Reimagining Church

Thriving Congregations Initiative: New Models for the 21st Century

Reimagining Today

decorative Embracing Experimentation: AHCC reflects on Rev. Tyler Sit's plenary

As we - the Asylum Hill Congregational Church Reimagining Church Working Group - reflect on Rev. Tyler Sit’s plenary session, we find ourselves drawn to the idea of embracing experimentation and an ethos of learning as part of the reimagining process.

 Andi Lloyd
October 14, 2021 		Asylum Hill
decorative We Have a Lot of Work To Do

We need to challenge the status quo. We can’t fall back and continue to do what we’ve been doing, just because we’ve been doing it that way.

 Joe
October 14, 2021 		St. Peters Episcopal
decorative “It was a seriously lonely time”

Each of us—those in the working group, in the congregation, and throughout our society—has experienced a tremendous degree of change. In a peculiar way, the pandemic has provided us with a common experience.

 David Potter
October 8, 2021 		St. Paul and St. James
decorative Embracing Possibility

This is a moment of possibility not just because we are collectively primed for change, but because it is a Kairos moment. We are in a time of transformation because Spirit is working through disruption and uncertainty; from chaos (or at least what often feels like chaos) we are being drawn further into beloved community.

 David Potter
October 5, 2021 		St. Paul and St. James
decorative Hope in the Midst of Dissonance

Reflections on getting to know Simsbury United Methodist Church and the Reimagining Church program

 Natalie Benson
October 4, 2021 		Simsbury United Methodist Church
decorative God’s Church

The Black church- an enduring community, in a white world; full of fear, doubt and uncertainty. A church born from slavery- an alternative narrative, speaking to what Christianity should be in these yet United States of America. The Black church- not only is it the people’s church, but God’s church.

 Jyrekis Collins
October 4, 2021 		Community Baptist
large flock of birds in the shape of a whale in a dusky sky. a field of grain stands underneath them. Flocking Power

Starlings flock in unique patterns, undulating over the fields, thousands of little wings and heartbeats, never smashing into one another. Leaderless, they actively sense the movement of those next to them, lifting, turning, creating patterns together that would be impossible on their own or even to replicate en masse.

 Molli Mitchell
October 4, 2021 		UCC Tolland
decorative Reimagining Church: What Better Time Than Now?

Part of the privilege of working with the First Congregational Church of Branford is stepping into an ecclesial environment steeped in history.

 Zak Carroll
September 30, 2021 		Branford UCC
decorative Reimagining A Way Forward

I am what some people might call a “cradle Christian”, but perhaps not in the way you think.

 Jonathan Lee
September 30, 2021 		Spring Glen UCC
Three bright question marks amongst many dark question marks Spaces of Challenge and Hope

As a facilitator who is unattached to any particular Reimagining Church congregation, I have the fortune to reflect on the project from an involved yet mobile perspective.

 Jake Cunliffe
September 28, 2021