For the sake of our neighbors

Ministry Imagination Grants: Imagine. Innovate. Initiate.

By Nick Tangen

One of the more challenging questions for churches in the 21^st century, even more so now amid a global pandemic, is how to engage meaningfully with their surrounding communities. Churches are located in neighborhoods and cities with particular needs and experiences, and as the church seeks to share the gospel and serve the neighbor, questions about how best to do so naturally arise. Such persistent imagining inspired Calvary Lutheran Church in Edina to apply for a Ministry Imagination Grant focused on community engagement.

Pastor Wade Wacholz began his call at Calvary in 2018, at a time when the congregation was facing a very uncertain time. “[Calvary was] … experiencing some of the things that many congregations in the ELCA and in other denominations are encountering: ageing membership, shrinking attendance, and shrinking financial base,” said Pastor Wacholz. “Part of what I was asked to lead early on was a consideration of how … Calvary could re-engage in its community … in its place, and to figure out some new ways to be church in the area.”

This commitment to rekindling a relationship with the community and discerning Calvary’s place in a city like Edina led members to pursue a grant from the synod to “fund a part-time consultative staffperson to lead and assist us to explore new community connections, initiate community conversations and lay groundwork for new ministries to engage and deepen community relationships” (from the Ministry Imagination Grant application).

 

IN AUGUST OF 2019, Calvary hired Baird Linke as its director of community engagement and faith formation. Linke, who previously worked as an innovation coach at Augsburg University’s Riverside Innovation Hub, brought a skill set and perspective tuned to the community engagement goals of Calvary and quickly got to work in the community.

Early in his experience at Calvary, Baird produced a community profile of Edina through research and conversations with neighbors and faith leaders. He shared this data with the congregation.

“[The community profile] was based off a lot of research I did with municipal data and some of the history I was seeing come out of city council, and bigger events in Edina history, and just talking to people in the street”, said Linke. “It was also constructed from the input of faith leaders from a lot of different traditions [concerning] what they were seeing and experiencing from their congregations. And, using those reference points to draw the constellation of things, to say ‘Ok, here’s what’s going on numerically and policy-wise, and here’s what we know about the internal life of people in the area.’”

“The Gospel is not just for us, it’s for our neighbors.”

Linke’s first months were spent scheduling one-to-one intentional conversations with neighbors and faith leaders in the community, listening to the stories and concerns of Calvary’s membership. He would highlight points of interest and intersection.

“I heard a lot about pandemic loneliness, even before the COVID outbreak. [Many experienced] a sense of isolation from the community; most people in Edina don’t work in Edina. Because of that most of their social networking and life exists either in their house or another geographic area,” said Linke.

As Linke built relationships and listened to stories in the community, he would bring those stories back to Calvary to discuss the unique role that the congregation may play in addressing community needs. How might Calvary minister to the broad sense of loneliness in the community and the isolation many feel from their neighborhood?

The listening that Linke did within Calvary was helpful in naming the gifts and strengths of the congregation and discerning how best to direct those gifts towards the needs of the community.

“Persistent imagining inspired Calvary Lutheran Church in Edina to apply for a Ministry Imagination Grant focused on community engagement.”

“One of the things that I really admire about Calvary is how well they take care of each other. For all that tightness and camaraderie, they are still good at welcoming people. I’ve been to enough churches where that welcome felt more like a sizing up,” said Linke. “Calvary really genuinely cares about the individuals that walk through the door. And I think that is one of the strengths of being such a small congregation. There are real opportunities to get to know individuals.”

Pastor Wacholz and Linke worked together to hold some listening and planning conversations with the congregation, to begin thinking about what the future of Calvary might look like in light of the community’s stories and experiences. They discussed the possibility of merger partners, new ministry areas, and future community engagement work.

 

AND THEN THE COVID-19 pandemic slowed the efforts early in 2020.

“COVID hit and we sort of got into ‘Ok, how do we survive in this mode’ like so many have. And it has kind of taken the long-term strategic planning off the rails,” said Pastor Wacholz.

Despite the speed bumps, both Pastor Wacholz and Linke have found the process and the learning incredibly valuable and Pastor Wacholz hopes to continue the work beyond the end of Baird’s contract.

“The Gospel is not just for us, it’s for our neighbors,” said Pastor Wacholz. “I think we’re called to be light and life in Jesus’ name in the places that we are. And our neighborhood is the closest place where we are. So, answering that call is fundamental.”

“How might Calvary minister to the broad sense of loneliness in the community and the isolation many feel from their neighborhood?”

The Ministry Imagination Grant provided a small congregation like Calvary in Edina the opportunity and capacity to reimagine elements of their mission and call in the neighborhood and to learn more about themselves.

“[The Imagination Grant] allowed us to engage Baird to lead and guide this work for us,” said Wacholz. “As a part-time pastor, I wouldn’t have been able to put the kind of time and effort into this work, which I think was necessary for Calvary, and the grant funded that.”

God-willing, Calvary Lutheran Church will continue to use the tools and learning they have acquired in their time working with Linke and put them to good use building a just and healthy community in Edina for years to come.