Chris McNair, a young minister originally from El Paso, Texas met Lisa, a teacher from Minnesota, when both were serving in ministry at Park Avenue Church in South Minneapolis. They were married in 1989 and took up permanent residence in the Central neighborhood, where they have been ever since. In 1994, after several years serving the community at Park Avenue Church, they founded Christ’s Children Ministries in order to follow their call to support unchurched families in the inner city. This unique ministry has taken abundant forms over the years including house church, basketball teams, in-school programs, advocacy and counseling, summer camps and youth retreats, family-centric social events and more.

In our ministry, we act with the conviction that people feel the presence of a living and loving God through personal relationships. Our prayer is that God will use the relationships we form to reveal Himself to the children, families and young people of our community. Our mission is to lift up the name of Jesus and work toward the transformation of children, youth and their families through evangelism, discipleship and Christian community. The many programs and activities of Christ’s Children are vehicles for our community to encounter God in Christ through redemptive relationships.

Over these last 25 years, Chris and Lisa have raised their own three sons while continuing this work, now through multiple generations of families in the urban Twin Cities. From East Lake to West Broadway, Christ’s Children has been a fixture in Minneapolis, known by those around us not as another non-profit organization but as part of the neighborhood, walking the ups and downs of inner city life along with the families we serve.