In January 2016, six months after Kerry Mraz, 38, moved to Houston for his wife's new job, his marriage ended and he found himself unmoored in a city he barely knew. While walking one day in a park near his home, he met a neighbor, who invited him to church -- at a Taco Bell.
The next Wednesday, at 7:30 a.m., Mraz went to Taco Church, where a small group of men gathered for breakfast, Bible study, jokes and prayer. The group, started by an Episcopal priest and a few guys from his gym, shared vulnerability in a way that Mraz had rarely seen. Sometimes he had to step outside the fast-food restaurant to cry.
The priest, the Rev. Sean Steele, told Mraz that Taco Church was part of the newly launched St. Isidore Episcopal, a "church without walls" focused on small group discipleship and community service. The church didn't have a building, and it didn't want one, Steele said. Instead, it had a cellphone app, linking members to the church's many parts.
As Steele explained, St. Isidore was one church embodied in many different ways. It wasn't just Taco Church. It would eventually become three house churches, a pub theology group, a free laundry ministry, a food truck and more. It was all quite unorthodox, except the liturgy and theology, which were decidedly Episcopalian.
Read more about St. Isidore Episcopal Church » |
| IDEAS THAT IMPACT: CONGREGATIONAL INNOVATION
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One significant trend within church life is the changing nature of congregating. That makes it increasingly important for congregations to experiment with new models and share what they are learning with one another.
Read more from Nathan E. Kirkpatrick » |
At Church of the Pilgrims, vulnerability is a virtue and worship is an innovative and deeply collaborative experience between clergy and congregants.
Read more about Church of the Pilgrims »
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Synagogues that participated in the Union for Reform Judaism's Communities of Practice identified best principles to advance change.
Read more about Union for Reform Judaism»
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Greenhouses of Hope: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World Edited by Dorie Grinenko Baker
Do you know a church where young people regularly shape the liturgy with words that speak their truth in ways that also inspire their elders? Do you hear about congregations that reach out in quirky new ways to their ailing neighborhoods, instead of locking doors and shipping out to a suburb? Do you find churches creating hospitable space that invites the live wriggling questions and doubts of young people in unhurried, unworried ways? Do you see congregations where young people's gifts are not stored in the basement or bracketed into 'contemporary' worship services but are brought forth and celebrated?
The authors who collaborated on this book launched a quest for such vibrant, life-giving, greening congregations and observed the diverse practices that grow there. They named these churches 'Greenhouses of Hope.'
A Greenhouse of Hope is a Christian congregation freeing itself to experiment with both newly imagined and time-honored ways of following the path of Jesus. Its members respond to God's love through practices that genuinely embrace the gifts of youth and young adults.
Out of these greenhouses emerge young leaders who want to change the world. In Greenhouses of Hope, Dorie Baker and six contributors tell the stories of these remarkable congregations, helping others think about how they can create space for the dreams of young people to be grafted into God's dreams for the world.
Learn more and order the book » |
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