Building Bridges in Perry

On October 5, St. Martin’s in Perry was one of the co-hosts of a broad ecumenical gathering of faith leaders from across the state to hear from Iowa State’s Rural Shrink Smart researchers and talk about the challenges facing small towns in Iowa. The event was co-hosted by AMOS, a faith-based community organizing group in Des Moines who shared stories of the ways community organizing tools might be used to address those challenges. Our regional missioners were in attendance, as long as some of our participating team members to learn and listen with others. 120 Iowans from 15 Christian denominations and 40 communities across the state met for a day of learning from ISU Shrink Smart, relationship building, and imagining organizing together to strengthen Iowa families and rural communities.