Memphis, and Every City, Needs Shalom.
While often translated as welfare or peace in our Bibles, the word shalom is packed with vivid meaning. It is a relational concept whereby there is harmony with one’s soul, one’s environment, and one’s neighbor. It includes both spiritual and physical wellbeing. The Scriptures make it clear, that the heart of shalom is a reconciled relationship with God himself through faith in Jesus Christ. Shalom is the way things ought to be!
Shalom includes both spiritual and physical wellbeing
We believe there are at least nine sectors of community life that contribute to shalom:
1. Spiritual Life and the Church
A strong church is the most important component of community transformation.
Pray that Second Presbyterian along with other local churches would all flourish with fruitful ministries.
2. Public Safety
Many in our city feel a constant threat to their sense of safety.
Pray that God would provide the safety for which they long (Psalm 4:8, 12:5) in their neighborhoods.
3. Family Life
As the primary venue where beliefs and behaviors are learned, the family is the most influential social component in life.
Pray for marriages, families, single parents, and those involved in adoption and foster care.
4. Education
Access to education, or the lack thereof, has a direct impact on public safety and the economic growth of a community.
Pray that the children in our city would enjoy the benefits that come from a quality education.
5. Health
Physical well-being is a vital component of community health and transformation.
Pray that our neighbors around the city would have access to health care.
6. Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization
Stable and quality housing is a necessity that not all of our neighbors enjoy.
Pray for beneficial community development and neighborhood revitalization.
7. Economic Development
Unemployment and underemployment create barriers to financial self-sufficiency.
Pray that more jobs would come to Memphis and that people would receive the skills they need to be job-ready.
8. Community Involvement and Leadership Development
Leaders in communities around our city need to be identified, encouraged, trained, and educated so that the next generation would be equipped and committed to the work of community transformation.
Pray for these young leaders.
9. Arts and Entertainment
Exposure to the arts in distressed neighborhoods provides opportunity and hope.
Pray that access to the arts would result in a flood of benefits for our neighbors.
Shalom happens when we work together
2PC’s Mission Memphis partnerships exist with 55 different ministry partners across the Memphis and Shelby County. Each organization specializes in particular needs in our city across all 9 of our shalom sectors. Individually, our partners address a limited scope of needs, sometimes working in silos. But together, with involvement from local churches, our partners can bring wholistic support to underserved communities.
All 9 pieces of the shalom “pie” are needed to move a community to stability. Yet, without Christ and his church at the center, shalom is reduced to social services. Instead, a gospel-centered ecosystem begins to exist in neglected communities as the Church and its partners work together to share the gospel in word and deed.
We look to the example of Jesus, who not only preached the good news but also brought restoration to our bodies (healing the sick, giving sight to the blind), our communities (feeding the 5,000), and our cultural assumptions (eating with tax collectors, talking to the Samaritan woman at the well).
As a church, we seek to engage well with our city, working alongside our ministry partners to bring reconciliation with God, others, and creation to neglected Memphis communities.