A Neighborhood Church on the Corner of 46th and Capitol
Fairview Presbyterian Church sits on the corner of 46th Street and Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis, on the northern edge of the city between Meridian Street and the Butler University campus, in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. The congregation that gathers in its red brick sanctuary on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. has built its life around a simple statement: All people are welcome at Fairview. All people - every race, gender identity, sexual orientation, faith, and background. No exceptions. That welcome is lived out in a quirky mix of activities that includes a handbell choir, a long-running literacy project in rural Ghana, a neighborhood mental health handbook co-written with three other Butler-Tarkington churches, and a discipleship program the church calls the Paths.
The church describes its mission in three lines: To be guided by God, always acting in love. To explore questions we all face. To address anxiety and promote mental health. It is a PC(USA) congregation governed at every level by members working alongside pastors, as Presbyterian polity requires, and it is intentional in saying that not everyone there answers the hard questions the same way - and that is, as the church puts it, OK.
The Paths of Discipleship: How Fairview Teaches Faith
The most distinctive thing about Fairview is a discipleship framework called the Paths of Discipleship. The congregation has organized the Christian life into six paths - Worship, Prayer, Study, Serving, Giving, and Sharing - and has written out three steps along each one. The idea, the church explains, is that Christian faith and following Jesus cannot be measured or graded, but it can be helpful to look at discipleship as a series of steps that give goals to move toward.
The three steps in every path are called First Steps, Next Steps, and Further Steps. Someone may be at the First Step of one path and the Further Step of another, and that is fine. The point is to be taking the next step somewhere. A printable PDF of the paths and steps is available for anyone who wants to follow along at home.
The Worship Path
The Worship Path begins with simply finding a church service to attend, onsite or online, and moves through making weekly worship a priority, engaging prayerfully in each part of the service, and eventually learning the meaning and intention of every part of the liturgy. The church has written a Worship Vision for Fairview, posted on the website, that lays out how Fairview understands its Sunday gathering. Members are encouraged to read the scripture ahead of the service from the Sunday bulletin online, to use the words of hymns and prayers as their own prayers, and to journal about how the service will shape their week. When they travel, the path suggests, they can worship at a different congregation - or worship with Fairview online through the Facebook page.
The Prayer Path
The Prayer Path moves from joining in the prayers of worship and praying briefly before meals, to setting aside a quiet time each morning, to committing to daily prayer as a tool for discernment. Fairview recommends the PC(USA) Daily Prayer app and copies of These Days, a devotional the church keeps in the narthex for anyone to take. Further along the path, the church introduces practices such as Ignatian prayer, Lectio Divina, and keeping a prayer journal.
The Study Path
The Study Path starts with reading a few verses of the Bible each day, perhaps picking a book like Mark or the Psalms and working slowly through it. Fairview recommends online tools like d365.org and the These Days devotional for daily readings. Next steps include using a study Bible (the CEB Study Bible is suggested), reading introductory books on Christian faith, and joining a Bible study or small group. Further along, the path encourages systematic Bible reading with a plan from Bible Gateway, working through a Bible commentary like the HarperCollins Bible Commentary, and going deep into a particular theological question - the church even posts a bibliography titled Escaping the Violence of Bad Atonement Theology.
The Serving Path
The Serving Path is where Fairview's neighborhood focus comes alive. First Steps include learning about local organizations and signing up to volunteer for a few hours. The church supports a number of long-standing partners: Wheeler Mission, Gleaners Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and IPS James W. Riley School (School 43), where Fairview members serve as tutors, classroom helpers, and Cub Scout leaders. Next steps include committing to regular service once a month or once a week and moving from charity to advocacy through the PC(USA) Office for Public Witness and direct contact with members of Congress. Further steps include learning about the root causes of poverty and inequity and developing ongoing relationships with the people being served.
The Giving Path
The Giving Path begins with thinking about giving before arriving at church on Sunday and trying out a volunteer role. Next steps involve making an annual financial pledge, signing up to serve as a liturgist, usher, communion preparer, or offering counter on a rotating basis, and joining a committee that handles an area of church life like worship, Christian education, finances, congregational care, or buildings and grounds. Further along, the path encourages proportional giving from a percentage of income, planning for the church in estate plans, and offering to serve wherever there is an unmet need. The church has a Planned Giving guide from the Presbyterian Foundation available as a downloadable PDF.
