Christ Episcopal Church

For nearly two centuries, Christ Church has been a presence in downtown Little Rock. As the city has changed over that time, so has this congregation, but their commitment to love God and their neighbors has not. They gather to remember their common bond in Christ, and seek to fulfill the promises made at their baptisms to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

So they came to us with the question: How can fundraising transform our relationship with our downtown community?

To help explore and ultimately answer this question..

As their leadership considered capital improvements and sought to understand what it means to be a part of a reawakening community, and how working together for the common good includes their congregants and neighbors alike, we worked with this congregation on a feasibility study that would:

• Help leadership understand where the congregation saw the greatest possibilities to use their building to connect with their neighbors

• Discern what the church needed to thrive, even as they placed outreach at the center of their mission

• Focus plans for building improvements on potential for mission and ministry for their particular time and place.

We then worked with them on a capital campaign, based on the results of the feasibility study, to:

• create a new entrance hall to improve accessibility, visibility and welcome

• expand their performance space and “pub” to accommodate and expand communities who gather there for artistic programming and more

• renovate their parish house with a commercial kitchen and accessible restrooms to expand welcome and hospitality to all

• refresh outdoor spaces to demonstrate gratitude for God’s gift of the land that they steward