A church-run business incubator grows its community’s own solutions to poverty

“By now, no concept or idea is too off-the-wall for the Rev. Barry Randolph and his congregation at Church of the Messiah in Detroit.

More than 200 affordable housing units run by the church? Check. Free internet for residents who didn’t have access? Done. A growing list of incubated businesses with products ranging from tea to deodorant to a clothing line? No problem.

This innovative Episcopal church anchors the Islandview neighborhood on Detroit’s east side. In a city with an estimated poverty rate of 36%, more than three times the national average, Randolph is driven by a desire to foster an equitable community whose residents have a stake in its success.

“You can’t throw money at it. It’s not about just getting somebody a job. Now you have to teach people how to keep the job,’ said 57-year-old Randolph. ‘And it’s not about just bringing people up. Sometimes you gotta bring up the whole community.’

This approach helped Randolph transform the church, once on the verge of shuttering, to a community hub that’s now more than 300 members strong, racially diverse and majority young.

Randolph and his parishioners see the church as an incubation center. At the church, someone with a business idea can team up with accountants and attorneys to get it off the ground, and many have.

‘You need your phone charged? Here’s a charging station,’ said Bishop Bonnie Perry of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, referring to Church of the Messiah’s four solar-powered community charging stations. ‘The entrepreneurial spirit, that kind of spirit, is what our church longs for.’

People returning home from prison can seek help getting a job from the church’s employment office. The church is also the home base for a marching band that secures college scholarships for teens who once thought they wouldn’t graduate from high school.

To Randolph, it all ties back to providing people a path out of poverty. Ask members at Church of the Messiah(link is external) their impressions of Randolph and his leadership and they’ll likely say he’s the ‘realest’ pastor they know. Before he became a priest, Randolph was a businessman. He co-owned a distribution company, dabbled in catering and managed the deli at a local market for a decade. He doesn’t write down his sermons. He doesn’t preach from the pulpit, because he doesn’t like to be elevated above his congregation. He dresses casually, wearing a short-sleeved button-up and khakis during a recent outdoor service. His congregation calls him Pastor Barry, not Father.”

View the whole story here: https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/09/02/a-church-run-business-incubator-grows-its-communitys-own-solutions-to-poverty/

A relatable approach

Originally published at https://www.focusonthegoodnews.com on September 6, 2020.