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Christ Fellowship of Memphis by Stuart McCollough
I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your home, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.
— Matthew 25:35-36
In a city torn apart by racial tension, Christ Fellowship is seeking to bring people of different backgrounds together in one body to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of the people they come in contact with. They want to be a body of believers who exemplify Matthew 25:35-36. Their mission is to advance the kingdom of God against the darkness of this world
by loving God, embodying God’s love for each other and by proclaiming God’s love to the world.
Led by Pastor Kelvin Bowen 
and Associate Pastor Mark Morris, Christ Fellowship is striving to share the gospel both locally and globally. Both pastors have extensive experience in church planting, mission work and ministry. Pastor Bowen served as an associate minister at Healing Center Baptist Church for 14 years. He also serves as Executive Vice President for Memphis Athletics Ministry (MAM), an inner-city ministry of six
athletic facilities around the city that uses athletics as a tool to reach young people with the gospel of Christ. Mark Morris and his family served on the mission field for 14 years in Africa and Asia. They served as traditional missionaries for four years, he served as a Strategy Coordinator among unreached people groups in Central Asia and as a Regional leader of Central and Southern Asia for the International Mission Board. In 1997, Mark and his family returned to the United States where he co-founded All Peoples, a church consulting group which assisted churches to impact the least reached. He was on staff at Germantown Baptist Church from 2000-2007 and then served on staff at Saddleback Valley Community Church in California.
The church presently meets at the Stephen Olford Center on the Memphis campus of Union University. Christ Fellowship was already meeting under the leadership of Mark Morris. Bro. Mark and Bro. Kelvin were both basketball officials and had been friends for some time when they started throwing around the idea of beginning a multi-racial congregation. Knowing
that Sunday mornings were the most segregated time in America, both men had a desire to see blacks, whites and people of all races worship together. Sponsored by a predominately African-American fellowship – One Faith Fellowship – the church officially became a multiracial fellowship on December 14, 2008. The members have continued to cross cultural barriers
and face the challenges of blending worship styles and even preconceived ideas of what worship really is.
Christ Fellowship recently had two special services: a commissioning of 3-year missionaries being appointed to serve as Southern Baptist workers overseas and an Easter service where close to 100 people joined them for worship. The pastors want to see lives changed from the inside out and people come to know Jesus. They realize Christ Fellowship is among very few churches in the city and even the country that are trying to bring believers of diverse backgrounds together to worship and break down the walls of racial divide. They are excited about what God is doing and looking forward to what He is going to do in the future.
Looking Forward to our Dec 14 Celebration
Christ Fellowship of Memphis is a dream yet to be fulfilled.
The dream is for a church of black and white to become a City of Hope within this divided city of Memphis.
The vision is expressed best in our singular core value of love. Scripture teaches that Love only happens in hearts and minds that have been captured by Jesus.
The breadth of the vision of Christ Fellowship is demonstrated by love which overcomes the barriers that divide this demarcated city. Each Sunday our city is divided along comfort lines – I hang with the people with whom I feel safest, most comfortable, and with whom I have the most in common. Love mandates that I reach beyond my comfort into a world which creates discomfort, because each of us is to be an ambassador of Christ. Ambassadors don’t serve in their own land, but in a land that is foreign to them. This vision is for more ambassadors to cross into foreign lands.
The antithesis of this vision is seen in the followers of Jesus who protested at him stepping across His racial and cultural and spiritual dividing line into wilds of Samaria to touch the heart of the woman at the well.
The challenge to this vision is that it is not yet comfortable because we are wholly incomplete. God’s work has only begun in us and we would prefer to remain comfortable in our imcompleteness.
Satan hates this vision and throughout what people call the “Bible Belt” he has successfully dissuaded followers of Christ from meeting together as one body, in a fashion that reflects the diversity of worship found in heaven itself.
Christ Fellowship is seeking a few mature believers, white and black, who are prepared to serve outside their comfort zone. We’re seeking white families willing for your children to go to Sunday School with black children. We’re looking for black families who are willing to become prayer partners with white families. Please don’t join this effort to be served. Come in order to serve our Master, Jesus Christ.
On Sunday morning, December 14, at 10:45 we launch our first multi-cultural celebration at a cross-road of our city, where white meets black. We meet at 4000 Riverdale Road at Union University’s Olford Center Campus. Riverdale Road is an approximate dividing line where Hickory Hill ends and Germantown begins its trek down Winchester Road toward Collierville.
Christ Fellowship is led by Lead Pastor Kelvin Bowen as well as Pastor Mark Morris.
If you are interested in knowing more, contact us at missionleader@mac.com.
