Churches Transforming Communities

The late theologian and missiologist, Lesslie Newbigin wrote that each Christian has been sent out with the gospel, together in community, to those in the surrounding culture, for the sake of the King and His kingdom: “The Church is sent into the world to continue that which Jesus came to do, in the power of the same Spirit, reconciling people to God.”

These words of John's Gospel quoted by Newbigin continue to ring true in small and large parishes alike. For the Rev. Matthew Dallman, ’15, and his wife Hannah, working together in community is the whole point of being a church--to be missional to the rest of the community.

“We want a church that produces faithful Christians equipped to lead missional lives to reach the lost,” said Fr. Matthew. “But no priest or lay person, however brilliant and passionate they may be, can achieve this alone.”

As many churches face various struggles, Hannah Dallman says that the dynamics of the parish are in many ways similar to any other living thing.

“If we think about it this way, the church is a living entity, which in the same way as a living organism, breathes and contracts; and it is within these contractions that, when difficulties arise, one sees what needs to be changed or aided.”

The Parish of Tazewell County is located in the Peoria region of central Illinois, within the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield. The parish gathers from two locations — St. Paul’s Church in Pekin, and All Saints’ Church in Morton. Saint Paul’s began in 1837 in a schoolroom across from the Tazewell County Courthouse and was later consecrated in 1876. The Anglo-Catholic, Victorian style church is one of the oldest in the diocese. 

“We are accessible and committed to the spiritual formation and education of our members, according to the Catholic faith as embodied in the Book of Common Prayer,” said Fr. Dallman. 

In 1962, a two-story education building was added to the property just north of the church. It currently houses offices and All Souls’ Chapel, normally used for weekday services.

Saint Paul’s ministries include support of Christian Civic Outreach, meals for the Salvation Army, significant donations to Church Women United, the YWCA, and to a no-kill animal shelter. They also provide handmade blankets and quilts as gifts to those who are sick or hospitalized.

The current congregation of All Saints’ Church traces its history to 1964, when the people first met for worship in the community room of a nearby bank. After a year of meeting for worship, All Saints’ purchased their current home from a former Mennonite Church property on Chicago Street in Morton, Illinois.

In 1976, All Saints’ was accepted at full parish status and the building consecrated by the late Rt. Rev. Albert W. Hillestad.

“Since our joining with Saint Paul’s, Pekin, in July 2009, we have spearheaded outreach ministry to the community--with donations going to We Care Inc., Jefferson Elementary School in Morton, Friendship House, The Center for Prevention of Abuse, The Cancer department at OSF and others,” said Fr. Dallman. “Both laity and clergy are being asked, ‘Who are you? How is your parish being missional and affecting the community?’”

The question that follows is  How do we do this? For Fr. Matthew and Hannah, the how meant actively engaging in prayer for God to lead, helping them to look at their church’s identity and their own community, and to ask Who is our literal neighbor? 

“The result is that we are seeing a flowering of new life,” Hannah said. “People are asking, ‘What can we do, and how can we serve?’”

With a strong focus on liturgy and worship, people are seeing how what they do on Sunday extends to the week’s work, and into community relationships. 

“We are seeing people coming together, not just within a program here and a program there; the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a way of life--sharing the hope of Jesus, finding purpose, being filled with joy and hope, and going forth in sharing the purpose,” she said. “For many, to rethink and redefine the nature of the church and create a new paradigm in which churches are seen as missional in nature, instead of attractional in nature, is a return to what the church for centuries is all about: the physical going and making disciples of the nations--by starting local, one person at a time.” 

For the people of Tazewell Parish, taking the gospel outside of the church doors and engaging people with the gospel became their mission.

And it all came about with a movie. At Tazewell, the parish council and vestry began to prayerfully consider a strategy for mission to target adult Christian education and formation. Teaching mission was integrated into each gathering, from preaching to community events, a charge for mission within all the programs. 

In the meantime, Fr. Matthew and Hannah were discerning how to empower the laity with their own ideas as the Holy Spirit was moving them to participate. 

