The Church Lab Annual Report 2023

THE CHURCH LAB ANNUAL REPORT 2023

Celebrating

10 Years

and Counting!

FOR THE FUTURE OF FAITH PRACTICE

TCL'S MISSION IS TO EXPLORE INNOVATIVE PATHS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH FOR ALL, DISCOVERING THE CHURCH'S FUTURE AND THE FUTURE OF FAITH PRACTICE. A GLANCE AT TCL OVER THE YEARS:

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Thank YOU for defining who TCL is by being who YOU are, together. We especially celebrate your prayers, participation, resources, time, energy, generosity that have made it possible to reach our mission!

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HOW WE WORK The Church Lab experiments with meeting spiritual needs in effective, meaningful ways.

As we learn from our experiments, we walk with other leaders, helping them take meaningful experimental risks in line with their call to service. As we learn lessons that can benefit our communities, we eagerly offer our service.

Most notably this involves helping others gather tools for bridge building in a culture era of great division.

In all we do for the future of faith practice, we most highly value depth and nuance in one’s spiritual life.

Our central experiment to pursue this is through sustained, small group interfaith dialogue facilitated by a pastoral facilitator.

We meet biweekly for interfaith dialogue. Beyond this, we share opportunities for local and global service/mission, creative worship experiments, discipleship for participating Christians and substantive community building as a response to division, disconnection and the loneliness epidemic.

We believe long-term small groups are key to a receipt for transformative growth in our lives, so we stick to that model in just about all we do.

Besides group work, individual pastoral care is offered to anyone, no matter what one’s beliefs are, with no strings attached.

There are folks who identify with many faiths, or no faith at all, or who are not sure what they believe, that find this informal, small community process as a beautiful way to ask questions and explore one’s evolving convictions in a safe, encouraging dialogical space.

Then we take all our leaps of faith, our failing up and our learning's lessons, and we share them with others who want to try experiments with good lab partners. We do this by pastorally facilitating pastors' cohorts, lay leaders' cohorts, community discernment retreats, trainings, workshops, and specialized consulting projects.

We need you to keep up this vital work!

Together, we are finding the future of faith practice for any who seek it.

Amen.

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There is no fear in love.

But perfect love drives out fear.

1 John 4:18a

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WEwe ARE POWERED BY generosity GENEROSITY are powered by While our affordable consulting work helps us do ministry full-time, our operational budget is powered by your generosity exclusively.

It is run entirely off donations! You can ALWAYS give online at thechurchlab.org.

Our most impactful giving is through monthly pledging.

To become a monthly or annual partner, visit thechurchlab.org and scroll to the giving section. It is easy to give online, and you can set up recurring donations there!

We ask for 3-year pledge commitments where possible, as this helps us minimize ministry time used for continuous fundraising tasks. We are thrilled for 1-year commitments, if donors are more comfortable with this or any other donor-chosen timeframe. Please email carrie@thechurchlab.org to let us know the timeframe of your commitment.

Website: thechurchlab.org *Sign up for weekly mailchimp updates and calls for dialogue RSVP’s by signing up at the bottom of our homepage: thechurchlab.org.

Facebook: facebook.com/thechurchlab / Instagram or twitter: @thechurchlab Email: Rev. Carrie Graham, founding pastor: carrie@thechurchlab.org 6

The Church Lab’s Experiments Over the Years more than 200 interreligious dialogue secret shopping projects for church communities

sessions and counting!

Facilitators' Training

Community Partnership with Decker United Methodist Church Volunteer Saturdays at

Community village first!

