FCS is a grateful recipient of the Lilly Endowment Inc Thriving Congregations grant. Through our partnership with Lilly we have been launching 2-year, place-based cohorts that we call City Shapers. City Shapers is inviting churches to build and participate in multi-sector, collaborative tables that are working to bring about flourishing in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of their city. We are doing this because FCS believes that part of being a thriving church is being connected to your neighborhood and participating in efforts that aid its well-being.
As a part of this grant, we have also been doing some research in partnership with The Barna Group, a Christian research organization that provides data and insights on trends affecting faith, culture, and ministry today. Surveying over 400 church leaders we have been looking at the connections between the traditional metrics of church health with community engagement, poverty relief, and justice. So, what do you think the surveys revealed? How much impact does neighborhood engagement have on our perception of the health of churches?
Listen in as three of our team members, David Park, Stacy Brungardt, and Bekah Klein, talk to Daniel Copeland and Dave Kreasta about this research. Daniel is the Associate Vice President of Research at Barna and Dave is the author of Jesus on Main Street who consults with churches on how they can participate in building thriving communities.
