ABOUT PHIL AND ELIZABETH

Phil and Elizabeth Stepnowski are support-raised missionaries focused on intentionally investing in the neighbors around them in the Churchill Downs neighborhood in southwest Lansing, Michigan. 

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Phil grew up in a western suburb of Chicago and gave his life to Christ at age 17. God took him to 3 different colleges and through various majors and he graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Social Work from Calvin College (now Calvin University) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Elizabeth grew up in a Christian home in Lansing, Michigan, and has only grown deeper in her relationship with God as she’s grown older. Elizabeth graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Spanish. They met at a young adults group at a church near Wheaton, got married in October 2018, and moved to the Lansing area. They met Scott Rolff shortly after getting married and got to know his heart for living a disciplemaking lifestyle.

While on an MCMD trip to Costa Rica in early 2019, God put in them a call to be missionaries, though they didn’t yet know what that would look like. In August 2019, God clarified His vision for them by asking them to stay in Lansing and invest in their neighbors. God led them to a house in Churchill Downs and they moved into the neighborhood in November of 2020. Phil was on staff with MCMD part-time while working at Trinity Church until he went full-time with MCMD to focus on neighborhood ministry in the Summer of 2021. Elizabeth joined him in September of that year.

They regularly go on prayer walks, spend time praying for their neighbors, make food for others, write cards and notes of encouragement, plan events, and cultivate disciplemaking friendships with those around them. 

If you’d like to hear more about their ministry and partner with them, email Phil and Elizabeth at pdstepnowski@gmail.com