The Church will relaunch as a living space where people can reconnect with spirituality through art, creativity, conversation, music, performance, and shared experience. Rev. Richard Emmanuel kept the experiment going for over 50 years, now it is our turn!

For decades, The Church has held a unique place in Gloucester’s creative and spiritual landscape. It has been a place of mystery, art, friendship, and searching. Now it needs care, funding, and community support so it can enter the next chapter.

We are raising $100,000 to restore and relaunch The Church as a vibrant public-facing space for art, performance, discussion, and spiritual creativity.

The first major goal is to restore the second floor sanctuary. This would allow The Church to host exhibitions, small concerts, spoken-word events, talks, classes, ceremonies, and creative gatherings.

Richard had a concept (like the one above) of a much more open space. The new sanctuary space will become the heart of the building again. This will take labor and resources, but the work has already begun.The second goal is to clean and revive the downstairs meeting area so it can become a welcoming space for dynamic discussions and the exchange of ideas. This room can serve as a place for classes, workshops, small community gatherings, reading groups, spiritual discussions, artist talks, and planning meetings.

To make this relaunch possible, we need immediate help with moving, cleaning, storage, repairs, and code compliance. Many valuable items need to be safely moved into storage. The building and rectory need a deep cleaning. We also need a new website, social media presence, photography, signage, and public communication.

This is more than a renovation project. It is a resurrection of a creative commons.The Church will be restored as a place where art and spirituality meet, where people can explore meaning without dogma, where Gloucester’s creative history is preserved while new artists, thinkers, seekers, musicians, and neighbors are invited in.

We are asking for your help to make this relaunch possible.

Please make a gift today and help bring The Church back to life. Please click here to make a donation:

Or send your check to The Church, 153 E. Main St., Gloucester, MA 01930.

WHO WE ARE

We are old friends of Rev. Emmanuel who have benefitted over the years from his guidance and counsel. We are determined to preserve his experiment and carry it forward into the future. We all share ideas about how we can continue the work of The Church for the benefit of the Gloucester community.

Diahnka Kingsley, Trustee – Diankha is Richard’s sister and currently one of the three Trustees responsible for managing The Church. In 1976 she donated a significant sum to her brother to purchase the old Methodist Church where it all began. She has a been a source of inspiration to Richard all his life and plans to move into the rectory to actively guide the continuation of the experiment now that he is gone.

Thomas Brady, Trustee - Thomas was raised in Beverly Farms and currently lives Prides Crossing. Prior to retiring, he pursued a career in business and finance, working in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. He has known Richard since 1972 when he was in High School. They were close friends until Richard’s untimely death. Like many of us, they had many long conversations about life, philosophy and religions and Thomas often attended Richard’s Friday evening discussion groups. He brings a wealth of business acumen to his position as Trustee.

Robert Cohan, Esq., Trustee – Robert currently lives in Gloucester and is a semi-retired trial lawyer. He has been a close friend of Richard’s from the earliest days of his experiment. Richard officiated at his marriage to Dr. Phuli Cohan over thirty years ago. He will guide the experiment through legal issues as they arise.

Bill Crosby – Bill is The Church’s curator, caretaker, artist-in-residence, acupuncturist and a sculptor. He is the founder of the Well for Integrative Medicine in Gloucester where he has been practicing acupuncture since 2002. As curator he has taken a leading role in cleaning, organizing and documenting Richard’s vast collection of artwork and religious icons.

Sean Ryan has been a close friend and working associate of Richard for many years. He has devoted months of hands-on work cleaning, organizing, and reviving the Church building while carefully archiving and preserving Richard’s extensive designs, research, and creative legacy. He continues to help shape the Church’s future direction and develop its online presence.

If you would like to help us, please reach out by email to: fundtheexperimentalchurch@gmail.com

Thank you for your support.

Help Relaunch The Church

The Church is Preparing for the next 50 Years