application Archives - Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation

Launch of RIH Thriving Congregations Partnership Application!

Posted on February 15, 2023March 30, 2023

Augsburg University’s Riverside Innovation Hub (RIH) was awarded a Thriving Congregations grant through the Lilly Endowment to support work with area congregations. RIH has been convening learning communities of congregations since 2018. This next opportunity to partner will be our third RIH learning community exploring the call to BE neighbor, rooted in our faith and curious about God’s invitation to be in relationship with the neighborhood.

Churches who become a learning partner will journey together with 10-12 congregations over two years shaped by these characteristics. This time will include gathering for large group learning events 3-4 times a year, gathering with cohorts of several congregations and an RIH facilitator to support and share wisdom with one another, work done individually by congregational teams supported by an RIH facilitator, and opportunities for team leaders from congregations to connect around leading this work in our congregations.

Project Description & Eligibility

Riverside Innovation Hub

Augsburg University’s Riverside Innovation Hub is an incubator for people and communities exploring the public church in the neighborhood. These congregations learn a process for discerning how God is inviting them to become more engaged in their neighborhoods.

Learn More about Riverside Innovation Hub

Application Process

Step 1: Submit Letter of Intent

Accepted on a rolling basis

Congregations interested in pursuing the application process are asked to have their senior pastor submit a letter of intent to apply, via a google form. Letters of intent will be accepted on a rolling basis, until the end of the application period.

Submission of your letter of intent will:

Allow congregations to indicate why they are applying for the project.
Help RIH staff streamline communications as the application process moves forward by adding you to direct mailings about the process and being available to you for further conversation.
Help your congregational leaders move through the application process in a timely and thoughtful way.

Form to Submit a Letter of Intent

Step 2: Learn more: Informational Sessions

Informational sessions will be offered in March via zoom.

Thursday, March 9th from 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Monday, March 13th from 7:00pm – 8:00pm

If you missed our information sessions, here is the recording from March 13th.

Step 3: Submit Application

Submit on or before April 20, 2023

The application is a google form, but please see the questions in a pdf below.

Recruit your senior pastor and one lay leader to complete the application and involve others from your congregation in the process as relevant for your context (ie council leadership, staff, lay leaders). You are welcome to complete the application sections as a group or have one person submit it all after your group has worked on it.

You may submit the application the following ways:

Option 1: Written application (written by one or multiple people) submitted via google form below
Option 2: Video submission with cover letter with the information of first section of the application. If you are sending us a video, you can break it up into videos for each section (10 minutes or less) or one video (around 30 minutes or less). You can submit the videos in each section below if they are broken up or one video in the last section.
Option 3: Hybrid submission. You are welcome to submit a mixture of videos and written answers. In each section, but the first, is a place to upload a video if you would like.
Option 4: If there is a barrier to submit written or video submissions for your congregations, please reach out to Ellen Weber (weber3@augsburg.edu) about additional possibilities.

PDF Copy of the Application

Official Google Form to Submit Applications

Step 4: Invitation Process

RIH will review applications and extend invitations to selected congregations the week of May 16th. Congregations will have until June 8th to accept the invitation.

Augsburg’s learning community begins September 2023 and runs through September 2025.

Contact us:

Additional questions? You can reach out to Kristina Fruge (frugek@augsburg.edu) or Ellen Weber (weber3@augsburg.edu).

Letter of Intent for Third Learning Community is Open!

Posted on January 24, 2023January 31, 2023

The Riverside Innovation Hub (RIH) will be launching its third congregational learning community in September of 2023. This opportunity is part of the Thriving Congregations project, through the Lilly Endowment. This work is also made possible through the support of individual donors and congregational sponsors.

Congregations interested in pursuing the application process with the RIH project are asked to have their senior pastor submit a letter of intent to apply, via this google form. Letters of intent will be accepted on a rolling basis starting January 24th, 2023.

Submission of your letter of intent will:

1) Allow congregations to indicate why the are considering to join the project.

2) Help RIH staff streamline communications as the application process moves forward by adding you to direct mailings about the process and being available to you for further conversation.

3) Help your congregational leaders move through the application process in a timely and thoughtful way.

The application and more detailed information will be made available FEBRUARY 15, 2023 and the application deadline is APRIL 20th, 2023.

