Michael Roach
Church Planting in Baltimore
A New Church in Sandtown
In the Baltimore neighborhood of Sandtown, we are seeking to establish a visible and discernable community of followers of Jesus that both teach the Gospel, and live out the implications of the Gospel, on a daily basis.
Our Mission
The mission is to launch a church in Sandtown where the members of the church are deeply committed to demonstrating the love that God has for the community of Sandtown by:
1. Effectively teaching the Gospel message of Jesus, and
2. Living out the regular, day-to-day implications of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the community of Sandtown.
Our Concern
While Sandtown is known by many as a community of great poverty, addiction, and violence, we know Sandtown as a community of beautiful Image Bearers who need to hear the Gospel. Many in Sandtown have little to no understanding of the Gospel, nor recognize the necessary connection between a profession of faith in God and a life lived unto God.
Many community members believe that:
Having a relationship with God is cultural (family heritage, I attended church before, etc.).
Having a relationship with God is about being in tune with yourself and the universe, having the best intentions, or is a verbal affirmation of the existence of God.
In Sandtown, multiple generations live without a clear understanding of the Gospel, or without the knowledge of what it practically means to follow Jesus. Many children have been brought up completely disconnected from Christianity and have no reference to Jesus, the Bible, or Christian living.
Our Strategy
We envision a future where there is a Gospel witness in the form of a local church where members of the Sandtown community are actively and effectively being taught the Gospel and its implications.
We (Michael and Rebekah) have already moved forward in realizing this vision by purchasing a vacant rowhouse on our block, renovating it, and using the space to teach kids (ages 3 – 14) about Jesus and the Bible. Parents and guardians in the community trust us because we have spent many years building good relationships with members of the community. In fact, some of the local drug dealers bring their kids for this weekly activity. This has gone so well that on some days we have hit capacity and literally had no more room for children in the house.
Due to the fruit that God is bringing about through this weekly “Kid’s Day”, Michael and Bekah and have recently purchased another vacant rowhouse on our block with the intention of renovating to provide a living space for members of the church plant, as well as an additional space for outreach to the community.
The focus is not only to evangelize and teach kids, but also to evangelize and teach their parents and other members of the community. To that end, we hold 6-week lessons (Christianity Explained) over dinner at our house, introducing adult members of the life and Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
As God gives Gospel increase in Sandtown, these new believers will create a core team for a new church. While we have a small team of laborers who have banded together and pray for more laborers to join us in this work, it is our goal and prayer that a new church to be formed out of evangelistic endeavor.
Our Hope for Sandtown
Moving forward with a church plant in Sandtown, with the intent to both teach and demonstrate the outworking of the Gospel, we hope to continue the history of faithful, Christian witness in the community; producing both eternal fruit, and temporal transformation.
ABOUT MICHAEL
Michael Roach
Michael and Rebekah (Bekah) Roach have been married since July of 2016, and live with their three young sons in Sandtown, Baltimore. Bekah has called Sandtown home since December of 2008, after graduating early from Wheaton College. She always wanted to serve God through intentionally living and sharing the Gospel in a marginalized community, because that is how she saw her parent’s love for God and others lived out as missionaries in Togo, West Africa. Bekah has built strong and lasting relationships with the kids, neighbors, and community members of Sandtown through being an elementary and middle school teacher at New Song Academy over the span of 10 years.
Michael has loved Sandtown since 2016, when he married Bekah and moved into Sandtown. Bekah had already developed great relationships with many of the kids and neighbors in the community, so through God’s leading, Michael began to get to know the neighborhood drug dealers and share the Gospel with them by inviting them over for dinners with the family, writing them regularly when they were in jail or prison, and talking with them about what it means when a person says that they follow Jesus. While, to Michael’s knowledge, none of the drug dealers have actively placed their faith in Jesus, he has however witnessed and experienced positive fruit and sees opportunities for spiritual transformation through sharing the Gospel and building relationships.
He is a 2005 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and currently works as a project manager at Johns Hopkins University. The Roach family have been members of the Garden Church since 2018, where Michael currently serves as one of the pastors.
PARTNER WITH US
COME
Join the Core Team: Email us and let us know you are interested in being part of the Core Team.
GIVE
Two ways to give.
1) ONLINE: Click “Support” button below and select “Michael Roach” in dropdown menu.
2) MAIL: Make check payable to “ONE HOPE” with “Sandtown” in memo. Send Check to:
ATTN: Michael Roach
ONE HOPE
1500 Druid Hill Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217
CONTACT MICHAEL TO COMMIT IN PARTNERSHIP:
Church partners, pastors, potential donors, prospective mission teams, or core team members, please contact Michael directly and discuss partnering in this Gospel work.
Phone: 240-441-9734
Email: michael@onehope.gives
Kids Day at the Roach House in the Sandtown neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland
