Any community throughout our nation will most likely have a gas station, a grocery store, a post office, and a church. In some communities there are multiple churches within a two or three block space. In our cultural moment this is not always a celebrated thing. The buildings take up a large footprint, they might only provide a service on Sundays, they don't pay property tax, and there might be emotional baggage carried by citizens of our towns. We must all realize that churches and church buildings aren't going anywhere. Our communities and our churches need to realize that they can be extremely valuable resources for the work that communities are trying to improve downtown districts and residential neighborhoods.
I come to PDC with a BA in Biblical Studies and a Master of Divinity and have extensive experience within the church world. I personally love the idea of good healthy churches in our downtown areas, and I hope to show those who might disagree just how good it could be. I have seen larger churches filled to the brim with people on Sunday mornings, running a top-notch coffee shop outsourcing high quality roasts during the week, and even purchasing an old event space and art studio to help develop community, not just amongst the church goers, but also with the neighborhood that they were in. I have seen small churches with large endowments have established food banks and good social welfare resources. I have seen medium-sized, new churches provide a PTO for a local elementary school that did not have one, host block parties each year, and build relationships with individuals in the community who just need to have a good cup of coffee and a heartfelt conversation. The point that I try to make with these statements is to show that our organizations and churches are not always so different. We are both concerned with people and places. We both want to see change and bring improvement to the communities we are in and the people that we interact with.
I recently spoke with an individual who works in one of our communities and this individual stated that there are churches everywhere, but there was not much, if any, involvement on the part of the churches and this individual was unsure of how to change this. Here is the advice I offered.
Churches and organizations like ours are not so different. Churches want to get people in their doors, they care about community development, healthy spaces, and seeing improvement in the places they live, eat, go for fun, and participate in growing relationships. Our organizations are focused on the ever-shifting climate and how we can best help our communities to react to that change. We are focused on bringing businesses to our downtown districts, improving residential neighborhoods, changing the streetscape and façade improvements. We are focused on economic improvement, structural improvement, and community development. We are focused on these things because we believe that an improvement in these areas will result in the improvement of the lives of the people in our communities. Churches do each of these things because they believe that they will improve the lives of the individuals in their communities. So, one might ask the question, where do we start?
The place to start is to develop a relationship, develop trust, and get to know one another as fellow humans. Prior to March of 2022, I was unaware that Pennsylvania Downtown Center existed and believed that community planning, revitalization, and other similar work was reserved for individuals with specific college degrees. Now that I am dipping my toes into the work, I see so many similarities between the two places and would urge the place to start can be as simple as sitting down over a cup of coffee or a lunch and establishing a relationship. Share the vision that your organization has and talk with church leaders about where you see their church coming into that vision. Talk about community festivals, beautification projects, business leadership, volunteering. Start small and ask them to help with a small event and see where it goes from there.
We live in a society that is fractured and seemingly falling apart. In the last decade one has seen many events that continue to split people and cause divisions in our communities. I believe that religion does not separate us as much as certain sources might lead us to believe. If both parties can look past these differences, I believe that we can partner together to create beautiful, vibrant communities that are for the good of all who might venture down our streets.