Our congregation’s core values have all pointed toward embracing the concept of Extravagant Welcome, yet its facility has not been able to keep pace with the congregation’s self-understanding of its ministry nor its growth. Thus, the congregation has decided to move — but not into a traditional church building. Rather, it has discerned that God’s call is to build community, not to build a church. We believe we are called to build a Peace Village, a multipurpose facility with sanctuary, affordable housing and shared space for missional and community allies as a way of living out our faith.

But how to make that vision become a reality? Indeed, how can any congregation re-purpose its sense of what its church building can be as it engages with multiple populations in multiple ways?

This project will examine this question through reading and interviewing leaders in congregations that have already found their own answers. The outcome will be a defined plan for our congregation to guide us as we move through this process. But just as importantly, the result will be a guideline for other congregations that are exploring ways of expanding their vision and aligning their ministry and their facility.