Changing Churches

Dear friends,

Winds of change are blowing—not only in our city, but in churches. Are we paying attention?

Mile High Ministries was born in the 1980s from a movement called Unleashing the Church. Responding to a wellspring of compassion and generosity, MHM invited congregations from affluent suburbs to venture beyond their church walls to encounter Christ among the poor in the “inner city.”

Four decades later, churches are responding in new ways to God’s heart for those who are vulnerable and marginalized. The landscape of the city has changed and so has church life, especially after the pandemic. Increasingly, churches are wrestling with matters of justice and compassion in their own communities, among people living in poverty in nearly every neighborhood of the metro area.

Our partnership with churches remains vital, as we adapt together to new realities. Just in recent days:

We met with pastors and leaders of three different churches—all in neighborhoods formerly considered insulated from poverty—to contemplate how to build affordable housing on under-utilized church land.
We took a deep dive into the changing landscape of homelessness with a team from New Denver Church—moving around the city to see new expressions of what we call “housing that heals.”
Volunteers from Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church are remodeling our Welcome Center at Joshua Station to make it an even more inviting space for our families.

All this leads to transformation, though not simply in ways we’re conditioned to expect. Lives are changing, including those burdened with poverty and injustice. Just as critically, churches and individuals with societal privilege are undergoing profound shifts in mind, heart, and action. It’s both challenging and exciting—truly work of the gospel in our times.

In Christ,