Pandemic Pan Pal dog church community care backward Bible study

giving away 10% of our budget

dog church joint tcl christmas eve sercvice Chortle discipleship Sunday small group Christian house worship with decker Chortle karaoke and leadership development Family Portraits for Hurricane Harvey Victims umc in their history sanctuary interfaith dialoguers' panel event at a World Religions class in South Austin Post-Harvey Classroom Buddy Pen Pal and Supply Support partnering with The Ministry Collaborative Interfaith group trip to provide supplies to offer a continuity pastors' cohort for and help families ruined homes those with whomdemolish Pastor Carrie had chortle from Hurricane Harvey and during the facilitated for before discipleship interfaith dialoguers' panel event at a World pandemic Religions class in South Austin

Advent Conspiracy: sharing stories of non-profits impacting our worlds

digital resource for navigating faith and money challenges during the pandemic

Chortle karaoke and leadership development

interreligious labyrinth meetings

Interfaith group trip Classroom Buddy Pen Pal and Supply Support to provide supplies and help families demolish ruined backward bible study Family Portraits homes from Hurricane Harvey establishing a youtube channel with for Hurricane emergency interfaith vigil template by Ollie Jarvis during the pandemic

Harvey Victims Post-Harvey

interfaith dialoguers and facilitators interviewing one another, as well as youtube TCL testimonials

long-term "Who will we be next?" partnership with Madison Square Presbyterian Church of San Antonio, Texas

Lab Partners subscription service for pastors and their churches

interfaith-friendly Maundy Thursday community service / establishing a training path for official house service / online service over TCL pastoral facilitators Navigating Divisive Conversations Workshop the years partnership

with

therapists

to

establish

affordable

group treatment for pastors

TCL dialoguers' field trips to various faith communities

partnering Texas Impact to help 11 churches across the state of Texas through our Reimagining Service offerings during the pandemic

movie and discussion nights Pastor Carrie, Ollie Jarvis, Andrea training for therapists on how to care for Carroll coordinate and manage weekly pastors when treating them newsletter "Doing Good" blocks

Community-contributed blogs

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development of the Future of Church workshop

regional pastors' cohort

Ollie Jarvis and Rev. Carrie Graham colong-term "What's next for us?" facilitation of large group adaption for a weekend partnership with University of navigating divisive conversations training for an inter-religious group of college students and Presbyterian Church of Austin adult church participants in Utah, with Ollie Jarvis giving a sermon as the event's culmination various post-pandemic workshops, consultations and retreats for worshiping communities exploring resilience and evolution for themselves and their communities

volunteer Saturdays with Casa Marianella Pastor Carrie's social media / blog reflections on theology, life and faith intern-developed "Bramble" avatar online worship and gathering possibilities

partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary to launch our SpirEnt seminarian's cohort for those who are called to non-traditional ministry

introducing Theology Nerd Nights 10th Anniversary Celebration: mural collaboration, hybrid participation, raffle of books and fun, potluck, storysharing, photos and more

working on 2 book projects to share more widely about our lessons learned regarding bridging divides through dialogue and in the pursuit of sustainable, whole-hearted nontraditional ministry in service to the future of faith practice TCL closed support groups for those experiencing significant transition

launching our Empowering Experiments mini-grant program to empower those with innovative ministry ideas to gain resources and supportive connections for their ideas

no-strings attached pastoral care for any who want it

TCL internships through Fuller Theological Seminary, Iliff School of Theology and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

TCL pastoral assistantships for those interested in pursuing non-traditional ministry as a long-term calling

upcoming: spring 2024 monthly social nights: come with questions, come to connect, come as you are

help without red tape or condition for individuals in need who approach us board of director "salons" for substantive conversation and connection; prototype for TCL group graduates

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partnership with The Ministry Collaborative to launch The Church Lab's TCL regional pastors' cohort

Traditions at TCL Dialogue Over the Years spiritual but not religious

Buddhist

non-identifying/seekers

secular humanist Jewish Ahmadiyya Mainline Protestant Muslim Pagan

baha’i

Atheist

Evangelical Christian

Agnostic

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Catholic

Shia Muslim

Mystic

Jesus Followers

“Christian-ish”

Sunni Muslim

Churches TCL Has Served Through Pastors' Cohorts, Retreats, Consulting Projects and Our Reimagining Service Projects University of Presbyterian Church of Austin First Presbyterian Church of Logan, Utah

Christ Lutheran Church of Georgetown

Shorter Chapel American Methodist Episcopal of Giddings

Divine Redeemer of San Antonio (PCUSA)

Dripping Springs Presbyterian Church Madison Square Presbyterian Church of San Antonio First Presbyterian Church

