1. Reform is easier in a small church than in a large one.

2. Do what Christians do – love.

3. Make yourself a help, not a problem, to your church’s leader.

4. Aspire to leadership.

5. Have conversations with people – lots of them.

6. Train other leaders.  Aim for majorities.

7. Show up to the meeting with a completed idea.  Then let go of it.

8. Decide what’s crucial.  Be willing to compromise on the rest.

9. Talk alot with those most opposed.  Make a good-faith effort to alleviate their concerns.

If you plan on visiting any time in the near future then feel free to sit in on our Third in Five course that begins every Sunday morning at 9:45.  It’s a way for you to get to know something about Third Avenue Baptist in five weeks. 

Please email us here with any other questions.

The past two months have marked a big change in 3ABC’s leadership with the resignation of three elders (Left to Right: Jeremy Yong, Greg Gilbert, Aaron Menikoff).  This was a bitter sweet moment as we said good-bye to these beloved brothers who have been called to serve other churches full-time.  Jeremy will be serving as Director of Ministries at church in Dubai City in the UAE.  Greg is going on staff as an Associate Pastor/Church Planter at Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C..  In partnership and with the support of CHBC, he will plant a church in Annapolis, MD, Lord willing, in a few years.  Aaron left at the end of May and has been serving as the senior pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.  We thank God for the years these brothers served formally and informally and we look forward in anticipation to how God will use their gifts else where.

This parting does, however, leave me with an opportunity to reflect on how relational unity was and can be fostered among elders.  Needless to say, doctrinal unity and like-mindedness is absolutely essential for an effective elder board and should not be taken for granted.  But, unfortunately, what often divides leaders are personality differences and conflicts.  So here are a couple of practical ways to foster relational unity.

First, be regular disciplers of one another.  It’s easy for leaders to spend nearly all their time discussing church matters and not their personal lives.  In the long run that can lead to unnecessary conflict and disagreement because the time hasn’t been taken to care for one another.  It is much easier to have fruitful discussion about the church’s direction when you know that the brothers around the table have a deep love and care for your spiritual well-being; that they have taken the time and energy to invest in you.  One of the practical ways I do this is by having intentional conversations with the elder I ride with to a meeting.  (If that’s Wheeler, it’s pretty short because of how fast we’re going.  JK, Wheels!)

Second, become close friends.  That may sound too simple, but I promise you that it works.  Some of my closest friends at church and in life are the other elders.  You do this by going on couple dates and vacations.  Have dinners together regularly.  Encourage friendship among your kids.  We take a weekend retreat each year.  We use that time to discuss the church’s future and the larger items we can’t fit into an elders meeting.  But it is also a great opportunity to hang out and laugh together.  At one of our lunches last year we discussed who was the most talkitive and in the best shape.  Plenty of laughs to go around at that.  Another fun way we share laughs is by keeping a “quote bank.”  This is a collection of sayings from our meetings that are priceless. You can do whatever you want.  The point is that the elders must make an effort to become good friends.

(In my next post, I’ll give some practical advice on what the congregation should be looking for when they consider future elders.)

Brad (BAT): Aaron, you are working on a PhD in American church history. What is your subject and thesis?

Aaron (AMEN): Thanks for asking, Brad. My subject is American Christianity mainly in the nineteenth century, particularly the Second Great Awakening. It was a time when churches and Christians were involved not only in revivals, but in a great benevolent movement that changed society. My thesis is that Baptists, North and South, during this time period were social reformers. Part of their social reform work was indirect. By praying and preaching they expected to change their communities and the country. Part of their social reform work was direct. Some Baptists petitioned Congress, fought temperance, formed welfare committees in their churches, etc. I wanted to get a sense of how conservative Christians thought and acted about society.

BAT: How do you think your research and writing will be helpful one day in your pastoral ministry?

AMEN: This is an important question. It is my earnest desire that in ways I may never be able to fully assess, the few extended years of study will help me feed the Lord’s sheep.

BAT: What was your greatest enjoyment about the Ph.D? Was it your little cozy office?

AMEN: Certainly not. While I’m thankful that I had space to work at the library (Bruce, our fellow elder, is the librarian that provided me this space) my greatest enjoyment has to be interacting with faculty at the seminary as well as writing the dissertation. As laborious as the process is, I appreciate the opportunity I have to devote so much time and attention to one subject. That is quite a privilege.

BAT: What was your greatest difficulty?

AMEN: Economists talk a lot about opportunity costs. In order to take advantage of one opportunity you may have to sacrifice something else. A PhD has certain opportunity costs associated with it. I went to a meeting the other day and heard a ThM student remark that he wasn’t going to pursue a PhD because he didn’t want to kill his wife. I appreciate that brother’s desire to protect his family. While I think that overall I have guarded my wife and kids, in order to get done in a reasonable time we have made certain sacrifices as a family. Furthermore, I have not done as much as I would like at church. It wasn’t like this the entire PhD, but the final stretch has been tough.

