LANSING, Mich. — When the last pastor of Church in the City decided to move on, Tozi Schafer and her husband almost did, too.
But they had a strong feeling that God had more in store for the downtown Lansing church.
"We just felt heavily through prayer that God was like, 'No, I'm not done downtown, and I need a presence here,'" Schafer said.
And so they approached Mount Hope Church in Delta Township with a proposal.
"And that's when we found out Mount Hope was interested and really wanted to pour into the community," she said.
People within Mount Hope Church felt this was a good opportunity to bring hope to the downtown.
"The why behind why God told it to is that there's just so much unmet potential here and so many beautiful people here," said Missions and Outreach Minister Geoff Bassett.
Church in the City closed in early 2019. Mount Hope Church spent months restoring the more-than-century-old building.
"We couldn't meet in here anyway until the restoration was done," Schafer said. "This whole area right here, the sanctuary, plaster falling off, cracks and everything."
When COVID restrictions were lifted, they were officially able to open in November.
Their mission is to serve those in the downtown area who are in need of hope and might not be able to make it to the main campus.
"We're super privileged to work with Rise, a drug rehab place. We work with Hannah's House, Shared Pregnancy, Eden's House," Bassett said.
Currently the downtown location is only offering a service on Sundays at 11 a.m., but church leaders hope to add more options in the future.
More information on Mount Hope Churches main and downtown campus can be found here:
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