FAITHFUL GENEROSITY STORY SHELF

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A seminary in Ohio has combined its theological teachings with environmental concerns to feed the body while nourishing the soul.

3081 Columbus Pike
Delaware, OH

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.

731 Castle Rd
Colorado Springs, CO

A closed church reopens as a worship space for Spanish-speaking immigrants, offering healing sound therapy.

Chicago, IL

A NYC church continues its long-term relationship with the theater community and generates needed income by opening rehearsal space.

1 E 29th St
New York, NY

Churches in Wilmington, Delaware share their commercial kitchens so food entrepreneurs can grow their businesses.

900 Washington St
Wilmington, DE

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.

Biltmore United Methodist Church
Asheville, NC

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.

St. Paul United Methodist Church
Durham, NC

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.

McKinley United Methodist Church
Dayton, OH

An AME church and a Latino congregation united their congregations and community outreach efforts.

Turner Memorial AME Church
Hyattsville, MD

An enterprising pastor in Wilson, North Carolina pushed his congregation to revive its nonprofit and launch a plan to improve seven properties.

119 Pender St E
Wilson, NC

A rural Tennessee church closes with one final, old-time singing and a donation to a Christian disaster relief agency.

Ragsdale Church of Christ
Manchester, TN

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.

Bethel AME Church
Ardmore, PA

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.

Lutheran Church of the Reformation
Washington, DC

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.

Bethel Church of Morristown
Morristown, NJ

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.

Arlington Community Church
Kensington, CA

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.

Presbytery of Hudson River
Briarcliff Manor, NY

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.

The Muslim Center
Detroit, MI

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.

East End Temple
New York, NY

Rather than sell one of its properties for substantial profit, the Rocky Mountain Synod of the ELCA transferred ownership to Four Winds American Indian Council in a small but meaningful act of decolonization.

Four Winds American Indian Council
Denver, CO

A Lutheran church, UCC church, and Disciples of Christ church in Minneapolis renovated a church building to fit the worship space needs of the three churches simultaneously.

Salem English Lutheran Church
Minneapolis, MN

The Community Church in Ada, Michigan combines their natural tendency for hospitality and fun with intentional community engagement to host an annual event that draws thousands of people each December to their church parking lot.

The Community Church
Ada, MI

Struggling with the financial realities of a small and aging congregation, Altama Presbyterian Church sold their property at a reduced cost to a local nonprofit because its mission aligned with their own.

Altama Presbyterian Church
Brunswick, GA

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church used their extra church building to support a nonprofit focused on one of the most urgent and challenging social problems in their community.

4606 Kanawha Tpke
South Charleston, WV

While the Church of the Advocate's ample campus and cavernous interior support Art Sanctuary’s practical needs for storage, rehearsal, and performance space, the church’s activist history is also a source of heady inspiration.

Church of the Advocate
Philadelphia, PA

Kinder Academy boasts of “quality childcare that provides a structured preschool program with the convenience of daycare hours.” The childcare center at Bustleton UMC is the jewel in Kinder Care’s crown, made possible with the space and support offered by the congregation.

Philadelphia Full Gospel Assembly
Philadelphia, PA

Neighborhood Bike Works, a Philadelphia nonprofit serving the larger community, operates out of the basement of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

St Mary's Church, Hamilton Village
Philadelphia, PA

When asked to use its building and property to shelter women and families, Salt House Church said yes.

Salt House Church
Kirkland, WA

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.

Memorial Episcopal Church
Baltimore, MD

Davis Street UMC is selling its campus near downtown Burlington, NC to an. organization that provides therapeutic rehabilitation for children with autism.

Davis Street United Street Methodist Church
Burlington, NC

After seven years of discernment and planning, the Dominican Sisters of Hope permanently protected 34 acres of their property from future development with a conservation easement.

Dominican Sisters of Hope Inc
Ossining, NY

The Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, New York pursued several land stewardship projects including legal protection for a portion of their land to be used for sustainable farming, investment in solar panel installations, and more.

Sisters of St Joseph
Brentwood, NY

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.

Cass Community United Methodist Church Detroit Michigan
Detroit, MI

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.

3085 K St
San Diego, CA

What began in the '60s as church-based soup kitchen has transformed into an empowering, one-stop shop where visitors can pick out clothing, sign up for groceries, get lunch, register to vote, meet with health department and social service workers, get help with transportation issues, and more.

Hampton Baptist Church
Hampton, VA

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.

First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
Atlanta, GA

Farm Church does not own a church building but instead uses a lot of land from a local nonprofit that they farm each Sunday morning before worshiping together on the same property.

Farm Church
Durham, NC

A monthlong fast led a church to donate $150,000 to students at HBCUs who needed financial assistance in order to graduate.

Alfred Street Baptist Church
Alexandria, VA

First Baptist Church of Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia decided to serve its community by sharing its square footage for affordable housing, a child development center, and a seminary.

First Baptist Church of Clarendon Child Development Center
Arlington, VA

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave $32 million to the United Nations World Food Programme - the largest single donation to-date to a humanitarian organization - to fight the global hunger crisis.

50 North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT

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.

Alfred Street Baptist Church
Alexandria, VA

An English-speaking Seventh-Day Adventist church donates a $1 million dollar property to a Spanish-speaking Seventh-Day Adventist church.

Montrose Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Montrose, CO

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.

4711 Westside Dr
Dallas, TX

A baptist church uses building to jump-start new ecumenical congregation and host community organizations.

Urban Grace: The Downtown Church
Tacoma, WA

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.

2740 1st Ave S
Minneapolis, MN

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.

St. Stephens Presbyterian Church
North Highlands, CA

After a pastor receives a large donation to be used for community ministry, church leadership pursues alliances with local leaders to pay off medical debt.

Campbell University
Buies Creek, NC

What began as a one-time fundraiser becomes a yearly event for community-building, ministry, kindness, and play.

Second Baptist Church, Memphis
Memphis, TN

Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Branch's Baptist Church look to nature to solve environmental, health, and economic problems in Richmond

Branch's Baptist Church
Richmond, VA

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.

Southside Baptist Church
Birmingham, AL

A story about a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation using a preschool model that is not only self-sustaining but also provides some financial benefit to the church.

River Road Church, Baptist
Richmond, VA

A story about a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation who received a gift of land in Eastern North Carolina and discovering that it would be suitable for solar farms.

First Baptist Church
Mount Olive, NC

A story about two Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregations who offer examples of rethinking the profit there is in pavement.

First Baptist Church
Auburn, AL

A story about how one Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation sold their land to reduce debt.

First Baptist Church of Augusta
Augusta, GA

A story about how one Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation imagined using their space in a new way.

1900 NE Englewood Rd
Kansas City, MO

A story about what happened when a church learned to see its money in a new way.

Christ Church Cathedral
Cincinnati, OH

Two Lutheran churches in Baltimore partnered to provide no interest loans up to $2,000 to community members.

Amazing Grace Lutheran Church (formerly Trinity Lutheran)
Baltimore, MD

Leaders of a church in Pennsylvania launched a Year of Contagious Generosity, and what happened next surprised a lot of people. Money raised benefited the local fire department, school district, and helped rebuild a community playground.

Mount Joy Mennonite Church
Mount Joy, PA

Austin church turns a $100,000 gift into $10 million in medical debt relief.

Covenant Presbyterian Church
Austin, TX

Congregation partners with an affordable housing nonprofit.

Arlington Presbyterian Church
Arlington, VA

Church's money management lessons lead to transformation in an impoverished neighborhood.

Eastern Star Church
Indianapolis, IN