Get involved
Here are just some of the ways to get involved at Idlewild:
Mission Opportunities
More Than Reading is a new outreach program to promote adult literacy for our More Than A Meal friends. Volunteer reading tutors are needed; training is provided. If you are interested please contact
Becky Cremer.
More Than a Meal volunteers are always welcome. Every Thursday evening Idlewild offers worship (5:00) and a healthy, hot meal (5:30) for our guests from the streets and neighborhoods around the church. Please come any Thursday evening—bring friends and family—and help make a difference in the lives of people in Midtown Memphis. Contact:
Margaret Burnett.
McMerton Neighborhood Garden is in Binghamton, at the corner of McMerton and McAdoo. If you would like to work in the garden this spring and summer please contact
David Bell.
MIFA Meals are delivered to homebound seniors each Thursday morning by Idlewild staff and lay members. If you are interested in helping contact
Margaret Burnett.
Adopt-a-School provides tutors, mentors and readers for students at Memphis's Idlewild Elementary School. Other volunteers read to preschool classes each week. You can volunteer anytime to help with the program. Please contact
Margaret Burnett to learn more about our exciting Adopt-A-School programs.
The Clean Water program supports mission trips to install clean water systems in cooperation with Living Waters for the World. In addition to the installations, people in the local communities are trained to maintain and support the systems. Our Idlewild teams have installed systems in Ghana and in Mexico. Contact:
Buddy Nix.
Education Opportunities
Our church hosts a number of different adult education opportunities (for children and youth as well). For an easy Sunday school class to join for the first time, try:
A Covenant Conversation The Truth Shall Set You Free: Scandalous and Liberating Truths of the Christian Faith (Jones Bldg., Room 304W, 9:40 a.m. Sunday)
Through sustained—and often hilarious—conversation, the class discovers scandalous truth within seemingly prosaic and comforting truth. Conversations grow out of common readings that the class chooses collectively. Through honest engagement with serious questions of faith, we find ourselves again liberated by truth. The class has discussed poverty, pre destination, the relationship between science and creation, how the Bible was formed, and many other topics. Learn to understand how the Bible’s historical context affects its meaning for today. Led by Kendra Hotz, Department of Religious Studies, Rhodes College. Contact Gayle Walker at gwalker@idlewildchurch.org or 726-4681 for more information.
For long term bible study, try:
DISCIPLE BIBLE STUDIES. Interested in a long-term, in-depth study of the Bible? Disciple is the way to go. Mixing scholarship with wisdom for living, the disciple program takes you through the Bible over a nine-month period. These intergenerational groups welcome young adults to the retired. For details about Disciple study groups contact Gayle Walker at gwalker@idlewildchurch.org or 726-4681.
Small Group Opportunities
ChristCare Groups: Transforming Lives. Making Disciples. ChristCare groups are small communities (5-12 participants) of faithful people who meet regularly to care for one another, to help one another grow in faith, and to support one another in Christian discipleship. Each gathering includes mutual care and encouragement, prayer and worship, relating of biblical principles to life, and service to others.
Although the interests of the individual groups are diverse — for example, spiritual formation, blended families, spiritual themes in movies, hot topics, relationships, spiritual discipline, theology and the arts, and men in mid-life — each ChristCare group includes prayer and worship, community building, Bible study, and outreach. Contact Anne Apple, 726-4681 or
ahka4848@aol.com, for more information about ChristCare.
If you would like to talk to a person to help discern where you might best fit at Idlewild, please contact our Interim Pastor for Congregational Life, Anne Apple, at
anneapple@idlewildchurch.org or 901-726-4681 ext. 43.