downtown donnie
By Keith Goad April 26, 2006
How contextualized should a church’s ministry be? Is this your question Bruce? Some pastors may try to profile the typical candidate for membership and then adjust their outreach to woo them. I am not sure I am going to change my dress, music, texture, etc in order to make them feel more confortable because being comfortable is what “downtown donny” values most. I hope to woo downtown donnie with the gospel. Of course, and probably now answering Bruce’s question, we should seek to know and meet the needs of the people around us.
Third Ave Baptist would provide a great ministry in Old Louisville by serving in soup kitchens, shelters, the crisis pregancy center, campus ministries, etc. These are just some examples. A great example is a member recently gathering troops to help a community wide cleanup of downtown donny’s park. Surely we would all agree to know the people and care for their needs. I am not sure I am willing to play Creed or Bon Jovi as the intro music to our service so they feel at home.
Bruce, since you live downtown, what ministries would you find most helpful to get involved with in order to know our context and meet particular needs? Our context is also largely populated by college students, maybe some “U of L Ulysses” would send us an email for how we could minister to our student neighbors better.