A SHARED HOPE IN GOD’S SHALOM
Seeking to bear witness to the non-violent way of the cross
WHO WE ARE
A community of Christians who have found life-giving friendship through a shared hope in the vision of God’s good shalom. From across the ecclesial spectrum we gather virtually and in person, supporting each other and our communities in the beautiful, vexing, imperfect work of bearing witness to the non-violent way of the Cross. Together as members of Christ’s borderless body, and committed to our own conversion and to unlearning habits of domination, we find courage to profess our unwillingness to be at home in structures and systems rooted in the economics of scarcity and the politics of fear.
WHAT HOLDS US TOGETHER
Solidarity
While we hope, we also grieve, in solidarity with each other and our vulnerable neighbors, the present state of the church: its compromises with capitalism, nationalism, and vacuous religiosity. Our grief tempts us to despair. But in friendship and in seeking Christ in word and sacrament and local, embodied community, we trust the Spirit’s power to redeem and transform.
We acknowledge that many of us experience loneliness, even ecclesial homelessness, in the places where we live and worship. The Ekklesia Project is a safe space to name and process such experiences and to find a gracious, knowing welcome.
Practical Resources
For over twenty years, the EP has sought to provide practical resources for pastors and laypersons seeking to be faithful to the way of Jesus: written materials and personnel support for congregational formation, pamphlets on a variety of topics, and a lectionary-based blog. In the coming months, these long-standing resources will be supplemented with digital forms of support like podcasts, webinars, and in-person and online affinity groups interested in conversations around racism, climate change, and more.
Seeing Each Other’s Faces
When we gather in person each summer or meet virtually for prayer or conversation, it is in seeing each other’s faces that we are reminded of our unusual constituencies: pastors, laypersons, scholars, and students, each of whose vocations are informed and encouraged by the friendships we share and the commitments we hold in common.
WHAT WE CARE ABOUT
“Christ’s life, death and resurrection show me God cares about our bodies, lives, histories and stories. Embodying God’s radical solidarity through abolition, dismantling racial capitalism, the rejection of supremacies of every kind and care for our world deeply and boldly witness to the world as God would have it. I am so grateful to participate in God’s work within a community. This is where we practice hope that the world God has promised will someday be.”
Lindsey Long Joyce
“I care about God’s possibilities for the world expressed in the church. As wounded and wounding as the church is, as much hurt as it’s caused and damage it’s done, I still believe the church is the best thing since sliced bread. I grew up outside of the church, and when as a young adult I discovered it, I fell in love with its vision, politics, and people. Ekklesia Project reminds me of all that. EP’s mission of loving the church carries forth not, say, in willful ignorance of that wounding, hurt, and damage, but in, and as, full acknowledgment of them, ‘Here in this sliced bread is God’s body given for the world.’”
Jonathan Tran
“As a person of faith living and working with a community of believers on Indianapolis’ eastside, I believe welcoming the stranger, building reconciliation, and promoting peace are essential to walking the path of Christ. What builds the Kingdom of God in my context may look different for another community, and so I embrace the opportunity Ekklesia Project provides to meet and build relationships with our sisters and brothers in Christ. Participating with EP has brought lifelong friends into my life and provided a more wholistic view of faith, work, politics, justice, and what it means to create a better world.”
Patrick Lines
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
If you sense that the Ekklesia Project might be a group of friends you didn’t know you had, reach out! We want to get to know you, too.