Product Overview
Join the church movement reshaping our neighborhoods—embracing love and creating community to house our neighbors and recognize our shared humanity.
In many neighborhoods, soaring housing costs have created an alarming wave of instability, leaving congregations situated at the heart of communities grappling with housing insecurity. Simultaneously, societal divisions across ideologies, racial lines, class disparities, and diverse perspectives have eroded the fabric of these communities, leaving a void in shared connections.
Churches, amid declining membership and dwindling engagement, have an opportunity to provide a key role in these changing landscapes. In Building Belonging, John Cleghorn, a pastor from Charlotte, North Carolina—a city where prosperity and poverty uncomfortably coexist—shows how numerous congregations across the United States are leading the charge, embracing innovative approaches to ministry that leverage their resources to become havens of both welcome and shelter.
By examining the theological and sociological dimensions propelling congregations toward a radical transformation of their material and relational landscapes, this book weaves together narratives, insights, and experiences from diverse congregations at the forefront of this movement. Readers will be inspired to look at the unfolding narrative of unaffordable housing in a new way and be inspired to shape their ministry to harness all available resources to foster access and justice by housing neighbors.
Written from the heart of a pastor who is deeply engaged in a church’s yearslong housing journey, this book does not stop at simply showing these challenges. Cleghorn also provides a roadmap for communities to initiate transformative processes, leveraging their unique abilities and resources to tackle significant local issues.
Building Belonging is designed for congregational, communal, or small-group use. To assist these groups as they develop their own plans for creating community and housing neighbors, we’ve designed a free, downloadable congregational guide that provides a roadmap to enact the innovative strategies outlined in the book. Visit www.wjkbooks.com/BuildingBelonging to download this resource.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Easter’s Home at Caldwell Presbyterian Church.
Reviews
"'Churches have to reinvent themselves’ is a quote from Building Belonging. It is an apt description for the vision inside this book and a call for congregations throughout the nation to utilize their primary resource, the church building, to build the Beloved Community. In a wonderful act of storytelling, Cleghorn combines the need for affordable housing as being met by churches with more property than they need and the resurrection that is the result. With wisdom, vision, and a compassionate commitment to helping others, Cleghorn shares his personal story as it intersects with the call of Christ to home the houseless and care for those who are without the basic necessities of life. All in the name of the Christ who calls us to care and to act."—Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins, Director of Advocacy for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
"Cleghorn's book is a timely reminder of the relationship between church and community. As he examines the nexus of faith, community, and affordable housing through his own congregation's development journey, Cleghorn asks whether we are ready to reclaim the concept of koinonia and bring church and community back together. Tracing racial, social, and cultural factors on housing policy, this book is a must read for anyone considering faith-based property development and the role houses of worship can play in strengthening America's neighborhoods." – Dr. Nadia Mian, Senior Program Director, Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement Lecturer, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
"Cleghorn has delivered us a work that is well researched but even more well lived. The stories of Easter’s Home and the dozens more church projects creating affordable housing across the country are a beacon of hope for the American church in a moment of uncertainty. This book offers a road map through the most Christian decision of all—to choose a type of death that brings new life over a form of survival that brings death. This book is urgent, essential, and not a moment too soon."—Kevin Nye, Housing and Homelessness Director, advocate, and author of Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness
"You’ll find several things in this book: practical steps, theological reflection, case studies of ministry in practice. But at its heart, in my reading, is an essential question about conversion. Cleghorn wants American Christians to examine, ‘what have we forgotten? And whom have we forgotten?’ In our cities and towns, he shows us, we’ve often forgotten that conversion happens not only in our hearts but in our geography. Faithful Christianity remembers to risk new dreams for our buildings, on our campuses, and in our neighborhoods for the life of the world. Building Belonging constructs a vibrant vision of redemptive churches in flourishing cities."—Greg Jarrell, author of Our Trespasses: White Churches and the Taking of American Neighborhoods
"Building Belonging is a book of possibility and promise. Readers will walk away from Cleghorn’s book looking at their church, their church’s property, and their church’s community anew. Inspiring God’s people to think creatively and act faithfully, Cleghorn has provided a road map for congregations ready to reimagine the use of their property to meet the needs of their neighbors."—Teri McDowell Ott, editor/publisher of The Presbyterian Outlook
"A journalist, a businessperson, and a minister, Cleghorn has produced a clarion call to the faith community. In Building Belonging, he gives us a thoughtful primer on the roots and depth of the housing crisis—in Charlotte and nationwide. He doesn’t just analyze the problem but also opens a door for many families of faith to follow God’s teachings and share our assets with those in need."—Hugh McColl, civic leader and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corp.
"Building Belonging is like a tall glass of iced lemonade for the parched souls who long to see the church love their neighbors in practical and life-giving ways. John Cleghorn tells the story of how one church wrestled with, and ultimately overcame, the many obstacles that inevitably come from following where Christ leads. This book will inspire many—will inspire you!—to see how God might be calling you and your community to align your resources so that all those whom God loves—which is everyone!—might flourish."—Jacqueline E. Lapsley, President and Professor of Old Testament, Union Presbyterian Seminary
"The shape of congregational ministry and the use of church buildings and land is shifting radically. Cleghorn’s Building Belonging offers an inspiring vision of how affordable housing development and church partnerships can come together to create deep community and new possibilities. This book is a must-read for any congregation or leader considering church-based affordable housing!"—Rev. Mark Elsdon, editor of Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition