Today’s episode is a conversation with Gabrielle Clowdus, one of the founders and leaders with Settled, a Minnesota-based organization helping churches to establish permanent supportive tiny home villages for folks experiencing long-term homelessness. Settled’s approach to addressing homelessness includes housing, but more importantly, focuses on building supportive networks with church members and neighbors to support folks coming out of long-term homelessness. Gabrielle and her team work with congregations to create the context and the spiritual depth that prepares them to reimagine their property for tiny home villages and supports them as they live into the realities of living in and among their neighbors. In this episode we talk about the original vision for Settled, what a Sacred Settlement looks like at churches they work with, the beautiful messiness of working and living alongside long-term homelessness, and what it takes for churches to host these kinds of vital communities. Settled is thinking well outside the box when it comes to homelessness and inviting churches to take advantage of their property and live into the freedom of the Gospel for the sake of the common good. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Gabrielle Clowdus. www.settled.orgwww.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Amar Peterman, a scholar, writer, and theologian living in Milwaukee and currently working for Interfaith America. Through his newsletter This Common Life, Amar reflects on the Christian call into the public square, and his forthcoming book of the same title, is an effort to name a uniquely Christian conception of the common good. Amar’s experience navigating the predominately white spaces in the Evangelical church as an Indian-American adoptee has given him a healthy skepticism about simplistic definitions of the common good. Left unexamined, the common good can become one more tool of marginalization, especially when defined by what majority culture decides is both common and good. Amar’s careful analysis and studied theological thought make him an incredible and principled leader in the world of public theology and the place-based church. We talk about what we mean by both the words common and good, the qualities of authentic Christian community, and the centrality of Jesus Christ in our work towards the many common goods. Amar is an amazing writer, a brilliant theologian, and a good friend who always challenges me to examine my own theological commitments and exercise some precision when talking about God’s work in the commons. I hope you enjoy this conversation with my good friend, Amar Peterman.Amar D. Peterman (amarpeterman.com)This Common Life | Amar D. Peterman | SubstackAlso, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors.www.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Rev Jim Bear Jacobs, the co-director of Racial Justice at the Minnesota Council of Churches, and the founder of Healing Minnesota Stories, an organization that strives to create understanding and healing between Native American and non-Native people. Jim Bear also curated and facilitates a Sacred Sites Tour in the Twin Cities, exploring sites of importance for the Dakota people, the original residents and stewards of the area. Jim Bear is a storyteller at heart, and the Sacred Sites Tour that he leads folks on is a testament to his skill and his love the craft. And he is quick to remind his listeners that story is not just something that emerges from the mind or the individual, but resides in place, in the community and in the very earth on which a story happened and where that story is told. In this episode, we talk about the nature of this place-based storytelling and its roots in Indigenous traditions, why it’s important for white folk and dominant culture churches to learn the stories, past and present, or their indigenous neighbors, and how to pay attention to the sacred spaces in our own neighborhoods. This is an episode that might be good to listen to on a walk in your own community, but wherever you listen, I hope you enjoy this conversation with Rev Jim Bear Jacobs. You can learn more about Healing Minnesota Stories and the Sacred Sites Tour at Healing Minnesota Stories | Minnesota Council of Churches (mnchurches.org)Also, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors.www.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Pete Marchetto, one of the founders and organizers of the Port Jervis Repair Café in Port Jervis NY. Each month, Pete, his spouse, and the community at St Peter’s Lutheran church open the church to neighbors and community members in need of repairs for household items – vacuums, lamps, chairs, clothing, zippers, and more. Repair coaches help folks to restore their things to working condition, teaching them valuable skills, and building community along the way. The repair café movement was started in Amsterdam by Martine Potsma as a way of resisting a throw away culture, encouraging sustainability, and lessening the number of things taking up space in landfills. Today, there are over 2500 repair cafes across the world. Pete and his team have been hosting the Port Jervis repair café since 2023, and have learned a lot in just under a year of operation. In this episode Pete gives us a glimpse into the experience of a repair café, and we talk about planned obsolescence, the throw away culture, and the power of restoration through simple repairs. The repair cafes are a beautiful expression of neighborhood creativity and the common good, and a model of engagement that faith communities seem especially capable of practicing. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Pete Marchetto. Also, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors.www.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Tammy Greidanus and Howard Lawrence from Keep Neighbouring in Edmonton, formerly called Abundant Communities. Keep Neighbouring is an initiative that builds connections and relationships between neighbors to support healthy communities, bringing folks together for block parties, place-based projects, and community development. For over a decade, the Abundant Communities initiative has focused on connecting neighbors one block at a time, contributing to a greater sense of safety and security, and providing increased opportunity for neighbors to participate in civic life. The very beginning of this work in Edmonton was influenced by Asset-Based Community Development and the work of Peter Block, including the book Abundant Communities: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods. Howard and Tammy, both neighbors and practitioners, work with Keep Neighboring and bring years of wisdom leading neighbor-led and place-based work on the ground. We talk about asset-based community development, why block parties matter, how cities and local governments can support the work, and what they have learned over the last decade of focusing on neighborhood relationships and development. Keep Neighboring is an incredible example of a city and neighborhoods taking relationships seriously for the sake of the common good. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Howard Lawrence and Tammy Greidanus. Also, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors.www.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Dr. Seth Kaplan, Professional Lecturer at John Hopkins University, expert on Fragile States, and author of the book “Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time.” Dr Kaplan argues that to address social decline in the US, we must refocus our attention on the neighborhood, on strengthening local institutions, and attending to the health of our local relationships. Dr Kaplan draws on his years of experience working with international organizations and governments, as well as his own rich neighborhood life and faith community, to invite citizens and institutions to renew our attention to the places where we live and the neighborhood relationships that help communities, and indeed nations, to flourish. I think “Fragile Neighborhoods” is essential reading for anyone who wants to take place-based work seriously, and I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dr. Seth Kaplan. Also, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors. www.nicholastangen.com

