Building Bridges: Community

When Dr. Timothy Bias was appointed to Peoria First UMC in spring 1999, he encouraged his congregation to a new level of commitment with their ministries.

As a result, Peoria First UMC has moved from being a church that meets downtown to being a downtown church. In the diversity in ministry at Peoria First UMC, its community ministries include partnering with an elementary school, a prayer partnership with the Peoria Police Department; Neutral Ground, an HIV/AIDS ministry that partners with the University of Illinois School of Medicine; a Loaves and Fishes ministry, providing a hot meal to more than 250 marginalized persons in Peoria every Saturday and a housing ministry that has built 10 houses through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity.




“There is a natural progression that seems to build as you develop relationships with people,” said Loy Sloan, one of the coordinators of the Irving School choir program. “You start by saying, ‘let’s go save them’ and then ‘let’s go serve them.’ But Tim challenged us to build relationships over a long period of time, develop trust and invite them to be a part of the family.”




Rev. Steve Pichaske, pastor of outreach ministries, agrees. “Since Tim’s been here, he’s been very intentional about inviting everyone into the life of the church,” he said. “With that philosophy, our ministries have taken the next steps to move outside our comfort zone. Tim’s passion has become the church’s passion and it is clearly seen in our outreach.”

As bishop, Tim Bias will work with congregations to assist and empower them to identify, participate in, and develop ministries with their communities that model the love of God and have persons experience God’s love in tangible and human ways. 



"After Tim came to Peoria First, he called me to sit down and talk about the needs of African Americans in our churches. He talks with people who are in the situations to find out what he can do to build the bridge."
-- Rev. Robert Freeman, pastor, Geneseo First UMC and IGRC delegation member