Dates/Times: November 4 (1-6pm) and November 5 (9am-5pm)
Location: In Person
Instructor: Donna Schaper
Registration Deadline: Friday, October 7

Before COVID-19, there was another pandemic. It was much slower moving and it involved bricks and their  mortals. Multiple congregations, of all flavors, going slowly out of business. Deferred maintenance joined membership declines to create enormous need to creatively adapt religious buildings to mission central and mission consistent purposes. This course addresses this challenge, considering it more of an opportunity than a problem. It helps the stewards of these buildings to concretely and spiritually address the shifts in economics and purpose, and guides them to develop productive plans in order to survive and thrive on their site. The course also provides an introduction for community members who see under-used often beautiful buildings as assets, and for artists, architects and urban planners who enjoy painting urban landscapes using existing visual context to support love of public place and space.

Course Registration

About Donna Schaper

Donna Schaper was the pastor at Judson Memorial Church for fifteen years, where she helped found the New York City new sanctuary movement, the community ministry program, and bricks and mortals. She is now part-time pastor at the Orient Congregational Church on the Eastern end of Long Island. She continues to be active teaching and organizing through Bricks and Mortals, a New York City based organization that helps sacred sites find sustainable solutions to thrive. She also teaches leadership at the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. In her rewirement, she is working with Bricks and Mortals on S4, Spiritual Solutions for Sacred Sites. She has written 39 books, most recently REMOVETHEPEWS.COM. She also writes, irreverently but spiritually, under the pen name The Dolly Mama at Porch magazine and elsewhere.