Congregational and Community Engagement
The United Church of Christ is strong because of its local congregations. The Minister for Congregational and Community Engagement is a part of the Faith Education, Innovation, Formation (FaithINFO) team and our work is to support congregations in programmatic, visionary, and strategic work that moves us towards faithfulness and vitality in intergenerational community. If you are interested in learning more about how our team and/or Rev. ellie hutchison can help resource your congregation and community centered in Justice and Love, please send us an email.
Ecosystem of Partners
The below organizations are trusted collaborative partners in expanding the capacity to resource and equip our churches and the communities they serve with comprehensive and multidimensional tools of faith-based community building along with opportunities to cultivate a skillset to be engaged in cultural and/or community faith-based organizing.
We are called to gather and nurture congregational and community leaders across different church settings to expand capacity and build community and resilience. Please click on the links below to learn more about what each partner can offer and/or reach out to Rev. ellie hutchison for more information or to dream new collaborative opportunities.
The STAR Coalition
The Small Town and Rural Church (STAR) Coalition brings together leaders and congregations from small and rural settings to share their collective wisdom, strength, and creativity. These churches face unique challenges, but they also carry deep traditions of resilience, hospitality, and innovation. The Coalition lifts up these gifts, offering a space where experiences are shared, strategies are exchanged, and voices from small places shape the wider church.
Liberating Lineages Collective
Liberating Lineages Collective nurtures and equips leaders and communities for spiritually-rooted organizing. They aim to dismantle the systems of white Christian dominance and to contribute to movements that create a world rooted in safety, care, and abundance where all can flourish.
Eden’s Center for Lived Faith and Organizing
The Center for Lived Faith and Organizing educates, trains, and connects leaders with local and regional partners for long-term and sustainable ministry in organizing and justice work. The Center supports congregations, justice seeking community members, clergy and students.
A new 2026/2027 scholarship program has launched between FaithINFO and Eden Seminary’s CFLO and Walker Leadership Institute. This new educational partnership brings progressive seminary-grade education to your organization or congregation. It combines learning resources across a variety of non-credit programs and formats. As a listener of the Nurture the Soul webinars, you have access register and explore some of the programs you heard about on the webinar. Check out Eden’s website and look for Congregations and Organizations at the top of the home page. You can take 25% off any program listed from the Walker Leadership Institute, the Center for Lived Faith and Organizing, the Ministry Cohorts, the End-0f-Life Doula Certificate, or NEXT Steps. Select the program you’re interested in and use code nts25off at check out.
Nurture the Soul
Nurture the Soul is a weekly webinar series that provides our local churches and faith practitioners with a multitude of practical, educational, innovative, and formational resources to engage with the critical topics facing our communities right now. This webinar centers curiosity and care towards a collective liberation for all of God’s Creation. We feature guest theologians, preachers, authors, community members, cultural artists and thought leaders to delve deeply into topics that help us live into a Gospel that is alive at this time. View the complete Nurture the Soul playlist on YouTube.
If you are interested in participating or have an idea of a topic you’d like to see, please feel free to reach out Rev. ellie hutchison, the host for the Nurture the Soul series.
More About Our Team and Work
FaithINFO
Faith, Education, Innovation and Formation is a part of the Love of Church at the National Ministries setting.
For more information, please visit our website.
Manual on Local Church
The Manual on Local Church seeks to provide tools to fulfill the mission that the United Church of Christ has proclaimed in faith. The Marks of Faithful and Vital Local Churches is a tool for discernment and assessment created especially for use by local churches, Committees on Ministry, and authorized ministers. The Marks of Faithful and Vital Local Churches in the UCC strive to describe the combination of practices, attitudes, and attributes that foster vitality in faith communities in the United Church of Christ.