Kimberly, thanks. The first time I walked into their meeting, I could kind of sense that they have "been through the fire." A lot of people who dig transformation. They've taught me a lot about public faith.
"During the retreat, they thought that they had found it: the church would sell its building and property along Columbia Pike to make way for affordable housing." This is astonishing and inspiring. I am reposting this to my LinkedIn page where bold souls talk about repurposing government buildings for affordable housing, rather than compelling employees to work onsite more days a week.
I didn't know about the movement to repurpose government buildings. I didn't mention in the podcast that this church is on the forefront of a nascent movement to turn urban church property into affordable housing. They've been consulted by several churches in the local area and across the U.S.
My post got a comment that this group has been working with churches in our area on similar conversions of their property to housing https://www.linkedin.com/company/indwell/
So in Canada, too. Thank you. With congregations shrinking, it makes sense to repurpose the property. One benefit of this repurposing to this Arlington church (another aspect I didn't cover) is that the smaller space they are leasing from the people to whom they sold their property is far more supportive of their current self-understanding than was the original church building. A good use of solid-void theory helps keep our minds open to others, I think, while the confining boxes of older church buildings help to lock in a group's thinking.
WOW! Such a great podcast! What a church!
Kimberly, thanks. The first time I walked into their meeting, I could kind of sense that they have "been through the fire." A lot of people who dig transformation. They've taught me a lot about public faith.
"During the retreat, they thought that they had found it: the church would sell its building and property along Columbia Pike to make way for affordable housing." This is astonishing and inspiring. I am reposting this to my LinkedIn page where bold souls talk about repurposing government buildings for affordable housing, rather than compelling employees to work onsite more days a week.
I didn't know about the movement to repurpose government buildings. I didn't mention in the podcast that this church is on the forefront of a nascent movement to turn urban church property into affordable housing. They've been consulted by several churches in the local area and across the U.S.
See https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/news/2024/08/government-of-canada-lists-federal-lands-for-housing-and-new-tool-for-builders1.html
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/federal-government-to-use-22-properties-in-ottawa-for-housing
My post got a comment that this group has been working with churches in our area on similar conversions of their property to housing https://www.linkedin.com/company/indwell/
So in Canada, too. Thank you. With congregations shrinking, it makes sense to repurpose the property. One benefit of this repurposing to this Arlington church (another aspect I didn't cover) is that the smaller space they are leasing from the people to whom they sold their property is far more supportive of their current self-understanding than was the original church building. A good use of solid-void theory helps keep our minds open to others, I think, while the confining boxes of older church buildings help to lock in a group's thinking.