Building of Hope Cohort: Q&A

What is the Building of Hope Cohort?
The Building of Hope Cohort is a two-year program funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc. It equips congregations to discern how their physical spaces and resources can reflect God’s hospitality and deepen their engagement in God’s Mission.

Why is Tabernacle Baptist Church Participating?
We believe God is calling us to listen more deeply for how the spaces entrusted to us can serve as places of connection, trust, and shared life with our neighbors and ministry partners. This program is an opportunity to grow in our understanding of what it means to embody God’s hospitality in tangible ways.

What does the process involve?

• A three-person team, made up of Sterling Severns (pastor), Donna Soyars, and Ryan Corbitt, will represent TBC.
• The team will attend three in-person retreats in Alexandria, VA:
  • February 20-22, 2025
  • May 15-17, 2025
  • October 16-18, 2025
• Between retreats, we’ll use the Good Futures Accelerator, an interactive tool designed to help churches creatively and sustainably discern how their spaces and resources can join God’s Mission.

Who will guide us?
Building for Hope Staff, Rooted Good, Dr. Matt Cook, Director and Consultant at the Center for Healthy Churches and Pneumatrix, will serve as our coach. Dr. Cook will provide:

• Up to five coaching sessions in the first year and four in the second.
• Participation in three one-hour conversations with our cohort and mentor in year one.

What outcomes do we hope to see?
Through this journey, we hope to:

• Grow in our understanding of stewardship and hospitality.
• Discern creative and sustainable ways to use the spaces we’ve been entrusted with to reflect God’s Mission.
• Deepen our relationships with neighbors and ministry partners, joining with them in God’s work of love and reconciliation.

How can I be involved?
We invite you to:

• Pray for our team as they embark on this journey.
• Join church-wide conversations as we remember, reflect, learn, and dream together.
• Participate in meaningful conversations between the church and the larger community as we listen together for God’s direction.
• Reflect on how God might be calling all of us to listen, grow, and share in this Mission.