Peter Block joins the podcast again, this time with a new book; "Activating the Common Good: Reclaiming Control of Our Collective Wellbeing". Peter invites us to discover and treasure the commons, to embrace relational activism, and to pay attention to a handful of critical fields for activating the common good. Along the way, we talk about eulogies, the challenge of simplicity, leader burnout, and possibility. Be sure to follow Peter Block on Linkedin and at his website Peter Block - Welcome, and buy his new book!Also, be sure to sign up for my Email Newsletter to receive updates about the podcast, read some of my own original writing, and find resources for churches living out the call to be neighbors.

In this episode, I share a bit about what grounds me in this work and my hopes for Season 2 of At the Table: Christian Community for the Common Good. I ask for your feedback, questions, and stories which you can send to me at nick@nicholastangen.com. And I introduce a new segment I'm calling Table Talks where I offer some questions for you to bring to your church's coffee hour or your own dinner table. I'm looking forward to this season of the podcast and all that we might learn together. Thank you for listening! Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast with friends and colleages, and be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter for some writing and resources about Christian community for the common good. Peace be with you!Sound effects and music courtesy of pixabay.com.

In 2023, I have had 16 different conversations with lay people, clergy, writers, activists, and neighbors all committed to the idea of a place-based and discerning church. A church with the power and the freedom to contribute to the flourishing of their neighborhood, not with services and charity, but with connection, community, and authenticity. These conversations have been catalysts for my own work and imagination, and I pray that they have been for you as well. As we come to the end of Season 1, my hope is that in listening to these episodes you have allowed yourself to imagine a church interested more in its neighbor than its survival, committed to an alternative story than one of consumption, colonialism, and professionalization. I’ve enjoyed working on this podcast more than I could have anticipated, and I plan to launch Season 2 in January of 2024. If this conversation interests, inspires, or even frustrates you, please be sure to subscribe, to reach out with questions or inspiration, and to bring these ideas to your own faith community. You can also subscribe to my monthly newsletter which includes my own writing, prayers and litanies you can use in worship, and updates on the podcast. After a year of conversation, I am convinced more than ever that the common good, animated by the saving grace of Jesus, shows up powerfully every time we gather together with our neighbors at the table. Until next year, peace be with you. www.nicholastangen.com

