“Congregations don’t just do new things; they learn to do new things.”

— Tim Shapiro, How Your Congregation Learns

What if God is asking the church to learn something new?

The Thriving Initiative acknowledges the cultural changes around us have impacted what it means to be church today but also recognizes that God indeed may be calling the church to not only a new way of being but also to learn something new. About ourselves. About the church. About the community. About God.

In 2021, Seattle Presbytery received an initial Lilly Grant to explore what it means to be a thriving congregation and what it might take to become one. 23 of Seattle presbytery’s 40 congregations have participated in this learning journey and through cohort learning, individual consultations, leadership retreats, and targeted accompaniment, we have arrived 5 years later to the Thriving Initiative 2.0.

In this phase of the discovery, we work primarily church sessions and pastoral leaders as well as community partners. We facilitate session retreats that engage participants to identify both identity and values and then discern where and how God may be leading the congregation to engage in the wider community.

We’ve also developed various resources to support our churches’ work in this area.

What we’ve learned:

  • Congregations learn at different rates. We developed some readiness factors to help assess congregational capacity as well as areas that need focused support and development

  • Learning how to thrive in community is not a program; It’s about culture change. It’s about understanding the congregation’s place as a learning organization alongside community and developing practices and structures to support ongoing learning along with community.

  • Leadership of learning and the culture change involved must be situated in the pastoral leader and governing board of the local congregation. Leaders must develop the capacity to show up as “host not hero”.

  • Learning from and with community cannot happen without proximity to community. Discernment must happen about the community to whom the congregation is called - it isn’t always geographic. Activities and practices developed or reframed to bring the congregation proximate to community.

  • Learning congregations exhibit common markers: Identity and values are understood, constantly assessed and clarified/transformed as community is engaged; leaderships takes ownership and knows how to facilitate the learning process, transformative community connection is apparent throughout congregational life; and a culture of learning and experimentation, and a willingness to fail is apparent.

A thriving initiative:

  • Is the development of a community-based learning about the cultural, social challenges faced by the community 

  • Serves and impacts the community outside the congregation and nurtures an ongoing partnership between the church and the community.

The Thriving Process

Relationships are at the heart of a thriving congregation and applying for either an Operations or Initiative grant commits both pastor and session to remain engaged with presbytery staff as part of our shared learning.

This includes: 

1.     Direct and consistent engagement with session and pastor.

  • Presbytery staff will be in relationship with both pastor and session throughout the calendar year to support the ongoing development and implementation of learning practices. Engagement may include attending session meetings, scheduling a session retreat, and/or ongoing accompaniment

2.     Annual reporting of learnings

  • We want to hear what you are learning and discovering. A brief written report outlining the work you have done as a congregation will be due annually. Due the last quarter of the year covered by the grant.

3.     Administrative and financial review.

  • Presbytery staff will ask to review annual financial statements and discuss administrative processes.

4.     Building capacity leadership/administration

  • Opportunities will be provided for developing leadership and administrative skills to strengthen existing leadership teams and nurture new congregational leaders.

Thriving Grants

Learning Grant
A learning grant is designed to assist congregations who are seeking to engage the thriving process through an initial learning process. Max $10k. For up to 3 years. 

Operations Grant
The purpose of the operations grant is to address the challenge of meeting basic operational sustainability (not including capital projects or expenses), while seeking to more deeply engage the thriving process. Congregations who show a budget deficit in 2026 are eligible to apply. The operations grant will cover up to 10% of congregational budget (income or expenses, whichever is least) up to a maximum of $50k. The session must be engaged with the thriving process (see below). One grant per year, for up to three years (provided the above criteria are met). Prior year deficits (2023, 2024 and 2025) and the amount of cash reserves are other factors in determining eligibility. 2026 Operations Grant deadlines are: February 17, July 21, November 17.

Initiative Grant
The purpose of the initiative grant is to promote congregational learning and community connections through a specific learning activity. The initiative may be a current congregational engagement or a new learning activity that supports the church’s engagement with the social and cultural issues of the community. The grant supports up to 20% of the budget (income or expenses whichever is least) up to a maximum of $75k per year for up to 2 years; and up to 10% of the budget (maximum of $50k) in the 3rd year. The session must be engaged with the thriving process. 

Please contact grants@seattlepresbytery.org for more information and a grant application.