About Us
About Our Church
The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation was founded in 1984 by a group of lay people who believed they could develop a church by committing themselves to service and advocacy with the poor and oppressed in our community and beyond.
Our sanctuary before a recent Easter vigil.
Recycled Materials = A Newly-Created Church
The church building itself was constructed by students from the Construction Technology Program at Washtenaw Community College, a program founded by architect David Byrd, to enable minority youth to qualify for building trade apprenticeships.
David and his students used discarded and flawed materials to build our church and inscribed the words, “The stone the builders rejected,” over our front door. It’s a fitting description for a chapel that reveals how the New Creation can rise from the materials -- and people -- our society has rejected.
Find out more about the David Byrd Chapel in this brief video.
Living Out the Vision of the Beloved Community
We seek to create a beloved community through...
Connecting Lives through building relationships so that people can come to know and understand others and feel known and understood by them.
Transforming Faith through letting ourselves be transformed by faith, but also through transforming our faith, so that it speaks more clearly to our individual needs and the needs of our world.
Working for Justice through direct advocacy to bring about the changes in our community, society, and world which will enable people to know themselves and all beings as beloved.
We are known in the community and our diocese for our advocacy work, particularly around criminal justice reform, but also in such areas as anti-poverty and anti-racism work, LGBTQ+ inclusion, environmental concerns, and international solidarity work, particularly related to Palestine and Nicaragua. More recently, we are also becoming known for the work done through our Center for Contemplation and Spiritual Renewal. This latter work has grown in conjunction with the realization that we are an Interfaith Community that welcomes people any faith, or no faith, who feel called to walk in the Spirit of love, justice, and inclusion.
We embrace a model of collaborative and participatory ministry welcomes our whole community to participate in determining the direction of our common life and which encourages the development of small group ministries. These ministries are a core part of our community life, allowing people to participate in a variety of holistic small groups through which they have the opportunity to come to know and be known by others and/or participate in different service projects and advocacy efforts. Incarnation is a place where people are encouraged to be their whole selves, and to recognize the strengths and gifts of diversity. People are drawn to Incarnation by dynamic worship, prophetic preaching, a commitment to social justice, and a passionate spirituality that is grounded in spirit and in truth.