Rebecca and Michael Rhodes, with their children Isaiah, Ames, Nova, and Jubilee, live in Randwick Park and have joined the UNOH apprenticeship programme. The Rhodes family are from the United States and relocated to Aotearoa New Zealand recently as Michael got a job as Old Testament lecturer at Carey Baptist College. In the previous twelve years, Rebecca and Michael were deeply shaped by living in their beloved South Memphis community, a low-income neighborhood in the heart of Michael’s hometown. There they attended church, hosted weekly Bible study in their home, partook in countless front porch chats with neighbours, and acted as a pit stop for many of the neighbourhood kids. Leaving South Memphis, though painful, has opened a way for the Rhodes family to join in what God is doing in South Auckland.
Rebecca spends her week
participating in a community mapping project (seeking to understand the heartbeat of the neighbourhood)
coordinating Soufpac, a weekly kids club
visiting neighbours
volunteering at the local primary school, where all four Rhodes children attend
coaching a local soccer team
Michael spends his week
teaching Old Testament at Carey Baptist College
developing young adults to be equipped to serve their communities as faithful disciples of Jesus
volunteering as a Soufpac leader
leading weekly morning prayers
guest speaking at a variety of churches and organizations on the topics of justice, economics, politics, and community development.
The Rhodes family has been deeply shaped by the belief that the God of the Bible is a God of Justice, and that biblical justice means that Jesus shows up in special ways with people and places that have been marginalized by society, as He declares in Luke 4:18-21.