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North Phoenix Corporate Ministry Collection
GTU 98-11-02
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Title: North Phoenix Corporate Ministry collection
Dates: 1966-1987
Collection number: GTU 98-11-02
Creator:
North Phoenix Corporate Ministry
Collection Size:
7 boxes
5 linear feet
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Berkeley, CA 94709
Abstract: The North Phoenix Corporate Ministry was a group of Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant Congregations in northern Phoenix, AZ
who worked together in areas of education, worship, social concern, creative arts, and communication. Included are administrative
files, program files, financial records, information on organizations, news clippings, photographs, negatives, slides, audiotapes,
and a video.
Physical location: 4/B/4-5
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
North Phoenix Corporate Ministry collection, GTU 98-11-02. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Biography / Administrative History
The North Phoenix Corporate Ministry was a group of Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant Congregations in northern Phoenix, AZ
who worked together in areas of education, worship, social concern, creative arts, and communication. In 1966, William Smith,
the minister of Cross Roads Methodist Church, Samuel Lindamood, the minister of Orangewood Presbyterian Church, and Theodore
Knotter, minister of the North Congregational Church of the Beatitudes, began meeting to become better aware of how they could
work together. In the same year, Father John Odou, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, had brought together a group of Catholic
lay people interested in interfaith activities and ecumenical involvement. Following various joint worship services, discussions,
and events, in 1967, clergy and laity of St. Francis and the Protestant congregations joined together to form the North Phoenix
Corporate Ministry. Goals and structures were focused around: 1. Prayer, both private and in interfaith services; 2. Dialogue,
both casual and professional; and 3. Social Action, churches working together on programs. In 1970, Sister Mary Christine
Athans, a participant in the early organizing discussions and meetings, was appointed the Executive Director. From the beginning,
both clergy and laity together were involved in the Ministry's development.
In 1968, Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer began working with NPCM and the Beth El Congregation joined the interfaith coalition. In 1970,
Rabbi Albert Plotkin and the Temple Beth Israel Congregation, representing Reformed Judaism, became a part of NPCM. Over the
next decade, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Shadow Rock Congregational, and Sunrise Presbyterian Church also joined.
The Ministry was deliberate in its purpose beyond services and programs. In "The Purpose of the North Phoenix Cooperate Ministry",
1973, it is agreed that all: 1. Acknowledge that we worship the same God; 2. Emphasize the similarities in our beliefs, and
build cooperation and mutual regard; 3. Worship together periodically; 4. Foster knowledge and understanding of each other's
beliefs; 5. Promote a willingness to listen to each other; 6. Promote carefully selected joint religious, educational and
social action programs and activities; and 7. Become a model of practical interfaith action which can and will be implemented
by other corporate groups.
From 1968 until 1986, NPCM put on a Fall School of Religious Studies, a Spring Forum educational series, hosted guest lectures,
sponsored local social service efforts (including a food bank, preschool, and clothing bank), produced publications on ecumenism,
held art festivals and craft fairs, and sponsored music and drama events. NPCM arranged a yearly interfaith Community Thanksgiving
Service and Clergy Exchange between member congregations. NPCM also supported a social service agency, the Interfaith Cooperative
Ministries, 1981 - 1985. In 1987, due to a decline in activities and a lack of support from the clergy, the North Phoenix
Corporative Ministry was dissolved.
(See NPCM History, 1966 - 1984, Box 1, File Folders 53-54.)
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection was received from former participants in the North Phoenix Corporate Ministry in 1998. Included are administrative
files, program files, financial records, information on organizations, news clippings, photographs, negatives, slides, audiotapes,
and a video.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Interdenominational cooperation--Arizona--Phoenix.
Church work with the poor--Arizona--Phoenix--History--20th Century--Sources.
Church and social problems--Arizona--Phoenix--History--20th Century--Sources.
City missions--Arizona--Phoenix--History--20th Century--Sources.
Community development--Religious aspects.
African Americans--Arizona--Phoenix.
African Americans--Economic conditions--20th Century.
Hispanic Americans--Arizona--Phoenix.
Hispanic Americans--Economic conditions--20th Century.
Index Terms Related to this Collection
Athans, Mary Christine.
BACKGROUND READING:
Churches, Cities, and Human Community: Urban Ministry in the United States, 1945 - 1985, edited by Clifford J. Green (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1996).
The Edge of the Ghetto: A Study of Church Involvement in Community Organization, by John Fish, Gordon Nelson, Walter Stuhr, and Lawrence Witmer (New York: The Seabury Press, 1966).
The Church in the Changing City, edited by Louis J. Luzbetak (Techny, IL: Divine Word Publications, 1966). Proceedings of a Conference on Inner City Research
held at the Catholic University of America November 1965.