THE CHURCH LAB ANNUAL REPORT 2024
Seeinsidehow we’readdressing thestateofthe worldinthispostelectionseason.
OUR MISSION
exploring innovative paths of spiritual growth for all
The Church Lab experiments with meeting spiritual needs in effective, meaningful ways. 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. As we learn from our experiments, we walk with present and aspiring 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.
With another high-stakes presidential election and painful conflicts like that of Israel and Gaza, Americans have had no shortage of division this year. We at TCL notice a growing hunger for bridge-building. Because TCL has over a decade of dialogue experience, we feel called to offer our services and share
YOU AREOUR SUNSHINE
TCL NEEDS YOU!
While our affordable consulting work helps us do ministry full-time, our operational budget is powered by your generosity exclusively.
Our most impactful giving is through monthly pledging.
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.
Post-Election Note
We know this election season has left quite a wake for our communities. Some are celebrating. Some are grieving. Some are outraged. Some of our neighbors are afraid for their own safety.
We know this moment may feel like the one to stop any efforts to understand those who voted differently. It may feel like the conversation must be over.
TCL’s concern is that shutting down conversations across difference leads to an alternate route of escalation and violence; a picture far different than the cultural landscape we hope to leave generations beyond our own. To set the stage for a thriving society, the hard work of peacebuilding awaits our commitment.
We know that grief and outrage must be honored. Feelings must be processed. Readiness is crucial. Some will need to wait until their hearts can approach the premise of seeking to understand before being understood again.
We also know that people are at their most manipulable in such states of raw emotion, not only by authorities and systems out for power and themselves, but also on social media and other information sources governed by income-generating ratings. We hope to help such that processing feelings can act as an incubation toward strong and steady spiritual anchoring.
In 2025, TCL is dedicated to helping neighbors on the right and left and elsewhere to continue to practice the powerful model of bridge building, and in so doing, to find more spiritual grounding for the road ahead. We believe practicing with the tools of dialogue can pierce through the sense of hopelessness so many are feeling acutely. We hope our mission, perhaps even our existence, in 2025 will be an encouragement to others such that our communities can be ever more cleareyed, whole-hearted, seated in reality, responsive rather than reactive and prepared to let no one distract the democracy-building pursuit of giving dignity to all humans, regardless of vote.
That is, may we stay the course in the hard work of loving our neighbors as ourselves Knowing no one may rob us of Joy, may we approach this ongoing pursuit with whole hearts.
2024 HIGHLIGHTS
Dialogues
1 2 3 4
We held 20 inter-religious dialogues for those of any or no faith tradition to practice the transformative art of bridge-building across division. Several traditions across a span of geographies gathered biweekly throughout the year, exploring and growing in their spirituality while advancing peacebuilding skills.
First Seminarian Cohort
We completed our first seminarian cohort, exploring the career path of spiritual entrepreneurship. This cohort was conducted over the span of 1.5 years with co-facilitator Dr. Carolyn Helsel through Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
Pastors’ Cohort in South Africa
Thanks to The Ministry Collaborative, our current pastors’ cohort visited South Africa together in September. There, we found spiritual retreat, recuperation, and wisdom from post-apartheid South Africans who taught us about bearing witness to hope, reconciliation and forgiveness within our nation’s systems.
Empowering Experiments Mini-Grant
Our mini-grant program is our way to help people with innovative ministry ideas at a time and in a world that hasn’t sorted out how to sustainably support such vital endeavors! We seek to root on and support grantees however we can, including connecting them to a growing community of fellow innovators!
TCL Preparing to be Published
We are preparing 2 books that would make the decade of experiences and tools gained at The Church Lab now shareable with a wider audience. These books cover transformative dialogue and spiritual entrepreneurship, respectively.
2024: PLANTING SEEDS
After 11 years, TCL isn’t slowing down. In fact, we’re planting seeds for new growth!
While we remain intent on maintaining our small-group, deep-impact model, we are ready to share tools for bridge building as widely as possible. We spent much of 2024 taking steps toward TCL’s expansion so that the tools of dialogue and bridgebuilding may be more accessible than ever before.