University Baptist Church of Austin

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church of Marble Falls

Raven's Nest of Austin

of Elgin (Texas)

Highland Park Church of Austin

Hope Presbyterian Church of Austin

Bells United Madison Square Presbyterian Methodist Church Church of San Antonio

Shepherd of the Hills Church in South Austin (PCUSA)

Faith United Methodist Church of Spring

Round Rock Presbyterian Church

Covenant Presbyterian Church of Staunton, Virginia

St. John's Presbyterian of South Austin

1st Presbyterian Church of Austin

Central Christian Church of Austin

2nd Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, Illinois

Friedens United Church of Christ

New Life Lutheran Church in Dripping Springs

Boynton Chapel Methodist Church in Houston

Oak Hill United Methodist Church of Austin

Servant Church of Austin

Vox Venaie (non-denominational) 9

Living Word Lutheran Church of Buda

First Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts

TOP 10 LESSONS LEARNED IN 10 YEARS OF THE CHURCH LAB The Church Lab exists to explore innovative paths of spiritual growth for all, discovering the Church's future and the future of faith practice.

So what have we learned about spiritual growth for all during the last decade?

While it is nearly impossible to whittle 10 years down into 10 lessons, here are some highlights of what we've gleaned from our experiments over the years: 1. Inter-religious dialogue in a small group over an extended period of time is a wonderful way to provide a healthy space of spiritual growth for all.

2. The lessons learned and carried out into our respective worlds from said dialogues -especially about bridge building- is a meaningful service to our wider communities, as we experience significant divisions in everyday American life.

3. The dignity of one's spiritual path is important. Environments that nurture growth also demand respect for participants to choose what the best path for their own growth is.

4. Depth and specificity are harder to come by in the world of faith practice, non-institutional or institutional. Yet solid, intentional, and ongoing efforts around commitments to any given belief system offer very rich, important avenues for growth and transformation.

5. Needs shift from year to year. The programs are never as important as the people. Stay attuned to detours the Spirit may be leading and remain loyal to this attunement over and above enduring programs or formats.

6. Be Spirit-led. Commit to it. Check in on how it's going regularly.

7. Trust in God's Provision and the detours involved, both in ministry content and operational structure of a ministry built from the ground up.

8. Supporting others' ministry experiments is a vital part of the future of faith practice, both in funding and in spiritual, emotional and vocational support.

9. Supporting faith leaders and future faith leaders is vital to the future of faith practice. In an era of upheaval and transition for the American religious landscape, investing in equipping and supporting those who will serve as vocational ministers is key.

This is especially because we are defining and/or re-defining what this means as we continue or prepare to serve.

10. It is not sufficient to experiment with ministry content. While experimenting with paths of spiritual growth, we must be experimenting with operational structures which perpetuate the mission of the ministry, rather than backing into a system whose framework works against the viability of the mission itself.

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TCL’S 10TH YEAR MILESTONES We exceeded 200 dialogues and counting!!!

We held a very special 10th Anniversary Celebration!

faith practice. We will invite TCL friends who have valuable insights to offer one another across the experiences represented among our community. We can't wait to see what we learn from this!

We have been exploring our quarterly Theology Nerd Night offering, and how to continue evolving the good format we've discovered here.

In spring 2023, TCL launched its latest pastors'

We welcomed and learned much from guest of honor James Fuller from Friends Meeting of Austin, our neighbors from the Quaker community. The Friends Meeting was gracious enough to welcome me as a forum teacher one Sunday in June as well.

Ministry Collaborative. They meet to provide

We made a late-year shift with Chortle, our long-time discipleship and support group. In early 2024, we will be moving to a new format in which we integrate this purpose with a more loosely structured, regular time to connect socially around town.

We have been delighted to establish a new relationship with Common Ground USA, an organization doing research and extending support around effective peacebuilding in a divisive era, and with an upcoming election season, for the United States. Pastor Carrie was honored to be invited to a small peacebuilder's gathering in Florida to discuss online polarization among other peacebuilders as well as representatives of Meta.