Today’s episode is a conversation with Reverend Jose Humphreys III, a pastor, church planter, and consultant helping the church to take place seriously and think differently about the impact of our dollars. He is the author of Seeing Jesus in East Harlem: What Happens When Churches Show Up and Stay Put, and Ecosystems of Jubilee: Economic Ethics for the Neighborhood. Rev Jose and I talk about Metro Hope Covenant Church which he helped plant in Harlem, the beauty of particularity, and an alternative economic posture for churches rooted in place. Rev Jose calls us to a renewed discipleship in and among the neighborhood where we live and worship, and genuine curiosity about what God is up to in the lives of our neighbors. I had so much fun having this conversation, and I hope at the end of the episode you’ll leave as energized as I did by Rev Jose Humphreys.  "Good News About Money" - Sojourners Magazine Music by Julius H. from Pixabay

Today’s episode is a conversation with Stephanie and Darryl Answer, who are faculty members at the Asset Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University, and founders of New Community Church in Kansas City, Missouri. New Community is a church that takes seriously the call to be the neighbor by highlighting and animating gifts, reimagining how the church thinks about money and power, and tending to their neighborhood’s relational capital. Darryl and Stephanie truly practice what they preach and offer a vision for church rooted in place and profoundly aware of the presence of Jesus among neighbors. These two are such an inspiration to me and offer the church so much wisdom, and more importantly, permission to be the church in the particular places where God has called us to live and worship. I pray this is just the first of many conversations with Darryl and Stephanie Answer. Music by Aleksey Chistilin from Pixabay

Today’s Episode is a conversation with Tim Soerens, the Co-founding Executive Director of the Parish Collective, an organization that connects people to be the church in the neighborhood. Tim recently wrote a book titled “Everywhere you look: Discovering the Church Right Where You Are”, that casts a vision for a church rooted in place and a faith practiced in the small simple practices of our daily lives together. In this conversation, Tim and I talk about his work with the Parish Collective, why place matters, and why presence will always have more impact than performance. Tim is one of the most grounded and visionary voices in the movement to reclaim a place-based church, and I am grateful for his work and leadership. I hope this conversation is just the first of many to come. Music by Juan Sanchez from Pixabay

Today’s episode is a conversation with Pastor Travis Norvell, known around town and on Twitter as the Pedaling Pastor. Travis serves at Judson Memorial Baptist Church in South Minneapolis and can often be seen riding his bike around the neighborhood, connecting with community members. He’s the author of “Church on the Move: A Practical Guide for Ministry in the Community”, a book that highlights the impact possible when churches leave the car at home and bike, walk, and bus in their neighborhood. He has a vision for what he calls the bikeable parish – a geography of ministry that focuses our attention locally and attends to the small simple ways we connect as community. In this conversation, Pastor Travis and I talk about what churches can discover from the seat of a bicycle, how to reimagine church parking lots, and what it means to embrace a new relationship to time as church’s rooted in place. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Pastor Travis Norvell. Music by Olexy from Pixabay

Today’s episode is a conversation with DeAmon Harges, the original roving listener. DeAmon has been about that place-based work for his whole life, and credits his grandparents with instilling the skills and temperament for listening deeply within community. A couple months ago, I interviewed Pastor Mike Mather on the podcast, who worked alongside DeAmon at Broadway Methodist Church in South Bend, Indiana. Pastor Mike told me that DeAmon work as the Roving Listener broadened his and the congregation’s view of the neighbors and the neighborhood, revealing the wild abundance of gifts present in the blocks near the church. DeAmon continues to listen and animate the gifts of his community through an organization he found with his neighbors called the Learning Tree, and his wisdom about how to discover and practice abundance is a gift to the church and the neighborhoods they live in. I hope you enjoy this conversation with DeAmon Harges. DeAmon Harges | Institute Faculty | ABCD Institute | DePaul University, ChicagoThe Learning Tree (thelearningtrees.com)Music by Oleksii Kaplunskyi from Pixabay