Choose One Series @ Christ Fellowship (Aug 10)
We’re off to a great start!
Please continue to pray for God’s work in our midst. Pray that God will build the right team to multiply His work through us.
In addition to studying Hebrews, I’ve been reading T.W. Hunt’s Bible study, The Life-Changing Power of Prayer. I’m learning that critical to prayer is crying out to God.
We become free in Christ as we learn to cry out to him, truly seeking His will.
We can pray for healing, knowing that His will, is best, whether deliverance comes now or in heaven.
We can pray for safety, but temporal safety is nothing compared to “security.”
I am praying for God’s guidance in connecting with the community – friends and neighbors – to seek to impact for Christ. After Cindy and I prayed yesterday about that very thing, the Lord put three different people in our path or on our hearts.
Are you praying for God to open your doors and shed light on your path, to show you whom to touch, whom to invite, and with whom to share a story?
There is great freedom in praying, seeking and trusting God with His will in our lives.
This Sunday we will have a season of prayer for the new church plant. Come asking God to work in our midst.
Last week we looked at Hebrews 1 – 2:4 – “One Son of God.”
This Sunday we’ll examine “One Perfect Sacrifice,” from Hebrews 2 and 3. Read up and let’s see what God tells us from his Word.
Can’t wait to see you on Sunday. Feel free to bring a friend.
That All May Hear
Mark Morris
Christ Fellowship of Memphis
www.christmemphis.com
The Latest @ Christ Fellowship (aug 1)
August 1
CFM – Diversely connected, mission-ally distinct, culturally engaged
The past six months have been days of sweet refining for Cindy and me. As you know, Cindy’s battle with Multiple Myeloma moved us temporarily to Nashville, which meant we had to suspend our summer involvement with the new church start in Memphis.
Steve Moses spent the summer mentoring eight mission interns. He just returned this week from a great trip to Turkey; we will hear a report from some of his interns this Sunday.
It’s a good time now to kick in gear this new church under a new name with a renewed commitment to impact the City and the World.
We begin this Sunday with a season of prayer for the new church plant. Not only will we hear from the Mission Interns and Pastor Kelvin Bowen, we will also start a study of the book of Hebrews, share a meal and fellowship together.
It’s been a while since we all met, so let me summarize a few things that have happened over the summer.
1. New Name - Our new name is Christ Fellowship of Memphis. This comes with a new website www.christmemphis.com.
2. New Partnership - Steve and I saw a long-time friendship turn into a partnership with Christ Community Church, which is a network of churches working together to transform part of the city of Memphis. We took the summer to worship with them and learn about the awesome way in which their network of churches has been doing incarnational ministry in Binghamton.
3. New Schedule in August - We decided to come back together in the fall in a new way. See the schedule below. We begin this Sunday, August 3 gathering for prayer and study of God’s word in the Morris’ home at 18 W. Viking Dr, in Cordova.
4. Old Friend - I want to introduce you to an old friend of mine – Pastor Kelvin Bowen, who is also The Executive Vice President of Memphis Athletic Ministries. Kelvin and I referee basketball together – I’ve been observing his character and his witness for the past decade. This Sunday I want you to meet Kelvin, his wonderful wife and his ministry. We’re praying for God to speak to us regarding an ongoing partnership with Kelvin.
5. Renewed Spirit – Our family’s personal journey this year has been one of suffering and refining. God has drawn Cindy and me closer to Jesus and strengthened our dependence upon God. What lessons has God been teaching you?
Aug-Sept Schedule
Weekly Worship
August 3, 10, 24
10 am Sundays Home Fellowships (1st, 2nd, 4th Sunday)
August 17 Celebration with Christ Community at SOS (3rd Sunday)
August 31 Celebration with One Faith Fellowship (5th Sunday)
Weekly Discipleship, Prayer, Encouragement
Enjoy time with someone or several people from the fellowship outside of our weekly gathering.
Fall Theme ONE: From Religion to Relationship
(A Study from Hebrews)
Hebrews is a penetrating study that draws out a theme of ONE: One priest, One Lord, One (more on Sunday). The audience to whom Hebrews was written had religiosity mastered. What they, and we need to learn is that Christ came to provide an intimate relationship.
August 6th @ Salvation Army 6:30
Why meet at Salvation Army this Wednesday? Because you will want to see and experience what the Moses’ and the Morris’ experienced the past two weeks. Come meet Kelvin and his friends. Come casual. Bring your friends and family. Enjoy fellowship and interacting. The Salvation Army is one block from One Faith Fellowship at 4741 Winchester Rd (the gym in the back lot of the Salvation Army).
That All May Hear,
Mark Morris
Christ Fellowship of Memphis