Now that we've reached 10 years of ministry work, we have meaningful relationships with past and current participants alike, both from dialogue group, various events, pastor and lay leader cohorts and more. In 2024 we will be engaging a new experiment to offer quarterly salons in which we curate evenings to talk about specific angles of the future of 11

cohort! This is a 2-3 year regional-to-Central-Texas, interdenominational (Protestant) pastors' cohort, facilitated with the support and partnership of The connection, support and continue to add tools to their 21st Century ministry toolbox as we find ourselves as vocational ministers serving in a transitional era of the religious landscape.

TCL’S 10TH YEAR MILESTONES In fall 2023, TCL launched its first seminarian

We have been nurturing existing partnerships

cohort: SpirEnt, for "spiritual entrepreneurship."

and expanding into new networks to help

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Helsel and Austin Presbyterian

broaden our reach, expand our community

Theological Seminary have partnered with The

connection and create possibilities for

Church Lab to provide a TCL-designed cohort

partnerships that benefit our community even

experience for future faith leaders who feel

more meaningfully going into the future. This

called to innovative, non-traditional forms of

includes involvement with the following

ministry. This cohort will culminate, among other

organizations and/or their programming:

things, with a co-taught class by Rev. Dr. Helsel

One Voice Central Texas

and Pastor Carrie in Spring 2025.

Austin Community College: Center For Nonprofit Studies Peer Learning Circles

TCL had its first half-time pastoral assistant as a

Amplify Austin, and coming in early 2024: I

vital experiment over the summer of 2023. While

Live Here I Give Here!

TCL has had more limited or short-term forms of

continued involvement with Mission Capital

help over time, our growth has reached a place

and Leadership Austin

where it is not sustainable for Pastor Carrie to bear the workload on her own. Jillian Shannon

An ongoing lesson continues to unfold around

was our summer assistant, and she was amazing!

how to navigate deepening a hybrid community.

TCL immediately benefited from her presence

Our hybrid nature pre-dated the pandemic, but

and work.

the pandemic introduced new postures toward what it means for participants to focus on

As a result of the experiment with a half-time

online versus in-person connections. The

pastoral assistant this summer, a major focus of

Church Lab is definitely continuing to tinker and

fall fundraising and grant applications is going

learn what this best looks like for our mission.

toward capacity building. This is a high priority for The Church Lab going into 2024 and beyond.

It's a pleasant challenge to have, to need help to cover all the exciting work we are honored to pursue!

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DIALOGUES “I love TCL because I believe that we are called by God to be in relationship with people, even our enemies. Dialogue is a place where my ’others’ become friends, where my walls are broken down.” - Sarah Shannon-Wildt Every two weeks, a group of 6-10 people gather from the 4 corners. Among us may be Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Christian, Catholic, Pagan, Ahmadiyya Muslim, Baha’i, Jewish, spiritual-butnot-religious, non-identifying/seekers or humanist perspectives.

Thanks to video chat, even preceding the pandemic, we have become a hybrid local and national community! We have TCL dialoguers, participants and supporters all over the US! This year, we’ve had digital dialoguers -or observers preparing for training- in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., California and Puebla, Mexico.

It is vital for us to have conservative and liberal viewpoints in the room together. At first, dialogues are about education and awareness. As participants see each other again and again, and sincere community becomes possible, our time grows us in increasingly richer ways.

We acknowledge one another’s dignity of experience, we laugh together, even as we approach issues where disagreement is inevitable. We are challenged in our own spiritual lives to reckon with the mutually exclusive angles of our friends’ beliefs with our own. Our prayer life may change, our perspectives may shift, our ability increases to hold neighbors in love that approach life so differently than us. We inevitably discover a more nuanced faith, and a capacity to extend love in a deeply meaningful way in our current political, cultural, social climate.

WE EXCEEDED 200 DIALOGUES IN 2023!!

This year we’ve engaged the following topics and more: Hoping Against Odds Leaps of Faith, Stewards of Reality Parallels and Differences Family: Definitions of Faith Dash facilitates: Passing Down Our Stories Artificial Intelligence and Our Faith Incarceration Caregiving Movies/Shows and Our Faith Eileen Spotlight: conservative Christian James Fuller spotlight: Quaker community Resilience and Faith Inclusion and Exclusion in Our Faith Practice Gossip Organized Religion 1st and 2nd Generation Immigrant Neighbors 13

SPECIAL EVENTS AND COMMUNITY CARE The inevitable result of spiritual groundedness? Of exploring faith intentionally?