The Sharing Path
The Sharing Path reframes evangelism. First Steps invite members to name what their faith means to them and to reframe sharing faith as telling a friend about a great restaurant rather than recruiting someone to a cause. Next steps include sharing stories of faith with people inside the church and inviting someone to worship or a potluck. Further along, the path encourages looking for people with hurts and needs, listening to them, praying with them when appropriate, and offering rides to church. The church points to PC(USA)'s 8 Habits of Evangelism as a resource for thinking about evangelism as meeting the needs of neighbors rather than growing membership rolls.
Sunday Worship at 10:30
Worship is held every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary and is also livestreamed on the church's Facebook page at facebook.com/FairviewPres. The page can be reached through a web browser without signing in for a Facebook account, which the church makes a point of noting. Each service includes music, scripture readings, prayers, a time for members to share joys and concerns, and a sermon.
On a typical Sunday, greeters welcome visitors at the door with a program that lists the day's service and information about ministries. The church is located on the corner of 46th and Capitol with a parking lot and on-street parking on Capitol Avenue available. On the question of what to wear, the church answers directly: Clothes! Beyond that, it's whatever you feel comfortable in. Members arrive in jeans and a t-shirt as often as in a suit and tie.
Children are welcome in the sanctuary. Activity bags with books and coloring supplies hang on the back wall of the sanctuary for use during the service, and a basket of quiet toys, books, and a blanket to sit on is kept in the narthex for use in the open space at the back of the church. Two weekly emails are available by subscription - one for event highlights and one for prayer concerns.
The Music Program: Handbells, Choir, and a Young Music Director
Music is a serious part of life at Fairview. Caleb Meadows serves as Music Director, leading the choir and playing piano and organ for worship. A graduate of Butler University with a double major in Piano Performance and Recording Industries Studies, Caleb brings experience in traditional and contemporary worship as well as classical, jazz, rock, and pop. Larry Goens directs the Handbell Choir and continues to sing with both the Fairview Chancel Choir and the Indianapolis Opera, a thread he has kept since his undergraduate years at the Butler University Jordan College of Fine Arts. The chancel choir itself is a regular part of Sunday worship, and the handbell choir offers a different texture of music for the congregation to experience.
The Ghana Literacy Project
Fairview has a special and enduring place in its heart for the country and people of Ghana, thousands of miles and oceans away. Over the last twenty years, Fairview member Charlotte Anokwa, an accomplished educator and writer, and the Anokwa family have challenged the congregation to extend its heart, mission, and belief in God beyond its corner of Indianapolis by serving the needs of Presbyterian churches in Ghana.
Fairview is currently supporting the small rural village of Kyebi, in the Akyem Abuakwa district of southern Ghana. The primary objective is to increase literacy in the local language, Twi, as a stepping-stone toward literacy in English, which is the official language and the medium of instruction in schools. Without English, a child cannot pass any exam for admission into middle and secondary schools. With economic hardships and a lack of resources, Sunday schools in most Presbyterian congregations in Ghana have completely died out. In a country where illiteracy runs as high as 90 percent for males and even higher for females, literacy education through the church ensures the ability to read and appreciate the Bible and promotes advancement in the formal educational system.
Members and visitors can support the project in several ways: make a direct financial contribution through Fairview to the Presbyterian Second-Chance Project / Kyebi Library; donate basic easy-to-read paperback books; tell other congregations about it; sponsor its establishment in a congregation they know; or pray for growth and sustainability. Donations can be general or directed to specific items such as $5 for a basic easy-to-read book, $10 to $15 for a Twi or English Bible, or $3,000 to $5,000 for a complete library for a village.
Mental Health and the Butler-Tarkington Partnership
One of Fairview's stated missions is to address anxiety and promote mental health, and the church has put real work into that. The congregation helped produce a Handbook of Help for Mental Health, designed to be a single source of referrals for people in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood and greater Indianapolis. The project began when several Butler-Tarkington neighborhood churches - St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fairview Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Church, and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church - joined together to sponsor a mental health speaker series for the community. Follow-up dialogue identified the goal of producing a handbook as a tangible resource these churches could share with their congregations and the neighborhoods they serve. The handbook is available as a shared Google Drive folder linked from the church's Caring and Helping page.