“We knew we needed to be working together as a community to reach the lost and the unchurched,” said Hannah. “As Christians, no one works alone.”

Then after viewing and reflecting upon a movie about Teresa of Calcutta, the people of Tazewell began to look for ways to serve the lonely. 

In the film, as in Teresa’s ministry, obstacles are met with unflinching compassion. And Tazewell’s mission became ministering to the lonely. 

The parish began looking for and continuing to cultivate relationships with businesses, city organizations, and charities in order to serve. 

“For the lonely, we began to have more of a presence at assisted living centers and nursing homes, visiting those who are alone,” said Hannah. “Often we can forget that the mission is not filling the pews, it is going out.”

Focus on mission has changed other longstanding parish activities as well. For instance, a traditional cookie walk that for years was a fundraiser for the church has now become a cookie exchange, with people from the church and neighborhood engaging with one another. 

Although COVID-19 has curtailed parishioners’ ability to physically reach out in mission as they had been, the Dallmans are still actively leading the parish in mission, as many churches are these days, via social media (see the following article and Youtube link) as well as traditional forms of communication--letters, cards, and phone calls. They look forward to resuming in-person mission as Illinois emerges from its stay-at-home orders.

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Parochial Theology and Fr. Martin Thornton 

A talk given by The Rev. Matthew C. Dallman, ’15

The Rev. Martin Thornton (1915-1986) was a farmer, Anglican priest, and theologian. Spurred by a mystical experience while farming, Fr. Thornton pursued Holy Orders and went on to receive degrees from King’s College, London and Christ College, Cambridge. Twice a visiting lecturer at The General Theological Seminary in New York, Thornton received an honorary doctorate in 1966, and from 1975 until his death was Canon Chancellor of Truro Cathedral under The Rt. Rev. Graham Leonard, who called Fr. Thornton “the most natural and supernatural Christian I have known.” 

Fr. Thornton wrote thirteen books focusing on pastoral and ascetical theology, always in a mode of ressourcement attuned to Prayer Book pastoral sensibility. His wide-ranging topics included scriptural exegesis, liturgical life (especially the importance of the daily Office), “parochial theology” (a term he coined), personal devotion and prayer, spiritual direction in both its art and science, asceticism, and pastoral studies on specific voices within what he called the “English School of Catholic spirituality,” from Anselm to the Caroline Divines and on through Macquarrie, with most attention given to Margery Kempe. 

His book The Purple Headed Mountain was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 1963.

The Rev. Matthew C. Dallman, Obl.S.B. is a parish priest for the Parish of Tazewell County in the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield (Illinois). He is an Oblate to St John’s Abbey (Collegeville, Minnesota) and the leading authority on the theology of Fr. Martin Thornton, whose works he has exclusive permission to reissue. Fr. Matthew received his master’s in theological studies (M.T.S.) from Nashotah House in 2015 (with a thesis on the theology of Martin Thornton, which included meetings with Thornton’s wife Monica and daughter Magdalen, along with Benedicta Ward, Rowan Williams, Allison Milbank, and George Westhaver); an M.A. in Liturgical Ministry from Catholic Theological Union; and baccalaureate from Washington University in St. Louis (English Literature and Creative Writing). 

For ten years, Fr. Dallman has maintained an active social-media ministry to promote Thornton’s insights on prayer, parish life, and ascetical spirituality, which led him seven years ago to found Akenside Institute for English Spirituality (AIES) and its publishing arm, Akenside Press. Its purpose is to develop resources that aid the rediscovery of orthodox-catholic reality in Prayer Book parish life. 

He lives in Pekin, Illinois, with his wife, five children, seven chickens, two cats, and a dog. He bakes traditional sourdough bread to feed the natives.

This talk was originally delivered via Zoom for Towers of Faith, and the recording has been uploaded to YouTube.

The is the second talk from Towers of Faith - an initiative which exists to build people up in their faith.