LOVE-IN-ACTION.

Our 2023 special events and community care opportunities have included: twice volunteering at Austin's own Casa Marianella, a shelter which provides services to displaced immigrants. rallying our community to support the needs of various causes, particularly of immigrant neighbors on the Texas-Mexico border, often coordinated with our friends at Fellowship Southwest providing rental assistance to a family in need providing space for listening care and sending gift cards to those directly impacted by the Israel-Hamas tragedies and conflict helping connect pastors to a respite space provided by our friends at Community First!

Village meeting with Common Ground USA staffers to help with research around peacebuilding in our culture participating in a Common Ground USA mini-gathering of peacebuilding leaders to discuss concerns and approaches to aid with online polarization

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WALKING WITH LEADERS When we are not doing experiments in our own lab, we take what we’ve gleaned from experimental ministry and walk with other leaders as they try their own. We emphasize supporting bold, faithful risk-taking which perpetuates a given faith community's mission. We lift up faith leaders to explore sustainable, deeply connected ministry lifestyles to support the bold efforts for which this era of transition calls.

The consulting arm of our ministry is self-sustaining through contracts,grants and partnerships.

Here are our 2023 highlights from doing so: 5-year cohort finished its tenure, transitioned into participant-led "graduate" meetings every other month A new pastors' cohort launched, in partnership with The Ministry Collaborative A new seminarians' cohort called SpirEnt launched, in partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. This group is for students interested in spiritual entrepreneurship and non-traditional ministry.

Are you a faith leader interested in working with us?

We offer a menu of possibilities.

Learn more at thechurchlab.org/leadership-development Future of Church workshop Secret Shopping Insights Financial Consulting and Coaching for Systems and Individuals: Match your Theology to Your Budget Discernment Process: Who Will We Be Next?

Contextualized Projects to Your Curiosities!

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EMPOWERING LEADERS’ EXPERIMENTS TCL'S 2ND ANNUAL MINI-GRANT PROGRAM LAUNCH! We understand there are many non-traditional ministers, of all shapes and sizes out there, who don't have funding or meaningful support to answer their calling and try the experiments that could define the future of faith practice. Too often we experiment in silos.

As both an experimental organization and a community built to support experimentation for the future of faith practice, in 2022 we began harnessing part of our own tithing funds to launch TCL's inaugural Empowering Experiments mini-grant program! We are thrilled to build connections, support and provide modest funding to kindred spirits who are devoted to meaningful experimentation for spiritual growth.

We had a number of strong applicants whose calling, ideas and pursuits gave us reason to celebrate the great work and potential work for the future of faith practice. This year our applicants nearly tripled!

The following is this year's grant recipient. We are excited for this partnership, and for all applicants who wish, we are excited to connect further and more meaningfully from here, so we may lift up the great work that vital non-traditional ministries - and their ministers - are pursuing!

IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE!: A Roll For Spirituality Training Program

GRANT RECIPIENT: RYAN CAGLE

"Roll for Spirituality is an experiment that seeks to cultivate a space for self discovery and spiritual exploration outside the bounds of normative religious institutions and dogma. In this space individuals can safely explore new worlds, beliefs, ideas, face challenges, learn to solve problems, and explore deep truths about themselves, the world, and God through the medium of tabletop role playing games.

It’s Dangerous to Go Alone! will directly serve a diverse group of ministers, spiritual directors, and chaplains as it seeks to train them in the innovative work being done at these intersections.

It will in turn indirectly serve the people impacted by the ministry and labor of those who participate in the cohort training program. My hope is that it will build on the work I have already established by serving those who may find it difficult to safely, for any number of reasons, undergo the deep reflective work of self-discovery and spiritual exploration inside the bounds of normative religious institutions and the confines of a tradition’s particular doctrine and dogma. By equipping others to use role-playing games alongside the tools of spiritual direction, I hope to seed more spaces that enable individuals the freedom and safety to participate in deep reflective work and spiritual exploration in fresh ways."

