Franklin Circle Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

"Widening The Circle For All God's Children!"

 

Our Pastor

Allen Harris is the Pastor of Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was called as a Redevelopment Pastor to the historic, diverse, urban congregation in the spring of 2001 in hopes of helping the congregation to reclaim a clear sense of its identity and to renew its mission to the community.  In April of 2004 the Region of Ohio and the congregation affirmed the work Allen and the congregation had done to revitalize the church and they called him to continue to be their Pastor.

 

Rev. Harris moved to Cleveland from New York city with his partner of 18 years, the Rev. Craig Hoffman, in 2000 after a 10 year pastorate at Park Avenue Christian Church in Manhattan.  Allen was privileged to serve as Associate to the Rev. John Wade Payne for nine of those ten years.  While serving as Associate Pastor at Park Avenue Christian Rev. Harris was ordained into ministry on Pentecost Sunday, 1991.

 

In his ministry at Park Avenue Christian Church Rev. Harris spent time studying and developing skills in working with multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, economically-diverse congregations.  He also served for almost ten years as the Developer for the  Open & Affirming Ministries Program of the Gay, Lesbian, and Affirming Disciples Alliance.  He continues to use all of these skills at Franklin Circle Christian Church.

 

Rev. Harris was born and raised in Roswell, New Mexico.  He received his B.S. in Religious Education at Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma and his M.Div., with a concentration in Religious Education, from Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, in Ft. Worth, Texas.  While at Brite he served for over three years as Assistant to the Pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Grapevine, Texas under the mentorship of Rev. Eleanor Cozad Cherryholmes.  He has authored articles in several journals, including DisciplesWorld, Homily, and Open Hands.  He and his partner have been remodeling a historic 1880's "folk Victorian" home using environmentally-friendly and sustainable techniques and building materials.

 

Currently, Rev. Harris is on the Community Advisory Board of Lutheran Hospital.  Within the Christian Church of Ohio (Disciples of Christ) he is honored to serve as Co-Director of Advance Conference, with the Rev. Margot Connor.  He was also elected in the summer of 2006 as an at-large member of the Adult Conference Planning Committee.

 

He has previously served on several non-profit and denominational boards, including Interfaith Partners In Action of Cleveland (InterAct Cleveland) where he served as Board President; the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) where he served on both the Administrative Committee and on the Executive Committee.  He is a proud graduate of the Neighborhood Leadership Institute (Class 17).

 

 

 

 

 

Writing letters to Public Officials on issues of public policy is not only a right and responsibility of every citizen, but an important part of a person of faith's stewardship of God's resources.  Click on the letter icon to the right to read some of Pastor Allen's recent personal letters to government officials.

 

 

Pastor Allen was invited to write for the DisciplesWorld magazine.

 Read his article here!

 

 

 

 

Pastor Allen's Places/People of Inspiration include...

 

 

 

 

NPR: Religion

http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1016
 

Weekly I explore the intersection between religion and society in our nation and world, with stories from Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other award-winning National Public Radio programs.  I invite you to either go to this website and hear an individual story, the past week's stories, or do what I do and sign up for Podcasts.

 

Speaking Of Faith

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/

Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett is public radio's most compelling and inviting conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.  Each week, Krista Tippett gently and yet insistently probes the myriad ways in which religious impulses inform every aspect of life and culture, nationally and globally.  Speaking of Faith fills an important and neglected need in American media (not to mention my own life) by addressing the intellectual and spiritual content of religion head-on, illuminating the ideas and practices that form the headlines from the inside.  Krista brings an honesty, vulnerability, and curiosity to every conversation she has.  This show is very appealing to me.

Now in its fourth year as a weekly program, Speaking of Faith has brought an unprecedented range of religious perspectives, voices, and topics to listeners on-air and on-line.  The Columbia Journalism Review says of Tippett: "To listen to her show is to hear how intelligent and thoughtful religious people can be when they are allowed to be subjective and not merely regurgitate dogma."

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor Allen Participated In Cathedral College Conference June 2 2-7

In early June 2007 Pastor Allen traveed to Washington, D.C. to participate with about 30 other clergy from around the country in an exciting continuing education event. From June 2 to 7, 2007 he was at a Cathedral College conference titled, "The City of God for American Cities: Reinventing the Urban Church." Key leaders were the Rev. Dr. James Forbes, recently retired Senior Pastor of The Riverside Church in New York City, the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, author and professor of religion at Piedmont College, and Douglass Bailey, founder and president of the Center for Urban Ministry, Inc., at Wake Forest University Divinity School.

      

(The Rev. Douglass Bailey (left), The Rev. James Forbes (center), and the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor (right)

Cities are the context for crisis and encouragement, division and healing isolation and community. At the center of the city is the urban church, an anchor of hope and a symbol of the city of God.  However, many city churches of all denominations are in search of inspiration and renewed mission.  This conference was a learning laboratory for building up the urban body of Christ. Participants will share the meaning of a compelling vocation to be urban clergy and urban congregations through study with nationally known keynote speakers, plenary discussion, Biblical reflection and pilgrimages to several of Washington’s imaginative ministries.  Past conference faculty have included Barbara Lundblad, Walter Brueggemann, Frank Thomas, Joanna Adams, and Marian Wright Edelman.

To find out more, go to:  http://www.cathedralcollege.org/pages/cnfrnc/conferenceSchdl7.shtml

 

 

Some Quotes That Inspire Me:

 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

 

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of

 

trees and a blue true dream of sky;

 

and for everything which is natural

which is infinite which is yes

 

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday;

this is the birth day of life and love

 

and wings: and of the gay great

happening illimitably earth)

 

how should tasting touching hearing

seeing breathing any-lifted from the no

of all nothing-human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

 

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

 

e.e. cummings

[thanks to our friends at Findlay St. Christian Church in Seattle, WA for this poem!]