Missions

Vision Statement

The vision of the Downtown Church Missions Team is to mobilize the gifts and resources of Downtown Church to preach the gospel in word and action beginning in Memphis and continuing throughout the earth.

In order to achieve our vision, Downtown Church has partnered with several individuals and organizations. Our current ministry partners are listed below along with contact information for each organization.

Fill out this form or email missions@downtownchurch.com if you are interested in applying for financial support.

Advance Memphis
https://www.advancememphis.org
The mission of Advance Memphis is to empower adults in South Memphis to break cycles of unemployment, establish economic stability, reconcile relationships, and restore dignity through knowledge, resources, and skills by the power of Jesus Christ.

Eikon Ministries
https://www.eikonministries.org
Eikon Ministries builds leaders who will change their communities from the inside out. Eikon Ministries provides clubs and camps for youth in the Binghampton area.

Excel Scholarship Programs
https://mlfonline.org/what-we-do/#programs
Excel seeks to help urban high school seniors plan and prepare for post-secondary opportunities. They also offer support, scholarship funding, and leadership development for select college students.

Fallen Walls
https://danielaaronharriscreations.com/home
Fallen Walls works to increase awareness about disability in church and to show that everyone belongs and contributes, regardless of ability.

Global Friends
https://www.globalfriendsmemphis.com
Global Friends exists to welcome, connect, and serve internationals in Memphis by journeying through faith and friendship. They are a registered student organization at the University of Memphis.
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Gustafson Family
This family has been working in Cambodia with Youth With A Mission(YWAM). They have been doing this work overseas for 20+ years. They train missionaries, work in administration with U of N Battambang, and preach and serve in their church.

Rhodes Family (Urban Neighbours of Hope New Zealand)
Rebecca's blog: https://therhodesfamilymemphistoaotearoa.blogspot.com
‍UNOH website: https://unoh.co.nz/
‍Support link: https://portal.trustbridgeglobal.com/public/donate?id=86f9a1c2175d4e9e89d86918aa35230e
‍UNOH workers immerse themselves in the lives of neighbourhoods facing urban poverty, joining the risen Jesus to seek transformation from the bottom up. The Rhodes live and serve as part of a small, responsive neighbourhood-based team in Randwick Park, Manurewa, South Auckland, working through various projects such as supporting literacy instruction in a local school, running a kids' Bible club, and participating in a discussion group for spiritually-seeking adults.

Richard Rieves (EPC Church Planting)
https://www.epcchurchplanting.com/ or rrieves@epcchurchplanting.org
EPC Church Planting recruits and assesses church planters and provides critical support to them through counseling, coaching, cohorts and biannual in-person training. We facilitate a community of support that encourages gospel relationships among church planters and engages them in a “planting in community” model.

Streets Ministries
https://www.streetsministries.org/
STREETS Ministries, through the love of Jesus Christ, engages, encourages, and equips youth to achieve their potential by realizing their God-given purpose. Streets Ministries provides mentoring, activities, and spiritual formation for youth.

World Relief Memphis
https://worldrelief.org/memphis/
World Relief Memphis comes alongside refugees and other immigrants in vulnerable situations as they rebuild their lives in the United States. They do this by creating welcoming communities, providing employment partners, providing mentors for youth, and giving education opportunities.

World Outreach (Nick and Amanda)
https://www.epcwo.org/
Partnering with the local church, through evangelism and discipleship, we ultimately hope to see a Syrian-led, reproducing church planted, among this unreached Muslim people group. Through home visits, men's soccer, women's crochet project, and other life-on-life ministry opportunities, we hope they will be ready and able to share the gospel with other Syrians—in this country, in Syria, or to the ends of the Earth.

Young Lives
https://memphis.younglife.org/
Young Lives comes alongside and supports teen moms. They do this through providing spiritual teaching, mentors, and supplies, and by organizing events and trips to summer camp.

Recommended Resources

To learn more about missions, check out the following books:

Justice, Mercy and Humility: Integral Mission and the Poor by Tim Chester (editor)
God of the Empty-Handed by Jayakumar Christian
The New Global Mission by Samuel Escobar
Introducing Christian Mission Today by Michael Goheen
A Light to the Nations by Michael Goheen
Walking with the Poor by Bryant L. Myers
Beyond Charity by John Perkins
Whole and Reconciled by Al Tizon
The Great Story and the Great Commission by Christopher Wright
The Mission of God by Christopher Wright

Advance Memphis— The mission of Advance Memphis is to empower adults in South Memphis to break cycles of unemployment, establish economic stability, reconcile relationships, and restore dignity through knowledge, resources, and skills by the power of Jesus Christ.

Memphis Young Lives - A ministry of Young Life to teen moms. Contact Danita Calhoun, Director.Streets Ministries — Mentoring is a one hour per week commitment to meet a student at Streets for tutoring. It is not complicated stuff and you CAN do it! The real vision is to foster a relationship that can grow into a life changing opportunity for you and your mentee. Bringing your mentee to DPC is another extension of this relationship and an opportunity for community. We believe a student ministry will be created through this effort over time. For more information contact Larren Joplin or visit streetsministries.org.

The Collective Blueprint of Memphis - Want to help young adults get to careers? Want to help tackle our city's workforce development challenges? Become an Ally with The Collective Blueprint. For nine months, you will walk alongside one of our Leaders (18-30 year old young adults) as they go through school, gain certifications, and enter the workforce as highly qualified professionals. Allies only have to commit 3-4 hours each month at our monthly community dinners, and the impact can be huge. Learn more after church this Sunday OR sign up here to volunteer - Ally Sign Up. For questions, contact Sarah Lockridge-Steckel at Sarah@changeiscollective.org.

World Relief Memphis - World Relief aims to mobilize churches to act on the instruction of Jesus Christ to Welcome the Stranger is World Relief's passion. They provide various services to newly-arriving refugees in the following areas: housing, employment, transportation, health care, education, and community. Check out their website to learn more https://worldrelief.org/memphis/get-involved/volunteer/.

Youth Leadership of Memphis - We are excited to be cutting grass again with inner-city kids. The Lord recently provided much needed funds for our ministry to continue on through the summer. Seeing the growth and maturity of these inner-city kids really encourages us as we attempt to show them what it means to work hard. For more information or to find out how you can get involved contact YLMemphis@gmail.com.

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