BAT: If you could summarize in a couple of sentences how it feels to be near completion, what would you say?

AMEN: I’ve been preparing for full-time pastoral ministry since 2000. I have tried hard not to put off pastoral ministry in the interim. Nonetheless, I feel like it is time to get to the business of devoting myself full-time to a local church. Sure, I feel relief to know that the end is very near. More than anything though, as a Christian who has come to seminary, I feel like a spring ready to bounce. I didn’t get these degrees to hang certificates on the wall; I pursued them with the expectation that they would be of some service to a church. I feel ready to put them to work. Please understand that I have been putting them to work at Third, but I’m ready to devote all of myself to the church in a way that is very difficult when one is trying to finish a degree.

BAT: In a recent interview between C. J. Mahaney and Mark Dever, Mark said that he learned more as an elder at Eden Baptist Church in England than doing his Ph.D at Cambridge University. You’ve served in leadership at Third Avenue for your entire time at SBTS. Would your experience be similar to Mark’s? Explain.

AMEN: Absolutely. I can’t put in words how much Third Avenue has meant to me or how the church has served, formed, and blessed me since Deana and I joined in 2000. There are Sunday mornings when I hear a member lead in confession of sin or I hear the congregation exalting in the God’s mercy through the cross of Christ, and I am simply overwhelmed. Then to see the way the Lord has added members to our body who encourage us to be salt and light in the community, to live out our faith—more than that, who are being salt and light in the community and who are living out their faith—this is more important to me than my academic training. I don’t say this to despise academic training but to prioritize involvement in the local church.

BAT: As you’ve already mentioned, you desire to be a full-time preaching pastor. You experienced God’s calling in the late ’90s when you were a member and later a pastoral assistant and elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. You came to Southern Seminary in 2000 for an M.Div. You finished it in 2002. Why did you decide to pursue a Ph.D instead of a pastorate?

AMEN: A few reasons. First, as I mentioned above I had a general and fairly unformed sense that the PhD would be helpful to me in my pastoral ministry. I knew that I did not want to teach academically, that my heart was in pastoral ministry. Thus a PhD from Southern, which also has a burden for the church, seemed quite reasonable [full disclosure: I applied to one university but was not accepted.] Second, Third Avenue was in a period of transition and it seemed wise to stay. If I learned anything from my time at Capitol Hill it was that Christians are too slow to allow the local church to become part of their decision making process. Deana and I wanted Third Avenue to be part of our process. It seemed right to spend a few more years here. We did have an opportunity to pursue a pastorate in Scotland. That would have been quite an experience. But the desire for the PhD, our church, and to be closer to family trumped it. Finally, I knew it was now or never for the PhD and I chose now.

BAT: I’m assuming there are others out there reading this and are in a similar situation you were 4yrs. ago. They desire to pastor and do a Ph.D. What should be their first assumption? In other words, should their first inclination be to do or not to do the Ph.D? Explain.

AMEN: I don’t think there is any generic answer to that question. Nonetheless, I generally caution men against a PhD if they want to go into pastoral ministry. The cost is so high, the toll on family intense, and I certainly don’t want my brothers to think the PhD is necessary for a vibrant pastoral ministry. Just look at Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 2. He came before the church in “weakness and in fear and much trembling.” He lacked “plausible words of wisdom.” But he was very bold because he knew that the faith of his listeners depended upon “the power of God.” For preachers, what does a PhD have to do with this? I just don’t feel I have a compelling enough answer to the question, “How will the PhD benefit your pastoral ministry” to encourage other brothers who want to be pastors to get one. Maybe someday I will and my answer my change. I recall a few years ago hearing Joshua Harris say he longed to be a better prayer warrior than a preacher. If our preaching is dependent upon the power of God and not human wisdom this is a prudent statement.

BAT: There alot of young M.Div students out there who upon their graduation don’t have a church that is pursuing them or a position immediately available. From your observation, do you think there is a problem with men in that situation defaulting to the Ph.D?

AMEN: Typically I don’t think the PhD is something one should “default” to because he can’t find something else. A PhD that is worth getting should be positively sought instead of passively found.

BAT: We have a number of men in our congregation preparing for pastoral ministry, many of whom desire to do a Ph.D. Based on your experience, what are a couple pieces of advice you would give them to help discern whether or not they should pursue the Ph.D?

AMEN: First, come to terms with your desire. Is it full-time pastoral ministry? Is it teaching in a secular school? Is it teaching in a seminary? The latter two require a PhD. The first one does not. Second, if you are married, talk to your spouse about the costs of the PhD. Is she aware of these costs. Is she supportive? Third, talk to others you trust, including elders in the church, about your calling. See if others see the same potential you see. Fourth, develop a relationship with a professor at the seminary. Someone from whom you have had more than one class, who has read one or two of your papers, and is able to critically assess your fitness for continued study. Give him the freedom to speak candidly with you about your potential, and if he is simply unable to assess your potential given his limited exposure to your work, ask him what he would need to see in order to make a determination. Fifth, pray for guidance from the Lord. Be diligent to seek His wisdom in this matter.

