Can Co-Location Beget Community?
What happens when a church, a synagogue, and a mosque build not just neighboring sanctuaries—but an actual community—on the same campus?
That’s the question at the heart of this inspiring clip from Day1 Episode #4189, featuring Rev. Dr. Jenny Shultz-Thomas, Senior Minister of Countryside Community Church (UCC) in Omaha, Nebraska. In conversation with host Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime, Shultz-Thomas reflects on her call to serve in one of the most unique faith settings in the country: the Tri-Faith Initiative, a bold and visionary interfaith partnership between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities.
Rooted in shared land and mutual respect, this partnership invites us to consider what true interfaith presence looks like—and how bold questions like “Does co-location beget community?” can yield beautiful, Spirit-filled answers.
Learn more about this one-of-a-kind ministry—and how it can shape the Church’s witness today.
Watch the Clip
Full Transcript
Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime
Tell us a little bit about your ministry perch where you sit in Omaha, Nebraska, and especially this part about how your church is the Christian partner of the Tri-Faith Initiative? Do tell.
Rev. Dr. Jenny Shultz-Thomas
Yes, no, it's exciting. So yes, I'm the senior minister here at Countryside Community Church. We are in Omaha, Nebraska.
I visited Omaha once for my interview and then moved here. It was that amazing. So yes, we at Countryside are the Christian partner in the Tri-Faith Initiative. We're settled here on a 33-acre campus. And on this campus, we have a synagogue, a Jewish congregation, and then AMI, the American Muslim Institute.
And then we have a fourth building called the Tri-Faith Center. And then we, the Christian church, is Countryside Community Church, the United Church of Christ. So, sort of one of those dreams. I've been watching the Tri-Faith Initiative grow and bloom since it was just an idea. So, years ago—2008, 2009—I’ve actually preached about Tri-Faith as a bold, wonderful initiative to my former congregations.
So before coming here, I was working in North Carolina, kind of home where my family is, and thought, you know, this is the long haul. I'm gonna be in North Carolina, you know, forever. And then here comes knocking—one of the most amazing, bold congregations in the UCC, and I would say just ecumenically and interfaith organizations. So Tri-Faith is—gosh—it's a wonderful, amazing, challenging place to serve.
Tri-Faith, really, it's these three congregations and some of these faith leaders who asked a really important question. They said, "Does co-location beget community?"
Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime
Does co-location beget community? What a question.
Rev. Dr. Jenny Shultz-Thomas
You're right, a big, bold question. And you know, unless you have those experiences, it's sort of one of those things that we can ideate, you know, ways to create. But then you have the manifestation of these beautiful relationships blooming right here in the middle of the Midwest.
So yeah, it's a beautiful place, a wonderful place to serve.
Reflection
Rev. Dr. Jenny Shultz-Thomas offers a vision of Church leadership that embraces presence over perfection, proximity over performance.
Her witness from the Tri-Faith campus in Omaha reflects what so many congregations yearn for: not only to preach love, but to build love into the very geography of their communities. The question “Does co-location beget community?” challenges us to evaluate how we share space, power, and purpose with those who differ from us.
- How might your own ministry settings reflect—or resist—the call to bold, interfaith presence?
- What spaces in your community are ripe for shared sacred life?
- How can we build bridges not only of understanding, but of co-dwelling?
Explore Rev. Dr. Jenny Shultz-Thomas’s full sermon from episode 4189 >>>