New branch for non-religious offerings: BridgeBuilders Lab
Social media promotion for our trainings and workshops
Creation of sharable materials detailing our offerings
Personal networking initiatives
Multiple insightful surveys
New collaborations with seminaries
DIALOGUES 1
Every 2 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-but-not-religious, nonidentifying/seekers and humanist perspectives.
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 rich 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 and social climates.
20 SMALL GROUP DIALOGUES OFFERED THIS YEAR
Persecution
TCL’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!
TCL offerings are available for virtual attendance whenever possible, so no matter who you are or where you are, you are welcome here.
TCL YEAR 11 SNAPSHOTS!
PASTORAL CARE
One of TCL’s longstanding priorities is offering pastoral care to anyone, regardless of belief system. No strings attached.
As folks have existential or spiritual questions, or perhaps simply need support or connection, TCL seeks to be a meaningful presence.
DISCIPLESHIP
Another core offering of TCL is discipleship in the realm of Christianity. For those who are seeking to deepen and mature their Christian practice, we experiment in various ways in how to best support an ever more mature, grounded faith life.
SEMINARY COHORT 2
This year, we completed our first cohort with seminary students! This 1.5 year long cohort was conducted at the invitation of wonderful cofacilitator Dr. Carolyn Helsel with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS). A Trinity Wall Street grant, coordinated by Kenda Creasy Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary, funded the broader initiative.
The objective was to help seminarians who feel compelled to explore a call in innovative spiritual entrepreneurship. The cohort design helps each student discern their own project, refine their mission, understand the logistics of their vision, and set them up for success upon graduation.
“The SpirEnt Cohort has given me a safe space where I can explore the unexplored corners of my call to ministry, allowing the Spirit to show me options that I wouldn’t have considered viable otherwise. It has given me the opportunity to begin forming connections with people who can help me get there and support my discernment process as I figure out where “there” will be.”
Frieda Mottonen
SpirEnt cohort member with APTS, 2024
INVITE TCL TO ADAPT THIS COHORT AT YOUR SCHOOL!
As the landscape of church and faith practice changes, our ministerial callings evolve, too. Students benefit from training on everything from how to start a non-profit to discernment and innovative experimentation. Seminaries can implement our teachings in a few different models: 1.5-2 year cohort or a single semester class. Workshops focusing on singular innovative ministry themes can also be offered.
Below is an example of the benefits and structure of a typical cohort:
S T R U C T U R E
Semester 1: Discernment and Spiritual Sustainability Practices; understanding the potential challenges of pastorship and entrepreneurship and avoiding burn-out; leaning into wholehearted practices for flourishing; familiarizing with the process of ideation and imagination to implementation.
Semester 2: Legalities and Practicalities: Creating a 501(c)3, fundraising, grant writing, strategic plans, marketing and donor relations.
Semester 3: Refining and Pitching: developing the next steps to make each vision a reality.
B E N E F I T S
Life-Long Support
Students gain a unique network of support for pioneers in an emerging field. This will also benefit the process of gaining exposure, finding grants and expanding mission.
Space to Discern and Refine
PASTORS’ COHORT
The Church Lab’s pastors’ cohorts are meant to create a sacred space for support, growth, discernment and healthy risk-taking action. Together, our cohorts of faith leaders seek next steps for our churches in the rapidly evolving 21st century landscape.
The cohorts consist of pastors from varying ministry expressions, denominations and locations who may find themselves or their ministries at a pivotal moment. It can be hard to find support to keep ministry sustainable. We seek to make it not only sustainable but joyful by way of nurturing connection with one another.
“This has been a time that I have been able to plug in creatively, to brainstorm with other creative people and to come up with ideas that I would have never thought of on my own. The Church Lab has had a tremendous impact on me as a leader and as an individual. The name ‘The Church Lab’ is the perfect name for such an organization because it really is a lab where you can tinker and experiment.