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PASTORAL CARE AND DISCIPLESHIP PASTORAL CARE:

Because The Church Lab runs off donations, rather than members that pay fees, those donations free us up to offer care to all. No strings attached. By this measure, The Church Lab is a community-invested system, more and more deeply over time. We offer care to anyone that needs a listening ear, or has big questions about spiritual life, no matter their background or beliefs. This is a vital practice as a structural experiment that keeps pastoral care from being restricted in any capacity, since increasingly those that need care do not have a spiritual home/institution.

DISCIPLESHIP:

For Christians in TCL's community, we have long offered a small monthly gathering for Christian discipleship. We find our dialogue community can healthily sharpen the specificities and roots of our faith, so we get together and talk about how we're growing into a deeper relationship with God from a Christian perspective. We reflect on how our reflections intersect with daily decisions and behaviors. Our weekly question is "...and where is God in all this?!"

Many folks who participate in TCL's community have their own worshiping communities, across various belief systems. Some claim TCL as their primary church family. Discipleship is a particularly great place to be if TCL is both your primary interfaith and Christian family.

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THE CHURCH LAB’S GEOGRAPHIC REACH The Church Lab community is anchored in Austin, though we have beloved participants and supporters from other regions in Texas, as well as from Washington, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania, Utah, Georgia, California, Washington, Puebla City in Mexico, and more!

PARTNERSHIPS The Church Lab is grateful to have shared partnerships with or grants through: The Ministry Collaborative The Baugh Foundation Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Texas Impact The Church Lab and/or Pastor Carrie Graham has participated in programming through: Fellowship Southwest Leadership Austin Austin Community College's NonProfit Peer Learning Circles One Voice Central Texas I Live Here I Give Here 18

PARTNERSHIPS

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2024 PREVIEW

AS WE PREPARE FOR 2024, WE ARE EXCITED TO: develop and offer a workshop to help with division throughout the 2024-25 presidential election season and ongoing geopolitical strife. This workshop, Navigating Divisive Conversations On and Offline, will address in-person and online dynamics, the ways they influence each other, and provide data-backed information exercises with action steps which can be applied toward on svarious teps in o Thanks to our friends at Build Up and Search for Common Ground USA for sharing research to help with portions of this offering! We can‘t wait to launch this timely project. stay attuned and responsive to additional ways we may be able to help our communities bridge divides. continue to prioritize writing as a centrally emerging way of sharing our lessons learned with a wider community. mix in more social connection with discipleship and support: We will merge our monthly Chortle discipleship and support group model to a more loosely structured time of offered social connection. This can involve support and discipleship, as participants request during a given hour together. tinkering with meaningful ways to connect people who have been a part of TCL programming and have since "graduated," but may benefit from periodic connection and mutual learning and support. We will do this in the form of offering quarterly curated "salons" on various topics related to the future of faith practice. prioritization of capacity building efforts to sustainably offer the increase in our activities as we grow while honoring the time, efforts and hearts well those who make this work possible. to continue to develop Theology Nerd Night as a quarterly event for both curious faith practitioners and non-religious neighbors. to continue to nurture core ministries of dialogue, discipleship, worship and mission, and to further equip and empower in-house TCL community participants to keep growing in their ownership, leadership and even in their own experiments.

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FINANCIAL REPORT AND NEEDS We are trying to raise $107,166 for our growing 2024 operations!

This includes all operations and no-strings attached ministry experiments. It does not include the consulting arm of our ministry, which is self-sustaining.

As of Nov 21, we have raised 40% of our goal. Our deadline is Dec 31!

Please consider financial partnership with us!

