Emily is the founding pastor of St. Lydia's Dinner Church. A congregation in Brooklyn where communion is a shared around the table as a “sacred meal.” Emily founded the congregation in collaboration with friends and congregants in 2008, and departed in 2017. St. Lydia’s mission is to “dispel isolation, reconnect neighbors, and subvert the status quo.”

The term "Dinner Church" was coined by Rachel Kroh, St. Lydia's first staff person and a collaborator who had immense impact on the project. Since St. Lydia’s founding, Dinner Churches have sprung up all over the country, and St. Lydia's receives regular visits from church planters and leaders interested in learning about the practice. 

The congregation of St. Lydia’s continues to gather around the table each week, to share a sacred meal.