Durham, North Carolina
2020
To explore the story of the shared neighborhood of seven churches in order to cultivate worship that is responsive to God's work in the churches' immediate context.
Provide a brief summary of the purpose and goal of your grant.
The purpose and goal of our grant was to bring seven churches together to participate in a year-long pilgrimage of learning their neighborhood's history as they incorporate what they learn into their regular worship practices. We wanted to see worship that was connected to the story of the neighborhood.
What are two questions that have generated reflection on worship and helped shape your project?
1) How does the story of the city and the neighborhood matter to God and impact the people in the neighborhood, and how does that shape worship?
2) Will incorporating the story of the neighborhood into worship help reach people who are disconnected from the Church? Will it help the members of the churches be more faithful disciples and more meaningfully draw near to God?
What impact has your project had on the worship life and habits of the congregation?
The project has brought important shared learning to the congregations involved. They have learned about demographic history in the neighborhood and the history of the built environment. They have also learned how to conduct oral histories. Our hope is that this learning will shape the public worship life of the Church in the neighborhood, as we will see with the collaborative worship service we're planning for July. We don't yet have a sense of the effect on each congregation's worship life.
What have been your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
Our greatest challenge is full participation. This year has put extra demands on church leaders, which has meant that most of our meetings have not been fully attended. If we were to view that challenge as an opportunity, I'd say that it helps us see the isolation that already exists among churches and leaders, and the extra challenge the pandemic has brought.
What would you like to share with other Project Directors?
Even if you have setbacks, put everything you can into this opportunity, and learn everything you can from it.
