Parish Collective

When Nani West inherited a food pantry in a South Seattle housing community, most people simply came, picked up what they needed, and went home.

But over time, something changed.

Residents began returning with fresh juice, seasonal fruit, favorite snacks, and homemade dishes to share. Community gatherings became feasts filled with sambusa, arepas, pozole, and stories from many cultures.

What started as "come and receive" slowly became "come, receive, and celebrate."

The food pantry had became a space for sharing not only food, but also friendship.

✨ Read "Shared Tables in South Seattle" and discover how a simple invitation to the table transformed a community. Link in bio.

We're excited to chat with Tim Soerens, co-author of The New Parish, for our June Coffee Break Conversation.

For more than a decade, The New Parish has helped shape conversations about the role of the Church in neighborhoods and communities across North America. This conversation is an opportunity to hear directly from the Tim, reflect on how these ideas continue to resonate today, and engage in a thoughtful discussion about faithful presence, mission, and community.

Whether you've read the book cover to cover or are simply curious about the conversation, you're warmly invited to join us!

☕ Coffee Break Conversation with Tim Soerens, co-author of The New Parish
📅 June 25, 2026
🕒 3:00 PM PST
📍 Online

Learn more and register for this free conversation through the Coffee Break link in our bio.

One of the (many) ideas we keep coming back to from our May Book Club is this:

Healthy communities aren’t built by only focusing on what’s broken or missing.

They grow when we begin noticing what’s already there: the people, relationships, stories, gifts, and the small, often unnoticed strengths.

Sometimes loving a place starts by noticing what’s already alive and good there.

Take a moment this weekend to notice:

What’s already present on your street?
What feels like a gift?
Who is already contributing to the life of your neighborhood?

We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation in our June Book Club.
We’d love to have you there.
Reserve your spot through the link in our bio.

Fellowship Hall is our space to pause, connect, and listen together.

A few times each year, we gather as a membership community to reflect, share stories, and discern what God might be doing among us and in our neighborhoods.

Our next gathering is on June 4.

This midsummer moment will be a time to share stories of fruitfulness and prayerfully look toward the season ahead.

Fellowship Hall is a space for Parish Collective members. If you’d like to be part of these conversations, we’d love for you to join the community.

Learn more through the link in our bio.

For many of us, Church as usual isn’t quite working, but ditching it all together also doesn’t feel right.

The New Parish points to a third way: a neighborhood-rooted church, alive in its local culture and connected across difference.

Join our Book Club in June and read (or re-read) The New Parish with us.

📖 Thursdays in June
💻 Zoom Online
🕒 3:00–4:00 PM PT / 6:00–7:00 PM ET

Join us this June.
Link in bio for more info.

Just a friendly reminder → most meaningful community moments aren’t (and honestly can’t be) perfectly planned, organized, or scripted.

They happen because we stay present to the people and place right in front of us.
While grabbing the mail.

Laughing together at the bus stop.
Trying again after awkward moments.
Showing up tired but still showing up.

You don’t need everything figured out to connect with someone. And you definitely don’t need everything figured out to notice where God is already present.

Happy Friday.

“Somewhere” matters. In fact, YOUR “somewhere” really matters. We can easily forget that our specific neighborhood is the very ground where we discover what it looks like to follow Jesus.

In June, we’re diving into The New Parish by Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight J. Friesen. It’s a journey toward rediscovering “faithful presence”, learning to see our neighbors not as projects, but as part of a shared story where God is already at work.

If you’ve been looking for a more connected, tangible way to live out your faith right where you are, we’d love for you to join us!

📖 June Book Club: The New Parish
🔗 Link in bio to join and for more info.

Most of us spend far more time in our neighborhoods than we do inside church buildings.

We wake up there.
Walk the dog there.
Borrow tools there.
Hear sirens there.
Run into neighbors there.
Celebrate birthdays, carry grief, build friendships, and live ordinary life there.

But often our street is seen as the backdrop to our spiritual lives. We want to challenge you to see it as part of the main invitation where God meets us.

The Spirit is already moving in your neighborhood, at the laundromat, the library, and the park. Our job isn't to bring God there; it's to notice where God already is.

And once you see it, everything changes.

This June, we’re reading The New Parish by Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight J. Friesen.

The book invites us to rediscover the importance of place in the life of the church, encouraging communities to become more rooted, present, and connected within the neighborhoods they inhabit.

Join us as we read, reflect, and explore together what it means to follow Jesus more deeply in the context of our local neighborhoods and communities.

📖 Thursdays in June
🕒 3:00–4:00 PM PT / 6:00–7:00 PM ET

💻 Zoom Online

Link in bio.