2024 HOPED-FOR TCL BUDGET Mission 10% of whatever is raised

$10,300.00

Pastor

$41,855.02

Half-time Assistant

$26,000.00

Squarespace

$200.00

Domain Name

$20.00

LGL monthly purchase (donation tracking)

$600.00

Taxes

$700.00

Misc Fees (tax & LGL)

$200.00

Google Suite

$156.00

Zoom Subscription

$165.00

General Liability Insurance

$700.00

Errors and Omissions Insurance

$700.00

General Supplies

$1,000.00

Mission Capital membership

$250.00

MoneyMinder

$238.00

Misc / inflation

$762.00

Discretionary: including meetings or to help with unfulfilled line items as warranted

$2,820.00

BOD Retreat (space, travel help as needed, food)

$1,500.00

Marketing

$5,000.00

Grant writing

$5,000.00

Fundraising officer

$5,000.00

annual report, graphics

$500.00

continuing education

$3,500.00

TOTAL

$107,166.02

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SHOUT OUTS AND PLEDGE INFO THE CHURCH LAB IS A COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOR! THERE ARE STELLAR PEOPLE TO THANK FOR MAKING THIS MINISTRY NOT JUST POSSIBLE, BUT THRIVING! MEGA THANKS TO: 2023: Our donating partners directly make TCL possible, and we are thankful for the ways God weaves our friends’ generosity together to make this endeavor a reality. Thanks be to God for you!

Our beloved dialogue community, who is the heartbeat of The Church Lab. Anyone who participated in the Lab this year, whether in a worship experiment or a training or workshop! We are lucky to get to cross paths with the coolest people on the planet. We are so glad you joined us in the Lab this year.

The Baugh Foundation, of whose endeavors we are proud and humbled to be a part.

Jillian Shannon, our summer pastoral assistant, who made wholehearted ministry for our organization a possibility in a growing season!

Andrea Carroll, our outgoing bookkeeper: We are deeply grateful for her passion and competence, her devotion to and participation in our TCL community.

Ashlyn Traylor, our incoming bookkeeper, who has hopped right into her role and taken the bull by the horns! Welcome and big thank you, Ashlyn!

Natalie Traylor, who keeps our bookkeeping system supported and evolving!

Our new regional pastors' cohort, thanks to the partnership of The Ministry Collaborative!

Our fantastic cohort "graduates" through The Ministry Collaborative, and to The Ministry Collaborative, who made it possible!

Our wonderful board members: Chair Dash Kees, Personnel and Metrics Officer Wendy Cooper, 10year Celebration Chair and Fundraising Co-Chair Andrea Carroll, Fundraising Co-Chair Jenna Pontious and our incoming board member and treasurer Candice Combs!

Our original board members from 2013 have officially all rotated off and moved forward in the ways they express TCL support. They are deeply valued and their contributions' legacy will be felt for years to come: Aaron Karr, Rev. Sabrina Chan, Jenelle D'Alessandro, Stacey Schwenker, Dr. Jen Rosner, Rev. Justin Fung, Rev. Trey Haddon. Sara Burback Lim, Kelly Dunlap and Julie Hagen!

Our third year of Advisory Council: Rev. Matt Gaventa, Dr. Jen Rosner. Your questions, insights, confidence in our capacity and enthusiastic support for our mission means the world.

Our friends over at Fellowship Southwest whose good work is inspiring and whose support is uplifting!

Spiritual director Lucinda Clark, who has been an indispensable source of insight and encouragement throughout this year for Pastor Carrie!

Pastor Carrie has a support system that makes her experimental work possible from behind the scenes, whether by mentors, friends, folks that help her process leadership decisions or simply help her get some rest or play in. She is immensely grateful for those that help her become a better pastor by making sure she is a whole human. Thank God for y’all.

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PLEASE PLEDGE! WE NEED YOU.

WE ABSOLUTELY NEED YOUR GENEROSITY TO BE ABLE TO KEEP UP THIS GOOD WORK!

If you’d like to give a one time donation, we would be so grateful!

You may do so right now, with great ease, at thechurchlab.org.

Monthly pledgers are our most impactful donating partners. To become a pledger, you can also set it up online at thechurchlab.org/give. Please email carrie@thechurchlab.org to let us know if you’re able to commit to a 3-year recurring donation, or another timeframe of your choosing.

We are immensely grateful for your generosity, both in resources, prayers and participation.

We look forward to seeing you in the Lab soon!

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