Community Presence: Becoming Known for Doing Good

by George Welty

 

I moved to Memphis in 2007, and things were a bit of a mess. Crime was up. Homelessness and poverty were ubiquitous. City morale was down. And in the midst of it all, churches were leaving the city.

Some of the biggest, most successful churches in the area, across denominations, were the ones getting outside the city limits. I am not being critical; some of those churches that moved still did a lot of good for Memphis. Still, it felt like one more piece of evidence that Memphis was a city in decline.

At the time, I was a youth minister at a church that had decided not to leave the city. We had a lot of conversations about incarnational ministry: what it means to stay in a place and to have a ministry of presence within a city. Eventually, we landed on a truth worth considering: It does no good for the kingdom or the community for a church to stay in the city while having no impact on that city.

That is when I began asking a question: How can a church become known for doing good in the city it is in?

I began to realize there was an undercurrent of good happening in Memphis. Much of it came through parachurch and faith-based organizations dedicated to seeing the city thrive. Within Churches of Christ, organizations such as Agape Child & Family Services and HopeWorks were fighting homelessness and poverty. Other organizations were connected to different denominations, while some were not connected to any church at all. Still, they were all trying to make a difference.

Some had a narrow but deeply important focus. Caritas Village, for example, was a small community center in an underserved neighborhood, working to bring hope to a declining part of town. Room in the Inn gave people experiencing homelessness a safe place to eat and sleep. Others had a broader reach. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was (and is) making a global impact in the fight against childhood cancer.

Two major things began happening in the city.

First, churches started partnering with some of those organizations. Rather than creating something new every time a need appeared, churches went into the city, found where God was already working, and got involved. Sometimes the most faithful response is not, “What can we start?” but, “Where can we join?”

Second, churches began organizing together. I was part of the Memphis Christian Pastors Network, an organization of non-white and white ministers working together toward racial reconciliation. One of the larger churches started Jesus Loves Memphis, a project in which churches all over the city banded together for yard work, street cleanups, and other practical acts of service. Every yard was the beginning of a good joke: “A Catholic, a Baptist, and a CoC’er walked into a yard together…” But the punchline was not the joke. The punchline was unity. Christians who might not agree on every theological point could agree that their neighbors deserved care, their streets deserved attention, and their city was worth loving.

I moved away from Memphis in 2019 and returned to my home state, where I experienced a little whiplash. There seemed to be less cooperation between churches. At times, they seemed to be competing with one another, fighting for market share. Helping organizations also seemed more skeptical of each other, often competing for the same donations and volunteers.

A few months ago, we moved back to Memphis. For the first time in thirty years, I do not work for a church. For the first time in thirty years, I can visit churches without having to explain myself to anyone.

In the churches we have visited, it seems like every church has a thing. One church in Olive Branch, Mississippi, ministers to women and men in recovery from addiction. Another has dedicated itself to campus ministry at the University of Memphis. Another has made a huge impact by including and ministering to families with children who have significant disabilities. The church where I used to work is partnering with an organization that helps house children in the temporary custody of the state, and has built a house on its property for that purpose.

So many of the organizations that were here before are still fighting back the darkness, and new churches and organizations have joined the battle. In the seven years we were gone, Memphis seems to have gotten better. People seem nicer to one another. Neighborhoods seem to be improving. The parks are a little nicer, and the streets are a little cleaner. There is still darkness here, but it is definitely different… better. It feels more like a city on the rise.

So, how can a church become known for doing good in the city?

A church does not become known for doing good through clever branding or a more polished worship band. I think it happens when churches and organizations partner together to make Jesus known more than the name on their sign. It happens when the people of Christ make every effort to do the work of Christ in the city. It becomes known by showing up, listening, partnering, and serving. The church does not have to do everything, but they should do some things. Find the good things, the God things, and get busy.

 

About the Author

For the past thirty-something years, George Welty has been a history teacher, coach, youth minister, consultant, and, eventually, a minister to grown-ups. He enjoys telling the stories of God and inviting the curious into the adventure. George and his wife, Dana, live in Memphis, where she teaches second grade and he sells insurance.