The History of MIFA continued A New Approach Members of the Ministers Association whose churches were located in the heart of urban Memphis realized more acutely than their suburban colleagues that there were serious, unaddressed social problems in the city. Annabelle Whittemore, President of Women at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, remembers how hard it had been to get anything accomplished concerning the urban problems that surrounded her church. The only resource available had been the church vestry, who “generally felt money collected should be spent internally. They felt they were filling the need by providing holiday baskets.” The only hope for help, she and others working in similar circumstances felt, was to join with other churches. At the instigation of Dean William Dimmick of St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, a group of clergy from churches in the commercial district of the city met together. Among them were the Reverends Roy Williams, Bob Atkinson, Joseph Eckelkamp, Henry Starks, Frank McRae, and Paul Martins. Two informal meetings followed. Within a few months it became the Downtown Churches Association, with seven churches as its original members. The purpose of the Association, which still functions, is to cooperate to solve the social needs of the area, to sponsor ecumenical worship services on special occasions, and to become a close-knit group. In its attempt to bring together the churches of the inner city for unified action to meet social need, the Downtown Churches Association naturally came into contact with a movement organizing at about the same time, the Association for Christian Training for Service, ACTS. The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee had been designated as one of several Urban Pilot dioceses which resulted in the establishment of an association for Christian Training and Service, ACTS, directed by Reverend William Jones, Jr. The plan was to train clergy, seminarians, and lay persons to minister to the emerging urban society in the South. ACTS was charged with creating social change, in spite of the prevailing conservative theology of the area, and the general lack of ecumenical cooperation. ACTS Executive Director Jones said: “The building of trust linkages between key persons in different communions has been a prime objective. Through united concern, the churches are seeking new forms of Christian witness, and new ways of common service.” The connections between ACTS, the Downtown Churches Association, and the founding of MIFA, both as to purposes and as to personnel, are easily apparent. In the opinion of Annabelle Whittemore “the Downtown Churches Association was set up in order to get MIFA going. It was a tool to get people together and provide a place for William Jones to present his ideas. It was hoped similar clusters of churches, like this, would be set up elsewhere in the city.” Dr. John W. Aldridge, in his paper “Reflections on the Memphis Crisis” wrote that the Downtown Ministers, after several meetings, determined that the problem was larger then their small group, which had neither the assets nor the resources to adequately deal with it; it was a concern for the entire “church” (community). After study and thought, the group concluded that if anything were to happen in the church in Memphis, it must be city-wide, and well structured. The stage was now set for the formation of MIFA, with the director of ACTS to give professional advice and counsel to its organizers. The Downtown Churches Association, on November 19, 1967, specifically requested that ACTS help them hold a conference to consider how a metropolitan agency might be formed to help churches in their urban ministry. Frank McRae says he and other founders shared an ecumenical spirit bolstered by long friendships and familiarity. “Four or five phone calls and we could rally the community.” But we were “the first generation of people who dealt with urban ministry in an organized fashion. There was nobody to train us. We knew each other, and could act because of that friendship. But we needed Bill Jones to organize us, and provided structure.” The Reverend Paul Tudor Jones, an active participant in the ecumenical organizations that were precursors to MIFA, was not optimistic in the beginning. He says that “when Bill Jones approached me about the chances for an inter-faith agency in Memphis, I was discouraging, because I believed congregations would not support it.” However, he remembers, the time was now ripe in Memphis: “In our strife and agony with civil rights problems, people wanted to get involved in something that would work for the good of all.” On February 18, 1968, a “Consultation on Mission” was held at Idlewild Presbyterian Church. Seventy-two persons from twenty-two religious groups in the metropolitan area were invited; approximately forty-five attended. That this conference was ever envisioned and actually occurred in this city with its meager history of ecumenism, was a tribute to the downtown ministers and their ally, William Jones. The goal of this exploratory conference was “to broaden the basis of understanding among religious groups in greater Memphis; to encourage openness for cooperation in some on-going way and to explore alternative paths before us.” A steering committee of eight was appointed, and the decision made to hold a three-day consultation in May to further investigate the formation of an inter-faith organization. Dean Dimmick was to serve as Chairman of the Steering Committee. Other members were the reverends Frank McRae, Henry Starks, Roy Williams, William Smith, Brooks Ramsey and William Aldridge, and lay persons Dean Osmundson and Margaret Dichtel whose personal motivation was “a gut religion, to try to get a little more justice for people.” She felt an organization could be formed “to help church people work together to deal with the problems of the community.” All plans were delayed, however, when the same week that this consultation on Mission was held, the sanitation strike began in Memphis. Next: The Sanitation Strike