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The �Ļ�ӰԺ Center for Thriving Communities officially launched with its first retreat in August 2022, and it’s off to a strong start. Enthusiastic participants already see progress toward the goal: strengthening Christian congregations by paying attention to what God is doing in the world.

This year’s cohort includes pastors and lay people from five churches in California’s Central Coast region. Together, these 30 people from diverse backgrounds and vocations explore how to discern the needs of their congregations and communities.

A $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. backs the program, which features four annual retreats. These events provide a place for teams to “pay attention together to how the Holy Spirit is moving in our neighborhoods and in our churches,” says Aaron Sizer, co-director of the program and director of academic and congregational integration for the Gaede Institute. “We’re privileged to convene communities in new ways. People who don’t usually find themselves in the same room talk together about transformations they dream of for their congregations.”

One pastor in the cohort, Keenan Barber of Moorpark Presbyterian Church, summed up the retreat as a place for “big thoughts being thought about.” Barber laughs and says, “Yes, this sounds a bit like a Dr. Seuss book. But it’s exactly what Thriving Communities allows time for in the lives of busy people.”

The initiative offers participants new tools to handle current challenges for churches. With all the changes resulting from the pandemic, political upheavals and racial tensions, churches find themselves in the midst of new struggles and issues. “Society has thrown so much at people in the last five years,” says Pastor Nick Tortorici from Reality Carpinteria. “There’s so much polarization. Thriving Communities is a great forum for people to exchange ideas about how to live out Christianity in this time of confusion and change.”

Conversational workshops proved successful at the cohort’s first meeting. “During the retreat, participants could see that other churches experience the same struggles and issues,” Tortorici says. “Time spent at the retreat makes it clear we’re all humans together, striving to please Jesus and work in our communities.”

One retreat exercise asked participants to walk, observantly and conversationally, through some familiar blocks of downtown Santa Barbara. Following dinner at �Ļ�ӰԺ’s new building at 29 West Anapamu, Jeff Shaffer of Kingdom Causes Inc. challenged small groups to explore the neighborhood with new questions: Who do you think feels welcome or excluded in this neighborhood? What kinds of things are being sold, and who is buying them? Why is each person you see on State Street tonight? The 45-minute walk helped participants focus on things they might normally take for granted and inspired some of them to adapt the exercise for their own churches and neighborhoods.

Pastors noted the cohort’s enthusiasm for Thriving Communities, with those attending speaking excitedly on the ride home from �Ļ�ӰԺ. One church is sharing what its team learned with the entire congregation. Inspired by the first retreat, Moorpark Presbyterian Church is starting Sunday Suppers once a month at the church. Open to all, these gatherings provide a place to meet, eat and engage in their own versions of activities from the retreat.

“Thriving Communities is a catalyst, says Barber. “It allows church groups to be intentional about drawing the congregation into the process. It feels like a huge gift that comes just at the right time.”