One big thing: TryTank launches new newsletter

NEWSLETTER by the rev. Lorenzo lebrija for church innovation insider, newsletter

TryTank has been working to create a new offering for the church: the Young Adult Ministry Trend Report. The monthly newsletter provides topical news, reliable data, and actionable insights for young adult ministry today

It launched this month! Why it matters: Most young people are not in church and have no interest in church. In this context, it is more important than ever to find effective ways of reaching them with the Good News of the Gospel.

Go deeper: Each month, our newsletter focuses on a theme as it connects to ongoing trends in the young adult population and explores what we know about it. We discuss how theology informs it and provide practical ways the church can respond to these trends.

To make sure the newsletter has the most up-to-date information, TryTank has partnered with YPulse, the self-described “leading authority on Gen Z and Millennials: today’s tweens, teens, college students, young adults, and young parents.”

What's next: Anyone can check out a sample edition of the Ministry Trend Report by visiting the subscription website, MinistryTrendReport.com

The free subscription includes a weekly data insight edition.

The monthly, in-depth report requires an annual paid subscription of $200. For a limited time, however, anyone can subscribe for the introductory price of $99.

SIGN UP FOR TRYTANK’S FREE NEWSLETTER HERE.

Experiment aims to make small congregations shine on the web

NEWSLETTER by the rev. Lorenzo lebrija for church innovation insider, newsletter

The growing need for a web presence for smaller churches is abundantly clear. Having an up-to-date, attractive website and an active social media presence is a must-have today.

Why it matters: It invites your neighbors and more virtual visits from people in the broader community who are looking for a new spiritual home.

TryTank is partnering with Jubilee Design Collaborative, a non-profit graphic design and communications team staffed by professionals with years of experience and hearts for service.

The team at Jubilee Design Collaborative is passionate about helping churches leverage modern communication platforms to creatively share, through stories and images, the faith and values that embody their convictions and service.

What’s next: As part of this experiment, Jubilee Design Collaborative will select five churches to build their web presence and enhance their online visibility.

This will include the following:

• a brand new website

• social media creation and integration

• regular collection of upcoming events to post and highlight

• collaboration with church teams to develop content and gather photo resources

• training for church teams to manage their online communications.

  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO APPLY, CLICK HERE. SIGN UP FOR TRYTANK’S FREE NEWSLETTER HERE.

Why Episcopal Enterprises?- St. Michael and All Angels Talk

Betsy Densmore, co-founder of Episcopal Enterprises, guest preaches at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.

Betsy Densmore was guest homilist at Saint Michael’s on Giving Sunday, December 4, as they concluded the 2022 Stewardship Campaign. Betsy is co-founder of Episcopal Enterprises which helps churches like Saint Michael’s find ways to fund powerful visions for ministry beyond what churches can collect in pledges and tithes.

She is a current board member of Innovative Housing Opportunities and The Corporation of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Betsy founded the Academies for Social Entrepreneurship, an educational organization dedicated to linking the passion of social purpose with sustainable business practices. As ASE’s Director, she has worked with over three hundred not-for-profit organizations, catalyzing tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for innovative charitable ventures. Densmore is an entrepreneur herself, having founded three hospitality businesses, an insurance agency, and two nonprofit organizations. In her spare time, she co-owns and manages two Great Mex Grill restaurants in Costa Mesa.

“My career as a social entrepreneur started in college. Some friends and I founded the Center for Conflict Resolution in Madison Wisconsin.  We were young, anti-war activists with passion and purpose but no money to pay our office expenses. As a start-up, grants were impossible to come by and funding for student groups was also very limited.  So, we looked around for a reliable revenue stream, that served the common good without harming anyone.   The result was that we acquired a paper route, which had over 500 subscribers. Two of us would get up every morning at 5 am to take care of it before going off to work or school.  That route paid our monthly expenses for several years, freeing us to focus on creating peace education programs.”-Betsy Densmore

“Some of you remember the Rev. Canon Jaime Edwards Acton who worked at this Parish before becoming the Rector of St. Stephens in Hollywood.  We became colleagues when he participated in one of my organization’s Social Enterprise Academies on the UCLA campus. The Academy program has served hundreds of charitable organizations as an “Incubator” for discerning viable social enterprises. In St. Stephens case, “Plate and pledge” was only generating $35,000 a year, a far cry from what was needed to pay staff, maintain property, and fund programs.  How could they leverage their assets to address community needs and bring in more revenue?”-Betsy Densmore

WATCH THE LIVE SERMON AND MORE HERE.

How an age shift in Southern California’s population could change everything

A long-predicted demographic shift, in which older people are growing in numbers and in clout, is starting to reach high gear.

More gray and balding heads? More daily medications? A collective hankering for comfortable shoes?

We’re about to have it all.

We’re going to have more Social Security and Medicare payouts; more senior centers, more demand for hospital rooms and dementia experts. More families soon will be living with three and even four generations under the same roof. There will be more wisdom, too, and more need.

In short, America and Southern California in particular are about to include more older people, a lot more.

READ MORE HERE.

Four More Days To Save $200 On Neighborhood Economics :Jackson Tickets!

This event is for you if you are an investor, entrepreneur, activist, community/faith leader, or engaged citizen.

