Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) is a collaboration of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, Partners for Sacred Places, and Indiana Landmarks. CBCP is made possible by a grant from the Thriving Congregations Initiative of the Lilly Endowment.

The CBCP project offers an exciting opportunity to increase the impact of all Episcopal faith communities in the state of Indiana. The CBCP helps parishes increase vitality and serve mission by:

• Making the most of their buildings as assets and
• Developing new and stronger community partnerships

The CBCP helps faith communities see what they offer their neighbors through a lens of strength and opportunity, seeing themselves the same way God sees us: gifted, strong, a clean slate.

And it helps congregations introduce themselves and their buildings to “outsiders” – others in their communities who take one look at underutilized church space and say, “Wow – this is just what we need to serve others!” Then they start exploring how to work together. Or they learn about your congregation’s gifts for ministry and say, “Let’s collaborate to do even more!”

All 82 Episcopal faith communities in Indiana, from both dioceses, are funded to participate in the CBCP process. Churches are invited to participate in cohorts, or groups, of up to about 20 congregations, each represented by a small team of 3 to 5 clergy and lay leaders. Each Cohort includes congregations from both dioceses.

Church teams receive training from Partners for Sacred Places and Indiana Landmarks on:

• Developing and managing space-use partnerships
• Care of historic properties, and
• Assessing alignment between space use and mission goals and priorities

Small capital grants will also be available through a competitive application process to help congregations make space improvements.

The training empowers congregations to discern and develop healthy space-sharing partnerships and manage partnerships in a way that generates resources and energy for congregational work.

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