Rev. Amy "Amos" Meyer
Pastors’ Cohort in South Africa
Thanks to The Ministry Collaborative, this year TCL's pastors' cohort headed to South Africa with our partner cohort. It was a JOYFUL trip because of the people with whom we traveled, the people who showed us mind bending hospitality, our guides who became friends and generous perspective sharers for all our big questions. We laughed. We wrestled with hard questions about brutal injustice. We learned - and will continue to learn - about how South Africa benefits from the role of acknowledgement of wrongdoing, acknowledgement of dignity of all persons period, and the role of Hope, Grace and Forgiveness that continue to transform their country. We have seen now that the distinctive aspects of being faith leaders is precisely what we need to offer our own country as we serve.
EMPOWERING EXPERIMENTS MINI-GRANT
We’re very excited to announce the recipient of our 2024 Empowering Experiments Mini-Grant!
Listening Like a Spiritual Director
Holly Phillips sees the church landscape changing. The future of the Church, she says, is in spiritual direction. Folks are no longer looking for an authoritarian figure in their
pastor, but a witness to their lives. Her project
“Listening Like a Spiritual Director” helps pastors adopt this new posture. it will take place JanuaryApril 2025, with pastors meeting once per month for a 2-hour workshop, training to listen and lead more like a spiritual director.
BRIDGEBUILDERS’ LAB
We are introducing new nomenclature and a logo for those of our practices that build bridges and build up communities, regardless of interest in spiritual growth. We wish to make it clear to our community that we can help with practical peace building tools, and recognizing the dire and timely need, we want to do all we can to be of help in this regard.
For those who do not identify with a faith practice, and may be turned off by the word “church” in our name, we’ve found a way to introduce those of our tools meant to help all, saving confusion around the word “church” in our overall organization’s name. This logo will now be attached to some of our current practices like our Facilitators’ Training and Navigating Divisive Conversations workshop. If you or someone you know may be interested in these offerings, check out our BridgeBuilders Lab webpage at this address:
thechurchlab.org/bridgebuilders-lab
WORKSHOPS & TRAININGS
We offer Facilitators’ Training as a way to help others start and facilitate dialogues of their own, or to enhance their own skills to hold space for diverse perspectives in daily life, in a classroom, in a small group, etc In 2024, we held 2 day-long trainings, which end with participants earning an official TCL certificate.
Navigating Divisive Conversations is a 2-hour workshop for anyone grappling with how to be a bridge-builder in any and all aspects of life. We held 3 workshops in 2024 and have begun marketing campaigns for more in 2025! We build our wait list year round and schedule workshops on a rolling basis. If you haven’t join one yet, we hope you will in 2025!
Interested in more?
The Future of Church
This is a 2-hour workshop for anyone -whether a faith practitioner, lay leader or faith leader- who would benefit from a broad overview of why people are leaving church and organized religion, and what considerations and possibilities this holds for faith communities going forward.
Supporting Pastors
Upon request, TCL offers a 2-hour workshop for mental health professionals and/or pastors’ support teams: We share what most people don’t know about pastors’ lives and how we can best support them.
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Founding Pastor, Rev. Carrie Graham, MDiv
Pastoral Assistant, Jillian Shannon, MDiv
Bookkeeper, Ashlyn Brown
2024 has been a year stacked with milestones!
We fundraised more than ever before!
TCL received a Baugh Foundation grant to expand and stabilize the pastoral assistant role.
Jillian has freed up Pastor Carrie to be present in her ministry role in an unprecedented, long overdue fashion. Jillian has expanded our marketing, created more sophisticated communication mechanisms and much more!
We welcomed in Iliff students, who used our dialogues as a laboratory for their dialogue class, after Pastor Carrie guest lectured. Big thanks to Dr. Pam Eisenbaum for her partnership!
This year we welcomed 3 new board members and a new Advisory Council member.
We concluded our 1st seminarian cohort on spiritual entrepreneurship, thanks to Dr. Carolyn Helsel of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary!
The Ministry Collaborative sent our pastors’ cohort to rest, learn and reflect in South Africa!
We engaged 1:1 with folks to reflect on peacebuilding in the context of the U.S. presidential election season and aftermath.
Bookkeeper, Ashlyn Brown
TCL has been able to offer a wider audience our workshop and training tools for dialogue
Pastor Carrie has been offered a dialogue book contract and is working on proposal edits for a book on the blueprints of spiritual entrepreneurship.