Neighborhood Economics works with communities to create a just economy for everyone. “Join us as we facilitate ongoing conversations across geographies that help people build the economic architecture so everyone will thrive. This event brings together all kinds of people.” -Neighborhoodeconomics.org

Neighborhood Economic’s national event will be in Jackson, Mississippi from April 24-26, 2023.

“This convening includes two days of plenary and breakout sessions with an optional third day of working groups that will dig deeper into complex problems in our communities that demand time and ongoing attention. -Neighborhoodeconomics.org

The ticket price will go up on March 20. Use code nejxn200off to get your tickets for $495 today! Purchase tickets here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMICS’ SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE WORK CLICK HERE.

(Source: Neighborhood Economics Site)

New Churches in Old Buildings in Pennsylvania

Article by G. Kirk Petersen, the living church

When a church closes, often the diocesewill sell the property. It can be a heartbreaking transition, but the opportunity to use the proceeds for the rest of the diocese is a bit of a silver lining.

But the Bishop of Pennsylvania doesn’t see it that way.

In more than six years of leading one of the largest dioceses in the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Daniel G.P. Gutiérrez has not sold a single church. “There were 133 when I got here; now there’s 136,” he told TLC.

“I don’t think a church ever needs to be sold,” he declared. “I think you recast your nets to the other side and see how you can repurpose it.”

Gutiérrez said, “It’s easy to sell a church, put the money in the endowment, and then what happens? You lose a place to proclaim Jesus Christ. And to me, I just cannot stand that.”

That’s a sharp contrast with his predecessor, Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr., who closed 19 churches and sold 13 during his tenure, from 1997 to 2012.

Read more here.

Retooling for Ministry

Article by G. Jeffrey macdonald, the living church

With an aging congregation and facing costly building repairs, Holy Trinity Church in Southbridge, Massachusetts, tried twice in the past 15 years to reduce its clergy position from full time to part time. But only once did the effort lead to a renewed church.

The first attempt flopped because Holy Trinity did not think through what part-time ministry would involve, said former senior warden Tamsin Lucey. After nine months of searching in vain for a part-timer, parishioners ended up calling a full-timer. That decision would mean tapping endowment funds by $160,000 for the next eight years to cover the compensation package.

Holy Trinity learned from its experience. Before the Rev. Richard Signore came on board as part-time rector in 2014, he and the congregation adopted clear job descriptions detailing their respective responsibilities. Routine visitation would be the domain of the laity, as would Communion for the homebound. Because everyone knew what part-time ministry would mean, laypeople were confident to make the pastorate part-time and to lead new outreach at the same time.

“Sharing God’s word and doing God’s ministry looks different now,” Lucey said. “If it was going to be viable and sustainable, then it had to be mutual.”

…

“The mental shift is crucial,” said the Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, Bishop of Pittsburgh, where 76 percent of congregations have no full-time clergy. The shift involves “a reorientation away from the sanctuary being the main thing to mission in the world being the main thing.”

Read more here.

Yes In God’s Backyard Bill Signed by Governor (Copy)

From LeSar Development Consultants, Post, August 2022

Last month, Governor Newsom signed a key bill that would enable churches and other religious institutions to build affordable homes on land they own. Dubbed “Yes in God’s Backyard,” the bill authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (Oakland) allows developers to reduce parking for new churches by as much as 50% if they also build affordable housing. This bill only applies to religious land where they are building new churches and also want to build affordable housing. It does not apply to affordable housing built when a church is already in existence. Previous law allowed for the reduction of parking spaces for affordable housing being built on sites with existing places of worship, not new development. Read the new bill here.

Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco) tried for the second time to move a bill that would have enabled housing development by right on religious lands and land held by nonprofit colleges, even if local zoning would otherwise not allow. By right development exempts a developer from having to receive local discretionary approvals and going through the California Environmental Quality Act process, though there are objective standards that would preclude development on environmentally unsafe or sensitive areas and required that the development occur on infill sites. The Senator’s bill– SB 1336—died in committee, but it is expected that it will be reintroduced later this year.

Fiscal Woes? Not with Well-Structured Partnerships

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald. Article’s fragment reposted from Thle Living Church website.

On any given day, St. Martin’s Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, teems with people, including many who are not part of the congregation. Parents drop off children at the preschool run by a separate nonprofit that rents one floor. Musicians stop by to borrow instruments from the Charlotte Folk Society, which runs a lending library in a former office space. Artists sell on church grounds several times a year. And more collaborations are in the works.

“Our problem is we’re running out of space,” says the Rev. Josh Bowron, St. Martin’s rector.

Partnering with community groups adds to St. Martin’s coffers — the preschool alone brings a net gain of $40,000 a year — but that’s not the motivation. St. Martin’s has not run a deficit in years, has a $900,000 budget, is a very healthy church, and does not need extra money, Bowron said. At least not at this point.

“What I’m trying to do is build a culture for 20 years from now,” Bowron said. “As the church continues to decline, you want to have these beautiful buildings have a ministry, and it’s going to take some time to build a culture.”

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, draws 3 to 4 percent of its revenue from non-traditional sources, including this "porchlight concert" (Source: The Living Church website)