scracity to abundance? In this new issue of the Cultivating Communities newsletter, we offer several loosely related articles that wrestle with this question.

Cultivating Communities works alongside cohorts of churches that are in close-proximity to each other, providing resources and helping them discern what it might look like for their congregations and their places to flourish. Our first three cohorts (one in the mountains of East Tennessee, one on the west side of Chicago, and one in Indianapolis) are now underway.

(Learn more about our cohorts and 
the Cultivating Communities Learning Journey)

With so many ministries trying to solve poverty, why aren’t we seeing more transformation? The Chalmers Center has created a FREE interactive micro training (<15 minutes) that explores this challenge, and we would love for you to share it with others who are involved in poverty alleviation work. (via The Chalmers Center )

The brain, the heart and the soul: How three Catholic churches are merging to create a new type of parish. Three congregations have avoided some of the disruption of a reorganization in Chicago by leaning into their individual identities while forming a new whole. 
(via Faith & Leadership )

In this time of church decline and aging congregations, particularly in the mainline, many of us are asking what to do with church property so that we can use it for the good of the neighborhood. In the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle, Pastor Darla DeFrance and Columbia City Church of Hope have a vision to transform an aging church building to a community hub. (via Parish Collective)