Facilitator Geoffrey Gill having a conversation standing with 4 others. — *Participants gathered at our RIH Learning Event in Summer 2022.*

Project Overview

RIH will continue helping congregations live into “placed-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good” through two-year learning communities of twelve congregations. The first learning community runs July 2021 – July 2023 and the second learning community runs September 2023 – September 2025.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Letter of Intent Opens: January 24th, 2023.
Application Opens: February 15th, 2023.
Application Closes: April 20th, 2023.
Invitations sent out to accepted congregations: Week of May 16th, 2023
Congregations accept invitations: June 8th, 2023.
Community starts: September 2023

Congregations who are a part of this learning community will develop and deepen the knowledge, skills, habits, and values to engage in this work of place-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good through a method we call the Public Church Framework. Continue reading “Letter of Intent for Third Learning Community is Open!” →

Thriving Congregations: Learning Partnership Application Process

Posted on January 29, 2021June 2, 2021

The Minneapolis Area Synod and Augsburg University’s Christensen Center for Vocation were both awarded a Thriving Congregations grant through the Lilly Endowment to support work with area congregations. These individual projects share a commitment to accompanying congregations as they discern their call to BE neighbor, rooted in their faith and opened to the neighborhood.

Our two organizations are partnering to support each other in this work. While the particular experiences of congregations who participate in either project will differ in some key ways, our mutual efforts and curiosities are in sync with each other. This opens room to collaborate and learn together over the life of this initiative.

Our collaboration begins in offering a joint application process for congregations interested in either (or both) of these projects. Whether you are interested in MAS’s “Faith Practices and Neighboring Practices” learning community or Augsburg’s “Riverside Innovation Hub” learning community, we are providing a single application process. Our staff members are partnering closely to offer congregations a straightforward and thoughtful experience as you discern the exciting opportunities that our Thriving Congregation’s Grants are making available.

For brief project descriptions, distinctions, and eligibility for each project you can see this PDF document.

Project Descriptions & Eligibility

Riverside Innovation Hub

The Riverside Innovation Hub, stewarded by the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University, will learn and experiment with the Public Church Framework as a method for place based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good. This new opportunity is an invitation to congregations interested in pursuing or deepening this same orientation in their particular place, in relationship with the neighbor and neighborhood, leaning into God’s promises and challenges that meet us there. This project is open to all Christian congregations within an hour of the Twin Cities Metro Area. Congregations outside this geographic area may apply but should know their experience in the project may differ slightly. Participation in the learning community will include bringing teams to Augsburg’s campus 3-4 times a year (as COVID-19 allows.)
Learn More about Riverside Innovation Hub

Neighboring Practices and Faith Practices

Neighboring Practices and Faith Practices, stewarded by the Minneapolis Area Synod, will focus on faith practices and neighboring practices, because congregations connect best with their neighborhood when they practice their faith and they see with new eyes that God is already at work in their neighborhood. The Minneapolis Area Synod project is open to all Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregations within the geographic boundaries of the Minneapolis Area Synod and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregations within Minnesota.

Learn More about Faith Practices and Neighboring Practices

Application Process

Step 1: Learn more:

Co-hosted informational sessions were offered in February. Each project is hosting one additional opportunity specific to their project.

For Minneapolis Synod congregations, watch for a workshop at the MAS Toolkit event on Saturday, March 13th.

For congregations interested in the Riverside Innovation Hub, RSVP at the link below for an info session on Tuesday, Mar 16th from 10:30-11:30am.

Note: RIH is open to any Christian denomination in the metro area or surrounding cities. MAS is open to ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod churches and Minnesota AME churches.

RSVP to RIH Info Session

Step 2: Submit Letter of Intent

Accepted on a rolling basis

Congregations interested in pursuing the application process with either the MAS or RIH projects are asked to have their senior pastor submit a letter of intent to apply, via a google form. Letters of intent will be accepted on a rolling basis, until the end of the application period.

Submission of your letter of intent will:

Allow congregations to indicate which project they are considering and why. And if you are considering both projects, why.
Help MAS and RIH staff streamline communications as the application process moves forward by adding you to direct mailings about the process and being available to you for further conversation.
Help your congregational leaders move through the application process in a timely and thoughtful way.

Form to Submit a Letter of Intent

Step 3: Submit Application

Submit on or before April 15, 2021

The Riverside Innovation Hub and Minneapolis Area Synod are collaborating on a joint application. The application Google form will include a “Primary Application” and supplemental questions for each project. Eligible congregations are welcome to apply for both opportunities, however if selected, you’ll only be invited to participate in one.

PDF Copy of the Application

Official Google Form to Submit Applications

Step 4: Invitation Process

RIH and MAS will review applications together and extend invitations to selected congregations (12 RIH) and (15 MAS) on May 15th. Congregations will have until May 28th to accept the invitation.

Augsburg’s learning community begins July 2021 and runs through July 2023.

The Minneapolis Area synod learning community begins September 2021 and runs through September 2023.

Contact us:

Additional questions? You can reach out to Amanda Vetsch with RIH (vetsch@augsburg.edu), Kristina Fruge with RIH (frugek@augsburg.edu), or Nick Tangen with MAS (n.tangen@mpls-synod.org).