Timely conversations for a church at a crossroads

Jacob’s Well founder looks forward to new connections

at Nov. 14 event

Jacob’s Well is a church that today finds itself at a crossroads in its mission to serve the people of Memphis, and as its founder, Rev. Jamey Lee looks forward, he finds hope in the connections he might make during a gathering of community leaders hosted by the Center for Transforming Communities.

Jamey founded the church in Memphis back in 2010, and its heart is given to the service of God by offering reconciliation, rehabilitation and reciprocation — bridging the racial divides of the city, and offering hope for people struggling through the pangs of addiction and poverty.

“The city of Memphis is a city divided,” Jamey says, but Jacob’s Well is discovering people of all backgrounds coming together across racial and economic lines to worship and pour their faith into the betterment of their community.

“Every person has a gift to bring and every neighbor has value,” he says.

Since its founding, the Jacob’s Well congregation worshipped and met regularly at Highland Heights United Methodist Church at Summer and Highland, but this fall, they answered a calling and moved to work more closely with citizens in downtown Memphis.

The home of Jacob’s Well is now the Holy Community United Methodist Church and the streets around it; an area that is new to Jamey and to many of the core volunteers who work through the church in the service of God and their neighbors.

His hope is that in attending a gathering of 300 or so community members Nov. 14 he will discover new alliances and relationships that will carry his church through this transition.

“With us moving it really opens this new chapter of the Jacob’s Well story and as the leader, I’m at a crossroads,” Jamey says.

“I hope that this event will provide something — a spark, and new relationship, a new idea — that can help us in our journey forward.”

The day-long event is spearheaded by the Center for Transforming Communities and will focus specifically on asset-based community development under the guidance of author and community advocate Peter Block, thought leader John McKnight, and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.

A conversation about what is possible in neighborhoods across Memphis is exciting, and considering the sheer number of nonprofits and ministries working towards change in Memphis, Jamey has great hope for the day.

- Kristian Partington -

To learn more about the Nov. 14 event, click here.

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