The SOS Academy is a paid Christian Community Development residency in Memphis, TN, designed for recent graduates & young professionals who have a concern for those who are marginalized. It equips young adults to inhabit underserved communities with a Gospel-driven lifestyle of justice and compassion toward their neighbors.
The structure of the SOS Academy is built upon four foundations: Work, Formation, Incarnation, and Exposure. Academy residents will grow in the discipline of work, broaden and strengthen their spiritual formation, and experience the Gospel as it relates to people who are marginalized. These foundations will be laid throughout the year to help SOS Academy residents better know their God, themselves, and their neighbor.
The SOS Academy offers you an opportunity to inhabit an underserved, urban community with a Gospel-driven lifestyle of justice and compassion for your neighbors.
You will have a paid internship at a community development organization that aligns with your interests and passions. Each SOS Academy resident will also receive a weekly stipend of $300
You will work at the organization from September through April.
We provide housing in the Binghampton neighborhood for only $100/month (for utilities, internet, and lawncare). You’ll spend the residency in homes within a beautifully diverse neighborhood, learning to navigate community among each other and with your neighbors.
Exposure, experience, and training is the most effective way to be Gospel-driven, Kingdom building, community developing disciples of Christ. The SOS Academy invites you to be present and courageous while exploring new and difficult ideas.
Are you interested in community development in a city context? Want to learn more about how God loves and defends the marginalized? Want to learn more about vocation and/or ministry? Looking for an opportunity to do life intentionally with other Kingdom-minded people? Consider investing eight months of your life and come alongside others as together we navigate intentional living in an city neighborhood.
The SOS Academy is somewhat unique in the fact that it offers a paid internship placement. We do ask each Academy resident to support raise $2,500 that will contribute to an international vision trip. However, we do not want the cost to be a barrier for you to experience the SOS Academy. We know not everyone who wants to participate will have access to a support network, but we will help support each person to help them reach their goal.
Participating in the SOS Academy will ask a lot from you. In addition to having a full-time job, you will attend challenging seminary-level classes, engage in activities in the community, and be expected to grow in spiritual formation.
Living in a house with others whom you likely don’t know and are expected to spend the next year with will be a challenge. There will be relational tension and your patience will be tested. We invite you to be flexible, humble and gracious as each person learns to live life together well.
As an Academy resident, you will live in houses provided by SOS with other Academy residents. These houses are in close proximity within West Binghampton.
You will be responsible to manage and prioritize your time. You are also expected to participate and contribute to the community within the Academy and within the neighborhood.
You are encouraged to incorporate prayer into your daily practice. In addition, we will spend time each week reciting liturgy together.
Throughout the week, you will work at an organization involved in community development, gaining valuable experience while bringing refreshment the community.
In addition, you will volunteer with SOS Builds once a week.
You will be invited to practice a structure of spiritual formation that includes spiritual disciplines such as journaling, fasting, prayer, and solitude.
Each Wednesday, you will join all of the residents and meet at SOS to spend the afternoon in prayer, reflecting, and having thoughtful discussion. This practice will help you be present and look forward.
Each month you will join all of the residents to practice hospitality by inviting someone from the community to share a meal. Academy residents will have various other opportunities to serve in the neighborhood.
You will participate in the MCUTS Certificate in Christian Community Transformation, a program with seminary-level classes that provide a foundation in theology and Christian Community Development practices.
As part of the SOS Academy, you will travel overseas for a 10-day vision trip to learn from others doing holistic gospel-centered ministry among the marginalized.
