Our Mission
Hope, healing, and growth for next-gen Hmong and beyond
Life is hard. We get hurt—from family pain, cultural conflict, spiritual oppression, historical trauma, bad church experiences, and more. But God longs to make us whole. That’s why hope, healing, & growth are at the heart of RiverLife.
There are a lot of things in life that promise hope, healing, and personal growth. Some deliver; most of them don’t. But we believe that the best hope, the best healing, and the best growth comes in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
But what if I’m not Hmong?
That’s okay. There’s a place for you at RiverLife as well. In fact, about 15% of the church isn’t Hmong. We have whites, blacks, African immigrants, and hispanics who are all part of the RiverLife family.
Here’s the great thing: you don’t have to be Hmong to love Hmong. Pastor Greg is living proof of that. Here’s your chance to receive hope, healing, and growth for yourself and to share it with a group of people different than you.
(from RiverLife DNA sermon series, Fall 2018)
Learn More About Our Mission
In this sermon video, Pastor Greg and Pang Foua share about how RiverLife started and God’s calling on their lives to launch a church with such a unique, focused mission.
“A common biblical metaphors for hope & healing is water… When I started to read through all the passages about water, one verse stuck out to me: Ezekiel 47:9 ‘Where the river flows everything will live.’ And I said, ‘YES! That’s what we want for second-gen Hmong.’ That is why we’re called RiverLife Church.” -Pastor Greg
“God gave us a front-row view of the struggles and pains that younger Hmong were experiencing and their subsequent exodus from the Church. And our hearts broke for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” -Pang Foua Rhodes
“There are approximately 50,000 2nd & 3rd gen Hmong in the Twin Cities who don’t know Jesus. These people are why RiverLife exists.” - Pastor Greg