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As parishes struggle with spiraling costs and shrinking budgets, they have undoubtedly tried many ways to restore vigor, financial health and crumbling buildings. Often those attempts fail, yet somehow parishes find a way to persevere and prevail. We work with congregations who have turned failure and fear into new, vital ways of being "church." We hope those failures and triumphs will inspire other parishes in their process of discovery.

We would love to have your stories to share. Please let us know how you "failed" and how you are turning failure into bold new ministries in your community. We would love to feature those stories below.

Please email your stories to Sally O'Brien.

Your Stories

Building Loans That Make A Difference

St. David's Church, Cranbury, New Jersey

"This organization understands non-profits and stood by us as if their goal was our goal," explains Tim Doutt, treasurer at St. David's Church in Cranbury, New Jersey. By 2006, parish leadership recognized the need for a physical expansion of the church's social hall to accommodate the three congregations meeting on the campus. Tim explains that St. David's was renting its space to three different groups--a Syriac Orthodox church, a Hispanic evangelical church that was using the space for worship on weeknights, and approximately ten to twelve self-help groups. According to Tim, "we were practically tripping over each other."

The first step for the parish was to launch a capital pledging campaign. However, it became clear very quickly that this would only cover a portion of the project, and that leadership needed to begin looking to commercial banks for funding. In so doing, the parish discovered the tenuous relationship that commercial banks have with non-profit organizations. "They don't seem to see things for what they are in a non-profit community," explains Tim. "We felt "discredited" because they don't look like a corporation." Ultimately, St. David's did manage to secure funding from a local bank, but even then it was apparent that the allocated funds would not go the full distance to help complete the project.

Things began to change as soon as St. David's rector Karin Mitchell made contact with the Episcopal Church Building Fund. According to Tim, "The ECBF was the catalyst that made this project happen." After securing an initial loan with the ECBF, the path to completion of the project became clearer and simpler for both St. David's and the commercial bank. Once the loan with the ECBF was secured, the parish had more leverage with the commercial bank as it was in a position to use its own funds first, then funds secured from the ECBF, and only thereafter would funds from the commercial bank be used.

During the construction of the new social hall, the parish ran into some overruns while trying to aggressively pay back the principal to the ECBF. Consequently, the ECBF restructured the loan, reacting "as graciously and equitably as it did for our original loan." This put St. David's back in a position to complete the project and finish with a comfortable reserve.

"Our common space is now designed in a way that dramatically increases our space and capabilities," Tim explains. "Now, not only are we in a position to serve other congregations in the community, but we're also meeting our own needs much more effectively."

St.Stephen's - San Jose, California

"The neighborhood is buzzing with the news that we have a great pre-school here," explains the Rev. Ken Wratten, rector of St. Stephen's in-the-Field in San Jose, California. As he was making these comments, students from the local neighborhood were attending "meet the teacher" day in classrooms that were created using funds from a loan through the ECBF.

Ken arrived at St. Stephen's in-the-Field in 2002 with the charge to move this particular faith community from a diocesan mission into a thriving parish with a strong connection to the local community. As he explained, entering this phase first required the mission to clearly define who they were as a faith community.

For a long time, St. Stephen's in-the-Field's identity was closely connected to its role as the home of a parish pre-school that was first in existence 30 years ago. However, as Ken explained, the preschool moved off site approximately 15 years ago and eventually became an independent secular school with no connection to the Episcopal Church. This school closed its doors four years ago, around the same time that St. Stephen's in the field became a parish. Because of this history, Ken determined that reclaiming the preschool would allow the faith community to complete its identity and move into the next phase of its life as an established parish.

Ken explained that this transformation required capital that the new parish did not have. It was at this point that Ken turned to the ECBF. "The ECBF was immediately a gung-ho supporter of the objective and saw this as exactly what they wanted the church building fund to do, Ken explains." Ken also describes the loan application process as being "quick and painless."

Ken explains that as a result of this transformation, St. Stephen's in-the-Field is no longer just a "place to come and have a nice Christmas Eve service," but rather a place for children in the community to come and prepare for their educational career in a Christian environment. Citing additional positive outcomes, Ken explains that not only does the preschool help to support his parish financially, but it has also become a good example of parish growth for other parishes in the diocese.

Now in its fourth year, the preschool has grown from six to seventeen students. Ken expects growth to continue this fall.