The Re-Imagining Community records, 1988 -- 2016

The Re-imagining Community was a grassroots, ecumenical movement that was organized to challenge what it saw as a patriarchal church hierarchy, promoting justice and equality in the church and society as a whole. The Community, centered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, called for the revitalization of the Christian church.

The Re-Imagining Community was an outgrowth of a "global theological colloquium" held in November 1993 in Minneapolis, Minnesota that gathered women, scholars, and church leaders together to address the goals of the World Council of Churches report, Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women. Mary Ann Lundy, who worked in the national office of the Presbyterian Church, first had the idea to hold the conference five years earlier in 1988. As Lundy began to garner support for her plan, a group of women at a retreat in Minnesota chose the name "re-imagining," trying to capture the idea of a new image in the church. A group of nearly 150 volunteers, both clergy and laypersons, worked together to plan, produce, and implement the ReImagining Conference. It drew 2,200 people from around the world. The conference was sponsored by the Minnesota, Greater Minneapolis, and St. Paul Area Councils of Churches and supported partially with funds from several denominations. In 1993 the Christian Century listed the heightened involvement of women in the church as one of the top ten religious stories of the year. Unfortunately, the Re-Imagining movement encountered hostility and backlash from groups within several denominations, including the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA). They, and other conservative critics, charged that the conference was heretical and sought to prevent church funds from supporting any further Re-Imagining activities. The PCUSA called for the resignation of Mary Ann Lundy in 1994. Ironically, it was these actions that sparked the call to continue the Re-Imagining experience. In February 1994, nine United Methodist clergy and laywomen met and drafted a statement to the press, "A Time of Hope, A Time of Threat" with 800 endorsements. After a number of discussions and debates, in September 1994, the Re-Imagining Community was incorporated with a coordinating council of lay and clergy volunteers to continue the work begun in 1993. The Re-Imagining Community sponsored six more conferences, published a quarterly journal and several books, taught classes on feminist theology at local churches, and organized small groups across the country. A final "Gathering" in 2003 celebrated ten years of Re-Imagining and encouraged the movement to continue in other ways. The Re-Imagining Community officially disbanded in 2003.

The Re-Imagining Community was re-established as a non-profit in 2014 with two goals: to preserve its history and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1993 conference. To achieve the first goal, the community digitized the seven Re-Imagining conferences (which were on cassette tapes) and Dr. Sherry Jordon, associate professor at the University of St. Thomas, conducted over seventy oral interviews with planners, participants, and presenters at the 1993 conference. The Re-Imagining Community also developed a website and collected materials to share with various archives. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first conference in 1993, the Re-Imagining Community partnered with churches, universities, a seminary, and a spirituality center to offer a variety of events. These included worship services, a jazz mass, a conference on non-violence, and presentations by theologians including Dr. Carol P. Christ, Dr. Judith Plaskow, Dr. Melanie L. Harris, Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, and Dr. Mary Farrell Bednarowski. Having completed these goals, the Re-Imagining Community formally dissolved as a non-profit in 2024.