Innovating Ecclesiology: How Churches (and Seminary Faculty) Can Partner for Justice

This article draws on over two years of qualitative research conducted in tandem with the activities of the Isaiah Partnership, a Pathways for Tomorrow Lilly Endowment Inc. grant project (Grant ID: 2021 1156) that ran from 2021–2024 at Princeton Theological Seminary and aimed to move innovation to the heart of congregational and faculty leadership through concurrent faculty and church cohort tracks. The article provides a full description of the methods used for data collection, including structured and semi-structured interviews, observation, and participant observation. Based on analysis of this comprehensive data, the article discusses three findings: (1) The grant helped reduce skepticism among church leaders and faculty when it came to innovation in congregations and theological education; (2) The grant demonstrated the critical role partnership and free space play in innovation and formation, yet also highlighted the scarcity and challenge of sustaining these resources; and (3) The grant established preliminary insights on the relationship between theology and innovation, including but not limited to, the way in which a broad ecclesiology and justice-making may serve as prerequisites to innovation. The discussion argues that the broadening ecclesiology made possible by diverse partnerships among churches in the Isaiah Partnership may offer pathways to innovation that foster justice, even as some scholars have doubted the role of the church in changemaking.