An Investment in the Local Parish
The Center for Ecological Regeneration helps create a “Cathedral for All Creation.”
Through the work of our faculty, the Garrett Collective, and our centers and institutes, Garrett contributes to hundreds of congregations each year. Your support through the Garrett Fund offers resources to expand their ministries, identifying congregations at pivotal junctures and increasing pastors’ and lay leaders’ capacity for change.
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minnesota showcases this work’s transformative potential. Located in the heart Minneapolis, HAUMC and its surrounding community were powerfully affected by last year’s ICE raids, rocked by the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In response, HAUMC become a local convener, a place for activists to organize and rest, offering healing for a fractured people. After a vigil for prayer and song, the church was featured on CNN as an example of church having a profound social impact—laboring for wholeness in a time of trauma.
This kind of swift response to pressing needs doesn’t happen by accident. It is the sign of a congregation with deep ties among its members, a community that has built muscles for doing difficult but crucial work. For the past two years, Garrett has been honored to partner with the congregation, designing educational series and programs that weave the social fabric tighter. “Garrett is a crucial partner in equipping leaders for ministry in context,” reflects lead pastor Rev. Elizabeth Macauley, after witnessing how our Center for Ecological Regeneration (CER) ignited passion and relationships within her church.
“My circle of people at church easily doubled in size,” said one lay member, interviewed as the first year of programming concluded. “If all we do is worry about the future and feel like we’re doomed, it’s almost impossible to move forward with any action,” reflected another. “You have to believe you can make a difference.”
This perspective shift has produced dynamic results. Some of the changes are visible and ongoing, like the community garden the congregation is now tending. Others are nascent and far-reaching, like plans to increase the church’s sustainability and mindfully build relationships with local indigenous groups. This spring, a packed summit brought regional attention as the church gathered congregants and community members together to learn from leaders like ecotheologian Matthew Fox, Lakota storyteller Kelly Sherman-Conroy, and MacArthur fellow Will Allen.
But the benefits of Garrett’s partnership with local congregation extend far beyond what headlines can capture. The expanded capacity your giving enables helps us nurture relationships and increase social impact in a thousand more quotidian ways. Whether it’s a pastor whose burden becomes just a little bit lighter, a leader who finds empowerment in our Laity Discernment Cohort, or a model for a social impact ministry that a congregation replicates, love and wisdom ripple outward into a world that needs them both.
“One of the key roles of any congregation is identifying and supporting leaders in the movement,” Rev. Macaulay says. “Garrett and Hennepin share a mutual desire to cultivate reverence, resistance, and repair. Through moving our church to claim our responsibility to be Cathedral for All Creation we are witnessing for ecojustice and an awareness of the sacred nature of Creation.” Working as a paradigmatic parish model for work they hope to replicate in churches across the Center’s Mid-West Bioregional Hub, CER Director Rev. Dr. Timothy Eberhart and Garrett Vice President Rev. Becky Eberhart guided members through two years of instruction and discernment, as the church reflected on how to be better ecological stewards and work for holistic regeneration.
When the Call Keeps Coming
Becca Baughman (MDiv) is following where the Spirit leads.