In Christian tradition goodness is never just a private possession or a personal virtue. The good is something always shared, worked for with others, sought out in community. Neighbors and neighborhood are essential to our life. At Christ Church, we’re actively asking what it means to be an urban church, responsive to and welcoming of the particular gifts and needs, the character and the characters of downtown Little Rock.

FOod, music & art

Through a 2019 master planning process that included several town hall meetings, Christ Church clarified its call to serve the wider community through three interconnected areas: food, music, and art.

Food: Our Green Groceries Program provides fresh, local food access, and we host community meals, receptions, and table fellowship open to all. Parish volunteers prepare meals for emergency warming shelters and distribute snacks, water, and toiletries to unhoused neighbors. We anticipate adding a clothing closet this fall.

Music: The Arts@ChristChurch concert series and performances in our intimate Undercroft welcome broad audiences beyond the congregation. Our liturgical music program regularly draws nonmembers seeking beauty, reflection, and sacred space.

Art: Quarterly exhibitions feature local artists and provide accessible cultural programming downtown. A few permanent installations bring joy to the community as well.

a busy parish house

Additional ministries include recovery meetings, youth basketball training, Tai Chi classes, book groups and formation opportunities for the unchurched and spiritually curious, volunteer partnerships with a local elementary school, and flexible meeting and incubator space for community groups and nonprofit start-ups. We also provide office and collaboration space for the Arkansas Local Food Network. We provide meeting space for Central Arkansas Water (the water utility and our next door neighbor), and the Women’s Federation of Arkansas. Recently, we hosted GetLoud Arkansas, a non-profit working to increase voter registration in our state. Guided by principles of asset-based community development, Christ Church seeks to leverage its historic campus as a shared civic resource that fosters connection, creativity, and care for neighbors across downtown Little Rock. We feel called to provide sacred space in the heart of our city into which everyone is welcome.

Go forth into the world to love and serve

As we leave church each week, we’re charged by a deacon to go and serve. Christ Church partners with local and worldwide agencies, such as Stewpot and St. Francis House, Our House, Episcopal Relief and Development, and others, to feed those who are hungry and house those who are homeless, and to help heal addictions. We’re striving to make a difference.