Let’s take a walk together! The power of a parish pilgrimage.
by Emma Rooker
***These reflections come from conversations with Inhabit attendees from 2025, particularly around their experiences partaking in the neighborhood parish pilgrimages.
In the spring of 2025, people came from all over the country to gather in Chicago for the Inhabit Conference, rooted in the Lawndale neighborhood. When we gather together, there are meaningful moments found in stories and songs, shared meals, and chances to connect. But some of the most transformative moments don’t happen inside the building. Some of them happen on a walk.
At Inhabit, attendees are invited to embark on parish pilgrimages. These pilgrimages are simple, intentional neighborhood walks, guided by locals who live, move, and have their being in the Chicago neighborhoods we visit. Last year, folks could choose between a handful of different routes, and joined groups to visit places like the gym, health clinic and farm in Lawndale, or stroll through Little Village, listening to stories and eating from local restaurants.
But, why walk through a neighborhood that is not your own?
Often, neighborhood work can feel slow and sometimes lonely. It can be easy to feel siloed or discouraged when relationships or change takes time. Taking a stroll through someone else’s neighborhood, and seeing a place through different eyes, can offer us new perspectives, inspire us to think about our own communities in new ways, and breathe new life into our imaginations again.
One attendee reflected: “I love to see how others love their neighborhood. It spurs me creatively to love mine in new ways.”
When we walk with intention and take in the scenery around, we’re forced to slow down and invited into an embodied experience of a place. When we do so, we can notice more, listen deeper and differently, and observe in a more visceral way: sounds and smells of everyday life, conversations on sidewalks, food cooking at a local businesses, cars slowing for school children crossing the street, the rhythms of people inhabiting and sustaining their communities together. Slowing down allows us to pay attention to the subtle signs of life and renewal around us.
Another Inhabit pilgrim shared that they were struck by how much could grow out of simple listening. “I was surprised by how many jobs were created for the community by listening and partnering not only for the community, but with the community.”
For some, these walks brought thoughts of their own neighborhoods. One participant reflected on how their church had once identified a need for housing and built an affordable housing complex on their land. Today, that space is now teeming with community and life. Walking through Lawndale brought that story back into focus, a reminder of what might be possible when the people of God pay attention, collaborate, and respond together for the shalom and flourishing of their place.
For many, the impact of these parish pilgrimages did not stay in Chicago.
People return home with fresh eyes. In Rainier Beach, Seattle, two young adults began incorporating neighborhood walks into their own ministry as a way for newcomers to learn the history and story of the neighborhood and see it in a new and nuanced way. What they first experienced at Inhabit became a regular practice shaping how they welcome and engage others with their neighborhood life and work.
Others carried home a sense of encouragement and inspiration. One attendee shared how meaningful it was to see that the community spaces like the Lawndale health clinic and aquaponics systems were not only built but sustained by the people they serve, with the benefits of hard work and toil flowing right back into the community. Pilgrims were often met with good surprises, things they may not have expected upon first glance. “I was surprised the church behind all of this was not large,” one person said. “That was really encouraging, especially coming from a small but willing congregation.”
Walking through a neighborhood is not about copying what you see or trying to manufacture new ideas. It is about learning to recognize what is possible, where God has already been at work, in our own neighborhoods and in neighborhoods around the world. God’s redemption is not abstract. It is local, relational, and grounded in places we call home.
Theologian Dr. Montague Williams describes pilgrimage as “an intentional and open journey to a place of sacred significance to engage in life-giving discernment that shapes our return home and enhances our growth in meaning-making.”
At Inhabit, parish pilgrimages are one way we practice this kind of discernment together.
Join us at Inhabit, and let’s take a walk together!More info about Inhabit here.
*Parish pilgrimage sign-ups at Inhabit 2026 will open in mid-April.
Attendees will be able to choose from several neighborhood walks, each guided by local leaders and rooted in real stories of place. Keep an eye on your inbox for details and next steps so you can reserve your spot.
