The study grant would fund the initial research for a documentary film telling stories that are emerging from small, dynamic, innovative faith communities such as Mercy Junction (Chattanooga, Tn.), BeLoved (Asheville, N.C.), the Community of Living Traditions (Stony Point, N.Y.), Wildgoose Christian Community (Indian Valley, Va.), and Underground Seminary (Minneapolis, Minn.), and others.

In such places, through a variety of practices of faith, church is being both restored and reimagined in ways that may inform both the existing traditional church and the larger secular society around us.

While various practices mark these innovative communities, they seem to share a common commitment to table fellowship and food justice concerns. What Claudio Carvalhaes (in Eucharist and Globalization) said about Archbishop Romero's ministry can be said of these ministries, as well: "Around the table, a new world [is being] called for, rehearsed, and organized."

The stories of this calling and its various voices, rehearsals, and ways of organizing are compelling, dramatic, and crucial for the larger church and for the wider world that would be made new through such work.

Documentary film offers a powerful medium for telling this story, and this grant would fund the preliminary research, including site visits, background interviews, and historical research, necessary for launching a successful documentary project.