MISSION
We hold space for people to uncover the sacred and practice radical care–for themselves, each other, and the world.
OUR SPACE
In terms of geography, our space has been based in Greensboro, NC, since our founding. Today, Kinward is located at the historic Revolution Mill campus, once the first flannel mill of the South and now a mixed-use space for creative work and creative living. You can feel the history of the space in the Kinward Center, with original maple floors, high ceilings with exposed beams, and tall arched windows.
Here, we have a classroom space where we host programming as well as a meditation room, library, little shop, and community lounge. Please give us an email or call if you want to drop by – we’d love to visit with you!
Operating Hours: Monday – Thursday
1000 Revolution Mill Dr, Suite #3
Greensboro, NC 27405
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Before moving to Revolution Mill in 2025, the Center was housed on the grounds of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Greensboro. Over the course of the more than 20 years we operated at Holy Trinity, thousands of people from across town and all over the United States came through our space – participating in the four-semester Servant Leadership curriculum and other programs; passing time at the Sacred Garden bookstore and wine bar; and attending events like the weekend-long Co-Creation conference and retreat.
Whatever the geographical coordinates, we seek to cultivate sacred space wherever we go. What is sacred space? It’s something you feel. It’s slower… slow enough to support present moment conscious awareness. It’s curious… characterized by a listening presence that’s open to what is and unassuming of what should be. It’s co-created… between and by people, in concert with Spirit in a shared intention of care. In sacred space we bear witness and dare to be witnessed. We release the need to fix and let change metabolize inside of us, as it does when it comes in contact with loving attention.
OUR STORY
The organization was founded in 1992 by an ecumenical group of area faith and lay leaders. This group traveled to Gordon Cosby’s Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. There, they experienced a “people’s seminary” (modeled after Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “underground seminary”) where spirituality went beyond sitting in church pews on Sunday to hear the gospel. At Church of the Saviour, folks were actively engaged in both an inward journey of spiritual discernment and an outward journey of service. There was a shared belief that everyone has unique gifts and is Called to do something with them, for the betterment of the world. Prayer and community were considered essential to this path of practice.
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The Greensboro group was inspired not just by this model of Christianity but by its fruits – now dozens of ministries providing education, housing, food security, medical and hospice care, spaces for spiritual practice and community, addiction recovery, and job support to folks in the broader DC community. They were also inspired by Robert Greenleaf’s principles of servant leadership, an examination into the nature of power and a methodology for inverting power systems to center the needs of others first – the application of which has been adopted in educational and corporate contexts, and beyond.
Feeling a sense of “prayer soaked” Call, this group of faith leaders and spiritual practitioners came back to North Carolina and founded the Servant Leadership School of Greensboro, one of many around the country. Initially a special project of, and funded by the church, we are now an independently operated 501.c.3 nonprofit. Around the same time we became a nonprofit, the organization adopted a new name: Second Breath Center. During this chapter, we launched an app catalog of guided spiritual practices and meditations. And when COVID hit, and we had to shutter operations at Holy Trinity, we launched an online school to continue offering spiritual programming to folks as they sheltered in place.
As the world has re-emerged from COVID lockdowns, so have we. Now, as Kinward, at Revolution Mill, we offer a community space, a third place where people can gather to just be – whether for spiritual practice, coffee, book studies, documentary series, or potlucks. As since the beginning, we continue to offer transformative programming, facilitating individuals through learning communities that help them question inherited beliefs, reimagine their roles, and explore new ways of being. Many Greensboro-area landmark establishments and service organizations began as seeds of discernment inside the walls of the Center. And we will continue to encourage this outward ripples that happen naturally as people reconnect with themselves and others; as they begin to live differently.
OUR NAME
A Center for Presence, Practice, and Purpose
kinward
Meaning toward kinship, this web of relationships and social structures of care.
Meaning nurturing the inward and the outward; in service to the collective, in care of the self.
Meaning oneness of self and other and the world.
A Center for Presence, Practice, and Purpose
Presence: Nurturing and deepening connection to each person we meet and the world around us.
Practice: Creating space for pause, breath, and Sacred rest —an invitation to prayer beyond words or dogma, open to all.
Purpose: Cultivating collaboration with Spirit and becoming co-creators of love, wholeness, and new possibilities.
This is also a call-back to frameworks from the original Servant Leadership School of Greensboro curriculum, where presence, practice, and purpose align with the historic compassion, communion, and co-creation.
hold
a posture of openness; no forceful agendas, no striving or contriving, just receptivity to what’s arising as the spirit moves
[influenced by this interview with adrienne maree brown on the facilitator’s role in holding change]
space
physical (of place, i.e. the Center, space away),
temporal (of time, i.e. for yourself, to practice),
liminal (of thresholds, i.e. between who you were and who you are becoming, between action and reaction, the pause)
seekers
of what’s true and what’s possible; those who inquire, dream, tinker, experiment, play, create, wonder, imagine – learning, unlearning, and relearning; the spiritually thoughtful
uncover
as opposed to covering (masking) or recovering (fixing), we uncover – shedding layers of experience, cultural conditioning, habituated patterns, and narratives to find the sacred has been here all along
sacred
holy, Divine; infinite and interdependent in nature; in us, around us, through us [influenced by commentary on and David Whyte’s poetry]
practice
a process of learning characterized by embodied participation and ritual repetition; e.g. spiritual practice, to practice new ways of being
radical
rooted, from Latin radix, radic- (in the senses ‘forming the root’ and ‘inherent’); counter cultural; active
care
considerate (discerning), generous attention; a tending // attending; beyond self care, beyond saviorism, where presence (contemplation) and practice (action) meet
OUR CORE TENETS
We show up to do our best work, take radical responsibility, and care for the people and purpose around you. Here are some discrete components of integrity filled commitment.
Thoughtful Excellence: We produce quality work in all areas.
Ownership: We are invested in, responsible for, and accountable for our work at Kinward Center.
Commitment to Spiritual Practice: We practice and bring this consciousness and grounded presence to our work.
Abiding Care for the Individual: With abiding love and deep care, we seek to see, hold, respect, and learn from the whole human being before us.
Simple is Better: Clear communication is kind.
Develop Vibrant Teams: We recruit, inspire, and provide clarity so people can flourish in their giftedness.
Earn Trust: We commit to building trust and to repairing trust with intention through the embodiment of integrity, the holding of confidentiality, and grounded professionalism.
Frame, Discuss, and Commit: Where we need consensus, seek agreement. Where we don’t, be willing to disagree and commit.
We stay open, courageous, and collaborative, especially when ideas or perspectives differ. Here are some discrete components of integrity filled commitment.
Fearless Curiosity: We are open and curious even with daunting concepts, ideas, and situations.
Courageous and Kind Directness: We share our perspectives, and uncover conflict, trusting that with agreements and disagreements we may see reality more completely.
Wisdom Within: We trust that there is wisdom and divine within all of us and create the space to build on the insights of one another.
Strength in Perspectives: To create a more loving and complete world, we must ensure all are heard as we seek to invite broadening perspectives and bridge across differences.
Trust Flow: We are co-creating with the Divine and sense what is working, not working, and may work.
Always Evolving: We believe in the importance of risk-taking and iterating towards excellence. Do your best; when you know better; do better.
