When a Muslim group needed a place for youth religious education, it began meeting at a synagogue. This arrangement led to mutual curiosity and real friendship.
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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Paying Reparations, Building Relationships
In an effort to make amends, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland established a $1 million reparations fund to benefit Black communities.
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Gift of Land Becomes $100k for Community
When a church member deeded a large plot of land to his church, the congregation leased 80 acres for solar farms, leading to a surplus of income and the Gratitude Project.
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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.
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.
Browse more stories:
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A story about a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation that is home to no less than five Birmingham-area nonprofit organizations and aside from the congregation’s weekly worship service, four other churches gather there on Sundays.
In 2004, the Muslim Center of Detroit partnered with physicians from the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit to open a free health clinic on the second floor of the prominent local mosque.
Bethel AME is helping to address the affordable housing crisis in San Diego by building affordable units on their property. They raised funds to offset construction costs enough to make the project self-sustaining.
Cass Community United Methodist Church plans to build a village of 25 tiny houses that the working poor or formerly homeless can rent to own.
A baptist church uses building to jump-start new ecumenical congregation and host community organizations.
A Disciples of Christ church faced closure due to declining membership and decided to turn the building over to new leadership to be used as a community hub and incubation space for new faith communities.
When membership at Saint Stephens Presbyterian Church was low and potential for growth in membership seemed unlikely, the remaining members decided to close rather than use up their resources to remain open a few years longer. They then sold their building and converted their assets into a charitable endowment that would carry on the church's mission.
A 140-year-old congregation in the heart of south Minneapolis decides to close their congregation and donate their property to a nonprofit serving people experiencing homelessness.
Alfred Street Baptist Church donated $1 million to Jackson State University during a water crisis to help students who had incurred related expenses and to help the university respond to the crisis.
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