Sharing More than Space
A neighborhood church and a social service agency
partner to bring outside investment to San Antonio’s West Side
By Sarah Jones
Consulting Services Associate, Partners for Sacred Places
“HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE
GOING TO BE ABLE TO RAISE
OVER A MILLION DOLLARS?”
That was the response of the Divine
Redeemer Presbyterian Church
congregation in 2013, after learning
about the extent of repairs needed
to maintain and preserve their
physical plant. Situated in one of the
most economically challenged zip
codes in the nation, with a member-
ship of only 125, the church faced
the seemingly impossible task of
repairing its building to continue
serving the congregation and its
neighbors. “I can’t stress enough
how necessary the project is…our
building is literally falling apart,”
says Alyssa Gooch, who just stepped
down as development director for
the House of Neighborly Service
(HNS), a social service agency that
has partnered with Divine Re-
deemer for over a century and
shares the building.
Together, Divine Redeemer
The church’s Mission Style building needed significant repairs that topped a million dollars.
Credit: Divine Redeemer Presbyterian Church
and HNS stepped out in faith and
began planning for a capital cam-
paign that would allow the neigh-
In 2016, Divine Redeemer and HNS applied to participate
borhood church and the nonprofit organization to continue
in the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program funded by
their community service. They quickly realized that they
Lilly Endowment and operated by Partners for Sacred Places
would need to look beyond the congregation and the sur-
in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preserva-
rounding community for support. Having attended a Partners
tion. Participants are eligible for up to $250,000 in matching
for Sacred Places training, Rev. Robert Mueller, the pastor at
funds for capital improvement projects at historic sacred
Divine Redeemer, knew that leveraging personal and profes-
spaces that are actively engaged in community outreach and
sional relationships would be key to raising the campaign’s
service. Partners was impressed by the unique partnership
profile and identifying new resources. He also recognized that
between the two entities, and recognized the potential for
the relationship between Divine Redeemer and HNS opened
their success. Partners invited them into the National Fund’s
other doors; HNS is a non-religious institution eligible for a
first cohort, and later came on board as campaign manage-
wider array of government and private grants.
ment consultants.
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SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2019