"Repurposing" may be a new 21st century buzzword, but when it comes to church buildings, a growing number of congregations from multiple denominations are beginning to look beyond semantics to practice. And, as success stories of "Holy Places" in varied forms-shared, leased, multi-use and more-begin to surface, congregations are more eager than ever to take the conversation about creative and relevant use of our church buildings to the next level.

 

In partnership with several other denominational building funds, Disciples Church Extension Fund has designed "Now What? - A Symposium on Repurposing...Our Buildings, Our Outreach, Our Stewardship, Our Leadership" to help congregations find creative and relevant ways to use building resources for mission and ministry. Thought leaders, including Disciples Katie Hayes and Janet Hellner-Burris, will speak to the general topics of creative building use, leadership and community outreach, followed by application labs in which participants will develop at least one action item they will take back to their churches for consideration and implementation.

Registration is still open for the symposium on October 28, 2016, at Northway Christian Church in Dallas, Texas, the day before the Southwest Regional Assembly, in the same location. Because many people around the country have expressed interest in the event, but are not able to attend, DCEF plans to post video of the thought-leader presentations on  www.disciplescef.org after the event. DCEF also plans to replicate the symposium at the 2017 General Assembly in Indianapolis.

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The Christian Church Foundation has a resource for pastors looking for ideas to celebrate All Saints Sunday. Developed by retired pastor Rev. Rick Hull, the free resource provides sermon ideas, scripture possibilities, suggested songs and even children's messages.