Mission

The signs are everywhere across our city — tents popping up in every crack and crevice. Signs being flown on street corners by the old and infirm. Bullet casings and needles in the streets. Piles of blankets in business doorways, somewhere under which is a person, a neighbor, made in the image of God. The signs may not be displayed in bright neon lights, but the message still comes across clear — we live in a society that is broken, and only seems to be getting worse. Opinions, emotions, and proposed solutions abound. But in the end, no one really seems to know how to fix any of it.

Self-reflection is hard, but needed. Where is the church in all of this? Why do many people who claim to follow Jesus scorn and turn their eyes away from those suffering terribly in their own neighborhoods? There are many reasons, that frankly are common to us all. Fear. Misunderstanding. Pride. No real personal connection. Histories of hurt and betrayal by people that look like “them.”

These are the concerns and questions that have led to the creation of Dope Church. Well, we actually need to go a bit higher than that — the Lord is the one who brought us together and gave us our purpose, and these are some of the concerns and questions he has used to move our hearts to try something new.

Our DOPE CHURCH family exists to reach and love people struggling in the depths of addiction. We are working to be a community where the most broken people in our city can belong and hear good news. Whether high as a kite, coming down off a bender, or clean for a decade, we do our best to welcome all. Some have said we love foolishly. We are happy to be accused of it, because 2000 years ago the same things were said about Jesus.

At the heart of our Dope Church mission are our STREET TEAMS. These are smaller bands of people who commit together to serve a particular area of our city in Jesus’ name. Their mission is often centered around meals, as was true of Jesus and his followers. Our prayer and goal is to multiply these teams and send them out throughout our city wherever people are suffering.

In 2021 we opened THE LIVING ROOM, home base for our Dope Church family and mission. This is where we do much of our training, worship, prayer, counseling, and building community with and for our friends on the streets.

Many efforts to help people overcome require people to 1) leave their community, and 2) once they graduate, to then leave their new supportive community they have benefitted so much from. We think this is counterproductive to recovery. Our goal is that our Dope Church family will grow to be a place where people can move intentionally through a process of RECOVERY IN COMMUNITY. No leaving community, or graduating from it. No required exit date. We hope to build a comprehensive process within our community where our friends on the streets can experience real and lasting change, moving from isolation to reconciliation, destruction to creativity, despair to hope, from a life of self-absorption to one of service — all within the context of relationship with Jesus, within his missionary family. We hope over time to have the opportunity to operate sober living environments, Kingdom-minded businesses, effective recovery programs, and more to help our friends on the streets have a fighting chance of building stable and fulfilling lives. If you or someone you know would like to partner with us in this in this admittedly huge dream, please get in touch here.

If you’re interested in getting involved in our mission, buckle up, buttercup! It’s no joke. The best way to do it is to start hanging out with us as we go out to serve on the streets or gather at our home base, The Living Room. We like to help people understand what we do and why we do it. For more on getting involved, go here.