Webinar: Partners for Sacred Places

Wednesday, September 7th – 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

The religious landscape across the US is changing rapidly as many congregations are closing, merging, or otherwise changing their relationship with their buildings and properties. Partners for Sacred Places works with congregations, judicatories, and preservationists across the faith spectrum to help congregations make decisions about their property with an eye toward community-minded approaches for transitioning sacred buildings and properties. This webinar will look at the current situation of religious properties as well as some of the resources in Partners’ recent publication Transitioning Older and Historic Sacred Places.

Rochelle (Shelly) Stackhouse, MDiv, PhD will provide an introduction to Transitioning Older and Historic Sacred Places: Community-Minded Approaches for Congregations and Judicatories, a new resource for congregations contemplating changes in the ownership or use of their buildings, and describe the tools and approaches this guide offers to church and community leaders.

Presenter

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, The Rev. Dr. Rochelle A. (Shelly) Stackhouse was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1982. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, she has served churches of varying sizes as Senior, Solo, Interim and Transitional Pastor in Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. She now serves as Senior Director of Programs for Partners for Sacred Places. She received a PhD from Drew University in Liturgical Studies and has taught at numerous seminaries, most recently Yale and Lexington. She is the author of one book and numerous book chapters and articles. She currently lives in Connecticut.