A community group in North Carolina asked to use a church's lawn for a small community garden. The church agrees to share their lawn, free of cost, and new neighborhood relationships are formed.
Faithful Generosity Story Shelf
This story collection highlights congregations and other religious groups who are using their assets and resources in creative ways as an expression of faithful giving. Each story is short enough to read and discuss during a committee meeting or other group gathering. Use these accessible vignettes to spark new questions, conversation, and imagination with your leaders about funds, buildings, land, and other resources in your care. If you know a story that should be included in the Story Shelf, suggest it here.
Read stories about:
Investing for Impact
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A Pastor’s Jericho in North Carolina
An enterprising pastor in Wilson, North Carolina pushed his congregation to revive its nonprofit and launch a plan to improve seven properties.
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Building Black Wealth through Homeownership
Amid calls for reparations, Arlington Community Church launched a foundation to lend interest-free funds to help Black Americans purchase their first home in their community.
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From Discernment to Epiphany
Atlanta’s First Presbyterian Church launched a social entrepreneurship program to recognize how God was already moving in their city and to provide business mentorship and financial assistance to aspiring social entrepreneurs.
Innovative Giving
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Church Grows a Solution to a Hidden Need
Bethel A.M.E Church of Ardmore responded to food insecurity in their community by starting a garden on their property. The project started with one bed and now has 15 that produced 1,200 pounds of food in 2022.
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Flood Becomes Turning Point for AME Church
After a flood did major damage to Bethel Church of Morristown, its pastor had a vision of rebuilding their property with support from outside of the congregation and to meet the needs of the larger community.
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The Path to Reparations
Beyond the first step of acknowledgment, some faith communities are taking up concrete reparations as a way of demonstrating authentic repentance for their role in systemic oppression.
Selling/Donating Property
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Church Finds Freedom in Selling Property
The congregation of Biltmore United Methodist Church sold their property and is devoting their energy and resources toward responding to Asheville, North Carolina’s most pressing social needs.
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A Life Cycle and a Legacy
A rural Tennessee church closes with one final, old-time singing and a donation to a Christian disaster relief agency.
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Presbytery Gives Property to Indigenous Group
Hudson River Presbytery transferred the title of former church to the Indigenous-led Sweetwater Cultural Center as a "pledge of partnership" and in an effort to make amends for harm done to Native American populations.
Sharing Property
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The Power of a Roof
A church and mosque collaborate to power—and empower—their neighborhood by installing solar panels on the church roof.
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Preserving & Sharing Latino Culture
A church's fixer-upper parsonage becomes a community center to preserve Latino culture and bridge cultural, generational, and denominational gaps.
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Manse Becomes a Home for Refugees
A Presbyterian church transforms their unused manse (minister's house) into a home for Afghan refugees, and serve as community for the home's first tenants.
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Conversations among church and community members lead to thriving neighborhood program that provides job training, an after-school program for children, low-cost clothing, a weekly lunch, food pantry, and more.
An AME church and a Latino congregation united their congregations and community outreach efforts.
A rural Tennessee church closes with one final, old-time singing and a donation to a Christian disaster relief agency.
An enterprising pastor in Wilson, North Carolina pushed his congregation to revive its nonprofit and launch a plan to improve seven properties.
Lutheran Church of the Reformation rents out space to Hill Havurah, an independent, Jewish community. It’s a landlord-tenant relationship that has financial benefits to both sides, but it is so much more than that.
Bethel A.M.E Church of Ardmore responded to food insecurity in their community by starting a garden on their property. The project started with one bed and now has 15 that produced 1,200 pounds of food in 2022.
After a flood did major damage to Bethel Church of Morristown, its pastor had a vision of rebuilding their property with support from outside of the congregation and to meet the needs of the larger community.
Hudson River Presbytery transferred the title of former church to the Indigenous-led Sweetwater Cultural Center as a "pledge of partnership" and in an effort to make amends for harm done to Native American populations.
Amid calls for reparations, Arlington Community Church launched a foundation to lend interest-free funds to help Black Americans purchase their first home in their community.
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