On the same page the church lists partner organizations that make a difference in Indianapolis. The Martin Luther King Center runs a busy school program for kids, especially the students of School 43. The Raphael Health Center provides affordable medical, mental, and dental health care. Gleaners Food Bank supplies food both directly and to other pantries and feeding programs. Bread for the World organizes advocacy with elected leaders on hunger policy. The local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) chapter offers online support groups. Each fourth Sunday, Fairview takes a collection of food and money for Boulevard Place, a food pantry in its neighborhood. Many in the congregation volunteer weekly at James W. Riley Elementary School, six blocks south, as tutors, classroom helpers, and Cub Scout leaders.
A Welcoming and Questioning Congregation
Fairview describes itself as a church that encourages discussion and dialogue about faith and the world. Is the Bible true? Would a loving God really send someone to Hell? Why do some Christians think evolution is contrary to scripture? When is violence, if ever, justified? These are the kinds of questions members wrestle with together. The congregation holds that its Presbyterian traditions give guidance in answering them, but that not everyone answers them the same way, and that is OK.
The Welcome statement on the church's website is uncompromising: Everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or age is welcome here. All who seek to learn about God's astounding love as revealed and modeled by Christ Jesus, and who wish to sing God's praises, will be embraced as brothers and sisters in faith. Pastor Shawn Coons has preached series on inclusive language for God and on the Christian foundations for fully affirming LGBTQ+ members, and a series titled Half-Truths that took apart common Christian sayings - everything happens for a reason, God helps those who help themselves, God won't give you more than you can handle, love the sinner hate the sin - to find the truth inside and the harm that comes from saying them carelessly. A Big Feelings series walked through happiness, sadness, anger, and fear, working from Cole Arthur Riley's This Here Flesh.
The Fairview Early Childhood Program
On the same campus, the Fairview Early Childhood Program operates a play-based preschool for young children. Meg Eyrich has been part of the program since 2021 and serves as Preschool Director. She and her team focus on building a fun, nurturing, play-based learning experience where children can explore, grow, and get to be kids. The program partners with families and teachers to help each child thrive socially, emotionally, and academically in ways that feel natural and developmentally appropriate.
Leadership
Shawn Coons has served as pastor of Fairview since 2012. He holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and believes faith should be honest about hard questions, engaged with the real world, and, whenever possible, fun. He writes about ministry hacks, technology, productivity, and self-care at Hack Pastor, a newsletter for volunteer and professional church leaders. Outside the pulpit he is a gamer (video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games), a regular Gen Con attendee, an aspiring sourdough baker, and a very amateur caver. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and is the parent of two adult children.
Caleb Meadows leads the music program as described above. Larry Goens directs the Handbell Choir and serves as Office Administrator. Marc Oversheide keeps the building running as Building Technician, drawing on thirty-five years of experience in mechanical design, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and project management in the automotive and aerospace industries.
What to Expect as a First-Time Visitor
Fairview sits on the corner of 46th Street and Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis, with its parking lot and on-street parking on Capitol available. Greeters are at the door each Sunday. Visitors are handed a printed program with the day's service and information about ministries. The sanctuary is the central worship space; the narthex holds the quiet toys for children and copies of the These Days devotional for anyone who would like one. The congregation gathers from around Indianapolis and beyond. Online worshippers can join through facebook.com/FairviewPres on any web browser without a Facebook account. Sunday bulletins are posted online in advance so that scripture readings and songs can be previewed before the service.
Children and all their joyful noises are welcome in worship. The activity bags on the back wall and the basket in the narthex are there for use during the service. There is no dress code beyond wearing clothes. Two weekly email lists - one for event highlights, one for prayer concerns - can be subscribed to from the website. The church also has a downloadable Worship Vision, a Paths of Discipleship summary PDF, and a Mental Health Handbook, all linked from the Caring and Helping section of the site.