Today’s episode is a conversation with my friend Jeremy Myers, the Christiansen Chair of Religion and Vocation at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN. Jeremy has been a religion professor for a lot of years and found his way into this work through youth ministry. In this conversation we talk about a framework for Public Church, and the power of learning rooted in individual experience. Jeremy is a thoughtful and passionate leader, and he challenges us in the church to decide if we are about the domestication of an institution or the liberation of the Gospel. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Professor Jeremy Myers!Music by Olexy

Today’s episode is a conversation with my good friend Catalina Morales Bahena, the Formation and Coaching Manager at Faith in Action a national organizing institution working for racial and economic justice. She is a student, a Dreamer, and a practiced community organizer. We talk about the discipline of community organizing, power and power building, and how dominant culture churches can take part in meaningful community organizing in their own communities. Catalina is a real one, and she speaks powerfully from her own experience and her years of training and organizing in the field. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Catalina Morales Bahena. Music by Lesfm

Today’s episode is a conversation with Professor Dirk Lange. Professor Lange works as the professor of Worship and Confessions at Luther Seminary and as the Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations at the Lutheran World Federation. He also wrote an incredible book titled “Today Everything is Different” discussing his time in Leipzig accompanying underground prayer groups at the heart of the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany. Today we talk about his incredible work with the Lutheran World Federation, the relationship between prayer and our call to be the neighbor, and how a baptismal spirituality calls us outward beyond the walls of our church. Professor Lange is a fountain of wisdom and theological thoughtfulness, and I had a blast talking with him. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.You can find Professor Lange's book here Today Everything Is Different: An Adventure in Prayer and Action | Fortress Press

Today’s episode is a conversation with Kelly Sherman-Conroy, a storyteller, healer, church worker, and the first Native Woman Theologian with a PhD in the ELCA. She is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and has devoted her life to creating space, recognition, and belonging for indigenous Christians in a dominant culture church. Kelly is one of the hardest working people I know, speaking often at churches, seminaries, and colleges. Leading Sacred Site tours in the Twin Cities, and teaching churches about indigenous culture and the work faith communities can do to accompany native neighbors. She works full time in a congregation in St Anthony MN, and she’s a mother. I was grateful that she carved out some time to talk with me. In this episode we talk about Kelly’s work and her sense of call, why it’s important for churches to understand indigenous history, and what the ELCA’s work with Indigenous communities has meant for her. I hope you have as much fun listening, as I did talking, with Kelly Sherman-Conroy. You can keep up with Kelly's work by visiting her website www.kellysconroy.com. Kelly's brother, who is mentioned in this episode is Sean Sherman, the founder and CEO of the Sioux Chef, and was recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most influential people in the world. You can find Joy Harjo's poem "Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings" here. Music by orangery from PixabayThanks for listening! Don't forget to share this episode with others and subscribe to receive updates about new episodes. Peace be with you!

My guest today is Sam Rahberg. Sam is a Benedictine, a spiritual director, a writer, and the Director of the Spiritual Direction program at St John’s university and seminary. Sam’s work with leaders in the church around vocation and discernment, and his profound wisdom about the contemplative life, has inspired me for as long as I’ve known him. And I asked him to join me for a conversation about spiritual practice and what the contemplative spiritual tradition can offer Christian communities seeking to live as good and attentive neighbors. In this episode we talk about what the spiritual mothers and fathers call the unitive vision, contemplation as a way of life, and the tradition of Benedictine spirituality. My conversation with Sam was so much fun and left me dreaming about contemplative communities rooted in neighborhoods and seeking Christ in the face of their neighbor. You can keep up with Sam's work at www.samuelrahberg.com Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton

Today's episode is a conversation with Pastor Eric Hoffer & Rachel Carmicheal, who both serve at Salem Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis. Today we talk about food and the practice of building community around shared meals. We talk about Salem’s love of food ministry and the experiences around hosting a weekly community meal for the Camden neighborhood where the church is located. These two lovely people remind me that small simple community building practices can have outsized impacts, and that we ought never to take the power of the dinner table for granted. Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy HarjoMusic by Olexy from Pixabay