Pastor Carrie has been invited to join a LeaderLab cohort for social sector leaders.
TCL has been invited to share some of our dialogue tools at Leadership Austin’s 2025 Conference in February!
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS continued
Board of Directors
This August, the board attended a fruitful and refreshing weekend retreat in the charming Wimberley, Texas, where we were able to strategically plan for the upcoming year and bond with one another over the mission of TCL.
We welcomed three new board members this year: longtime dialoguer, Joanna Drake, Ashley Ekmay, who is a data analyst for Christianity Today, and Jonathan D. Lawrence, pastor and professor in Buffalo, NY!
With such a full board, we were able to add new roles! Ashley is our “metrics guru”, helping to make sure we measure our impact in creative, meaningful ways. In addition to serving as treasurer, Joanna joins Andrea for a fundraising power-team. Jonathan will be chair of marketing!
Dash Kees graciously continues as our chair!
Wendy Cooper continues as our secretary!
Dash Kees Chair
Wendy Cooper Secretary
Andrea Carroll Fundraising
Joanna Drake Fundraising, Treasurer
Ashley Ekmay Metrics
Jonathan D. Lawrence Marketing
CARRIE’S BOOK DEAL!
We have some exciting news!
Carrie has been working extensively over the last couple of years on putting 2 of The Church Lab’s main practices into book form:
1. DIALOGUE:
The first covers our central practice of dialogue, and comes in the form of practical elements of facilitation and bridging divides wherever they exist.
2. SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP:
The second provides a blueprint of the work of spiritual entrepreneurship for innovators who are interested in serving the future of faith practice.
We have gained substantial support in our current exploration of publishing deals. If published, these are sure to be efficient ways to share our lessons of the lab and to make a wider impact on the world.
To our absolute delight, the dialogue book has already received a contract offer!
Stay tuned for updates in 2025!
THINKING FUTURE
In 2025, we envision that TCL will venture into some new territory!
First Ever Dialogue Cohort
We hope to seek and gain funding to launch our first year-long cohort of 10-12 diverse community leaders. This process would be transformative, not only for those involved but for the web of relationships that extend from this experience
Two Books On Their Way!
Pastor Carrie has two books in the works that will expand TCL’s reach One focuses on spiritual entrepreneurship and the other on the tools of dialogue
Expanding Our Reach
We intend to get the word out about TCL through expanded networking efforts, all while sustaining our small-group relational model
Innovative Ministries Class!
Pastor Carrie is teaching an Innovative Ministries class at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Spring 2025! 4
2025 Budget & Financial Needs
We’re hoping to raise $173,668 for our growing 2025 operations! So far, we’ve raised $57,770 as of Nov 25, 2024.
PARTNERSHIPS & SHOUT-OUTS
TCL has consistently grown since its start in 2013. This is because of our gracious partnerships. Every contributed penny makes a massive difference. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for you!
Jillian Shannon and Ashlyn Brown, without whom TCL would not be remotely the same! TCL Board of Directors and Advisory Councils of past and present, who keep us growing in multi-layered ways.
Dr. Carolyn Helsel of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, who took a chance on TCL when inviting us to be a part of the SpirEnt cohort project
Dr. Pam Eisenbaum of Illif School of Theology, who allowed Pastor Carrie to lecture in her dialogue class and then had her students use TCL dialogues as their own laboratory for learning about bridge building.
The Baugh Foundation, The Ministry Collaborative and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, whose partnership is truly the wind at our back.
TCL donors, and all those who pray for us, share about us and root us on in various ways. Your support makes it possible to meet our mission each day.
Pastor Carrie’s support structure of family, friends, mentors, therapist, and her spiritual director, Lucinda Clark. This would be impossible without you, and with you, the mission is Joyful.
Last but not least: TCL’s dialogue community and other small groups of past and present, as well as anyone who feels a part of who we are and what we do. The collective of who you are makes TCL what it is. Your spiritual growth together is teaching the world how to bridge divides in a crucial, tender moment in our world. Thank you deeply.
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/give.
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 look forward to seeing you in the Lab soon!