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Beacons of Hope: Cleveland’ s Church Steeples Light the Night Sky
After a Disaster: Program Aids Congregations in Need of Emergency Repairs
FEATURE ARTICLE
Preserving Black Churches in Philadelphia
Faith & Form: The 2024 Religious Architecture & Art Awards
Professional Alliance Directory
THE MAGAZINE OF PARTNERS FOR SACRED PLACES
Partners for Sacred Places is the only national, nonsectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to the sound stewardship and active community use of America’ s older religious properties.
Partners builds the capability of congregational leadership for building care, shared use, and capital fundraising through training programs, fundraising assistance, and organizational and facility assessments. In the process, Partners becomes a trusted resource and guide as congregations examine and weigh opportunities.
Partners engages with congregations to focus on critical areas such as:
• Asset-mapping and community engagement— assisting congregations to develop new relationships with neighbors and potential community partners.
• Strategic partnerships and space sharing— brokering agreements between sacred places and arts, food justice, health, education, and social service programs.
• Planning for capital campaigns to support repairs and renovations that preserve significant historic features and make spaces usable for new community programs.
• Collaborative initiatives among unrelated congregations in a neighborhood to encourage coordinated outreach, space usage, joint marketing and interpretive events, and coordinated work with public agencies for lighting, signage, and streetscape improvements.
This mural in the Austin Chapel Series, one of the 2024 Faith & Form Award winners for religious arts, depicts contemporary, relatable people in a biblical baptism scene. John Patrick Cobb
Cover Photograph:
Stained-glass window in the sanctuary of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church, part of the Philadelphia Fund for Black Sacred Places. Katrina Erb Photography
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