Season 13: Church Property: Imagining Good Futures | Episode 7
How Can Rural Churches Innovate with Their Building and Land?
Overview
This week, Shannon Hopkins and Rev. Mark Elsdon continue their takeover of the Igniting Imagination podcast, exploring how a small congregation has transformed its property into a vital hub for recovery services, emergency shelter, and essential community resources with Pastor Kevin Riley, Co-Pastor at Mount Baker Presbyterian Church in Concrete, Washington. As churches discover their potential to make a significant impact in their communities, they are demonstrating that even the smallest churches can address pressing social issues like addiction and homelessness.
Join us to discover how creativity and collaboration can help churches redefine their roles and foster meaningful change within their communities.
In this conversation, you’ll hear:
The success of community outreach initiatives relies heavily on forming partnerships with local organizations and agencies.
Creative approaches to church property can lead to transformative community projects that address pressing local issues.
Investing in the community through outreach and support fosters deeper relationships and mutual respect among residents.
Churches can embrace a spirit of curiosity and adaptability in their missions.
Radical love and inclusion can redefine how churches engage with their neighborhoods, challenging traditional models.
Meet Our Guest
Pastor Kevin Riley
Pastor Kevin Riley and his wife Danielle are commissioned pastors, having served in rural WA State since 2017. In addition to helping transform the congregation’s ministry and economic model informed by his own Christ-transforming life, he helped to create a property oversight committee in Northwest Coast Presbytery, with a vision of re-imagining and re-developing church properties for the future of the communities where they are located.
They are in the early visioning stages for a new worshiping community/supportive housing/government/nonprofit/and for-profit mixed economy development in rural Skagit County with several partners.
Kevin has helped organize and run multiple cold weather shelters along with bringing medically assisted treatment to the community.
All of this community development has led him to a place in leadership where he works with multiple service providers on a regular basis and engages with several different forms of government, from mayors to county commissioners, as well as law enforcement. This work has gained national attention through the Presbyterian Church USA.
Pastor Kevin Riley and his wife Danielle are commissioned pastors, having served in rural WA State since 2017. In addition to helping transform the congregation’s ministry and economic model informed by his own Christ-transforming life, he helped to create a property oversight committee in Northwest Coast Presbytery, with a vision of re-imagining and re-developing church properties for the future of the communities where they are located.
They are in the early visioning stages for a new worshiping community/supportive housing/government/nonprofit/and for-profit mixed economy development in rural Skagit County with several partners.
Kevin has helped organize and run multiple cold weather shelters along with bringing medically assisted treatment to the community.
All of this community development has led him to a place in leadership where he works with multiple service providers on a regular basis and engages with several different forms of government, from mayors to county commissioners, as well as law enforcement. This work has gained national attention through the Presbyterian Church USA.
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More From Season 13: Church Property: Imagining Good Futures
Besides Housing, What Are Other Ideas for Re-Imagining Church Property?
With Rev. Chrisy Ennen