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Something new is growing among us.

Applications are now open for Cohort 2 of Holy Ground for Whole Communities

Eight Episcopal congregations will join a yearlong journey of formation, community listening, discernment, and faithful action.

Applications are due October 31, 2026.

Apply for Cohort 2
Watch the August 19 Townhall Recording

Something new is growing among us.

Holy Ground for Whole Communities offers each congregation in our diocese is an opportunity to connect and transform.

Video Transcript

Reverence and Resilience

A New Initiative for Ministry, Ecology, and Justice

Holy Ground for Whole Communities is a Lilly Endowment grant-funded program (2025–2028) supporting Episcopal congregations in discerning new ways to use their land and buildings as sacred assets for the common good.

Through formation, community engagement, site assessments, spiritual reflection, and the opportunity to apply for a $7,000 Next Faithful Step Regrant, congregations reimagine how they serve God, neighbor, and creation in a time of climate crisis and social transformation.

Holy Ground invites congregations to begin not with a predetermined project, but with prayerful attention:

  • What is God already stirring here?
  • What might our neighbors, land, buildings, and wider community be inviting us to notice?
  • What next faithful step are we being called to take together?
 

What will participating congregations experience?

Cohort 2 includes:
  • An opening orientation gathering
  • Three online formation and discernment sessions
  • An experiential in-person gathering
  • Community listening and relationship building
  • A site visit and facilitated community conversation with Partners for Sacred Places
  • A written Partners for Sacred Places report
  • The Holy Ground Field Guide and Bible Study Companion
  • Ongoing accompaniment and peer learning
  • The opportunity to apply for a $7,000 Next Faithful Step Regrant
  • Evaluation and storytelling that contribute to diocesan and national learning

 

The Partners for Sacred Places report offers congregations an informed outside perspective — a mirror that can help them see their sacred assets and community context more clearly. The Holy Ground Field Guide serves as a compass, helping congregations continue listening, discerning, and choosing their next faithful step.

Who's involved?

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dark blue stylized wordmark which reads, "EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF THE GREAT LAKES."

 Spiritual and regional leadership

Convening the initiative

Congregational Network

Plainsong Farm logo

Formation in sacred ecology

Food & discipleship

Episcopal Service Corps

Image Description: Logo for Partners for Sacred Places

Training in community engagement

Property as sacred asset

Asset-based ministry training

Who should apply?

Cohort 2 is open to congregations throughout the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes.

Strong applicants will be ready to:

  • Form a committed team of at least three congregational leaders
  • Participate consistently throughout the whole program
  • Listen to neighbors and community partners
  • Explore their land and buildings with openness and imagination
  • Engage honestly in spiritual, relational, ecological, and practical discernment
  • Participate in the program’s evaluation process

 

Intergenerational teams are encouraged.

A statement or email of support from the Rector, Priest-in-Charge, or Canonically Authorized Leader is required. Congregations must also provide the date on which the vestry approved submission of the application.

Cohort 2 Schedule

Application and orientation
  • August 1, 2026: Applications open
  • August 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM: Holy Ground for Whole Communities Townhall
  • October 31, 2026: Application deadline
  • December 5, 2026: Orientation gathering in Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Formation
  • January 26, 2027, 7:00-8:30 PM: Online formation session
  • February 23, 2026, 7:00-8:30 PM: Online formation session
  • March 23, 2026, 7:00-8:30 PM: Online formation session
  • April 9-10, 2027: In-person gathering in Rockford, Michigan
Site visits, discerning, regranting
  • April 19-22, 2027: First site visit window
  • May 24-27. 2027: Second site visit window
  • June-July, 2027: Partners for Sacred Places reports released in waves as they are completed
  • Summer 2027: Congregations use their report and the Holy Ground Field Guide to discern a next faithful step
  • July 1-October 1, 2027: Next Faithful Step Regrant application period
  • October 1, 2027: Next Faithful Step Regrant application deadline

August 19 Townhall

Learn more about Holy Ground for Whole Communities

Interested congregations were invited to a diocesan Townhall on August 19.

The gathering:

  • Shared learning and stories from Cohort 1
  • Introduced the Cohort 2 journey
  • Explained the application and selection process
  • Provided an opportunity to meet program leaders
  • Made space for questions, curiosities, and emerging ideas
Watch the Townhall Recording

Applications for Cohort 2 are open until October 31, 2026.

Apply today!

Questions?

Connect with Dr. Jess Kidder, Program Manager, Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes. 

Get to know our bishop candidates.

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