Our City,
Our Mission

Reaching the people of South Minneapolis with the Good News of Jesus

Mission to Our City

Urban Refuge was planted out of Hometown Church (formerly Evergreen Community Church) in Bloomington, MN, which embraced a “one church, many locations” strategy for reaching the Twin Cities and beyond with the love of Christ.

In 1999, Pastor Andy Gray led a team of volunteers on a “Mission to the City,” a new outreach committed to demonstrating Christ-like kindness to the people of Minneapolis. God used that time and stirred members’ hearts to plant a church in the city, and in January of 2003, The Urban Refuge was born in the Uptown Area of Minneapolis at Jefferson School.

In the spring of 2005, Urban Refuge moved to 55th and Chicago and stabilized as a church. Since that time, our church has grown, with most new attendees coming from nearby neighborhoods. Relationships have been formed and deepened in the community and with each other. Pastor Chad Oltman was ordained during this time. We became owners of the facility in 2009 and paid the building off in 2012. We remain debt-free.

In 2019, Hometown and the Urban Refuge churches went through an evaluation and discernment process regarding the multi-site model. At that time, through much prayer and Spirit’s leading, it was concluded that Urban Refuge should launch as an autonomous church, independent of Hometown Church. Through much hard work and a great team effort, we successfully launched as an autonomous congregation in January of 2020.

In November of 2021, Urban Refuge welcomed Jason Meyer as Lead Pastor. He is an experienced leader, communicator, and author: understanding and articulating clearly in this broken world. We're humbled and honored to see God's hand as he continues to lead us forward.

The heart of Urban Refuge Church is to cultivate a community of Jesus followers to build a compassion-filled urban church with and for future generations. We strive toward this by being a people that do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8). Our hope is to reflect the diversity of our city while embracing oneness in Christ. Our congregation is composed of servant-hearted believers in Jesus, eager to grow and make an impact with their lives.

Urban Refuge is known for:

Welcoming every person with open arms, keeping it casual and free of judgment so people can experience God’s grace for themselves.
Messages that are both relatable and dive deep into the Word that help people cope with and overcome the personal and societal challenges they are facing.
Pursuing multiethnic diversity within the big “C” Church.
Speaking up and out from a biblical perspective on behalf of individuals and communities experiencing social and racial injustice.
Serving our own community, as well as underserved communities through outreach events (Picnic at the Park), week-long service projects (Mission to Our City), and generous giving to several outreach partner agencies (One Fund, Together for Good, Source Ministries, etc.)
Periodic diversity in worship is represented by various musical genres and multiethnic worship leaders.
Having a heart for kids and youth–a welcome place for growing families.
Pastors who are humble and approachable and care deeply for their congregation.
An emphasis on building community through a Small Groups model.
Being a generous body of believers who have faithfully kept the church in a strong financial position given the present crises and given more than 10% of the annual budget away to partner organizations dedicated to bringing positive change to surrounding communities.