Message from the Rector: Christ Church Cranbrook Receives Major Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Dear Ones,

I am grateful and excited to share significant news about the life of our parish and our calling to serve Metro Detroit.

Christ Church Cranbrook has been awarded a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch Faith in Detroit, a four-year initiative dedicated to finding, nurturing, and sharing compelling, authentic stories of faith lived out across our city and region. You can click here to read our full press release, and you can click here to read a piece from Crain’s Detroit Business about the project.

Over the past decade, our parish has grown, adding more than 1,200 members and launching initiatives such as the Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies, The Cranbrook Project, the Interfaith Dental Program, Thriving Families, and more. These initiatives extend our ministry and work well beyond the walls of our church. Through this work, we have built deep relationships with faith communities, cultural institutions, artists, educators, and service organizations throughout Metro Detroit and beyond. Faith in Detroit builds directly on this foundation.

Our title, Faith in Detroit, captures the dual purpose of this project.

First, FAITH in Detroit: We seek stories and storytellers that reflect the faith of the people in Detroit—lives marked by courage, compassion, care, and resilience. By supporting these voices, we aim to build a storytelling ecosystem that connects them to a larger community and reframes how the Christian faith is seen in our city.

Second, Faith in DETROIT: We aim to use our storytelling ecosystem to challenge Detroit’s dominant narrative of decline and limited recovery. This narrative fuels harmful stereotypes and division. By sharing compelling stories of faith, we hope to help faith communities tell the story of resilience and belonging, hallmarks of God’s presence in our lives

This initiative brings together an extraordinary group of partners, including Detroit PBS, Detroit Opera, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Oakland University’s Center for Public Humanities, The Cranbrook Project, Storymaker, and a wide network of artists, theologians, professors, pastors, and community leaders. Together, we will integrate storytelling with new technologies, media, and artistic practices through documentaries, an opera, digital storytelling tools, writing and art workshops, public gatherings, and educational offerings to deepen connection, participation, and understanding.

We undertake this work as an Episcopal church rooted in Metro Detroit and shaped by the Gospel’s call to love, justice, grace, forgiveness, and community. We are committed to telling a fuller story about this city, one that reflects the vibrant faith, creativity, and courage of its people.

In the months ahead, there will be many opportunities for learning, participation, and storytelling within our congregation and across the region. I hope you will see Faith in Detroit as an extension of your shared life of faith and our deep love for this city.

Thank you for your trust, your prayers, and your partnership in this ministry. It is an honor to walk this journey together.

As always, I remain grateful and humbled to be the Rector of Christ Church Cranbrook.

Yours faithfully,

The Rev. Dr. William J. Danaher

Rector, Christ Church Cranbrook

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