Brad, thanks for putting this interview together. Where would this blog be without you?!

BAT: I don’t know. Maybe better off. Thanks, brother! (If you are reading this and have any questions about something that’s been said then please email me at bradthayer1@gmail.com)

Okay, someone could argue that’s a bit unfair. The covenant doesn’t rightly meet the terms and conditions of a traditionally-defined “vision statement”. Furthermore, it fails to answer the question of what’s so wrong with a vision statement? In response, let me point you to an blog post by Richard Phillips to better answer that question. He has “Some Thoughts on Church ‘Visions’ “ that are well worth reading. Here’s his conclusion (emphasis added):

Church visioning is a powerful tool that can help make leaders much more effective. But since it necessarily focuses on things man can achieve, it has a dangerous tendency to secularize the church. Therefore, in my opinion, church visioning is probably a good idea only for churches that are strongly established with an ordinary means of grace emphasis, but who need to pay more attention to their missional context. Also, I would suggest that a visioning process should be conducted only periodically so as to set some longer term trajectories for ministry aspirations. The document should be kept ready so as to offer its analysis to future decision-making (hiring decisions, budget priorities, etc.), and then the church should continue to focus on its God-given mission of serving the Kingdom of Christ through the God-given strategy of Word, sacrament, and prayer, with biblically-defined elders and pastors serving a biblically-shaped church. (See 2 Cor. 10:3-4, and 1 Cor. 1:21-2:2).

If you are a leader in your church and thinking about reforming then this may be a conversation worth having with other leaders.

(If you periodically check this blog, I’m sure you’ll find some interesting conversation generated from our XM classes.)

We are trying to stay faithful. What this college student was saying reminded me of the great prophet Huey Lewis, “its hip to be square.” WOW, we are clearly not cool, we cited Huey Lewis on our blog. There are all types of seeker-sensitive churches that are organizing their services and outreach to target certain ages and types of folk. This is a trend that has been around for some time and is simply being modified by the second generation that are just doing it cooler than their fathers. The goal is to show the church is hip. I am pleased they are preaching the gospel faithfully to these types, I am just not sure if a church should remodel itself to appeal to a particular type of fellow. Theologically, the church is made up of all types. We are set and sturdy on preaching Christ and him alone. The cleverness/wisdom of man, well, I hope we are not distracted by it in attempts to be cool. I also am not assuming we are the only “not-so-cool” church in town.

Of course this opens the whole big issue of how are we related to a culture, how is the gospel suppose to be “cultural.” Let me get on a hobby-horse. I am not a fan of the phrase “incarnational ministry” as a reference to our attempts of proclaiming the kingdom in the world. The incarnation is God breaking into history, time, the created order, and even death taking upon himself all that is foreign to him in order to redeem it. When we are taking the gospel into an art gallery, fair, bar, coffee shop, etc we are not incarnating ourselves or the gospel. We are doing the things we like to do and hoping to be light their. Calling it incarnational takes away from the unique person and position of Christ who alone is incarnate and over exalts someone who is simply engaging culture the way the church has always intended. It is called evangelism.

Over two years have passed without a Senior Pastor. Two years! That’s a long time without a shepherd. Lord willing, this is all about to change. This past week we nominated Kurt Heath to come and shepherd us. (applause sound effect)

Roughly six years ago I (Brad Wheeler) sat in on Kurt’s membership interview at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. I heard about his childhood in Lima, OH, his ability to soar above the rim in high-school, and his brief stint at Liberty (sorry, Keith. Does anyone like it there?). I listened to him recount his spiritual struggles overseas in Russia, and how the Lord used His Word to bring a wayward brother back to Christ. In the ensuing months we talked through D.A. Caron’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation, I rejoiced with him over his engagement, and I remember when he first talked with me about leaving his job on the Hill as a Press Secretary for a prominent senator to pursue ministry. But never would I have guessed that years later we would call this man to shepherd our local church. What a testimony to God’s sovereign love that he gives his children such special joys.

God in his grace has sustained us well over the past two years. We’ve not only healed as a body, but have been able to put in place a new constitution, elected a plurality of elders and strengthened our Statement of Faith. The Lord has brought about a remarkable unanimity of mind in the absence of a pastor. Few churches are so blessed.

And yet despite all this, we’ve needed a shepherd. The few poor souls who sat in on our last elders’ meeting can attest to this. Was that a staff meeting, or an elder meeting? To our congregation who has so graciously endured our preaching rotation – thank you. Know that nobody desires more continuity in the pulpit than your leaders!

For this elder, September 2nd won’t come soon enough. (And to my fellow elders, yes, I did choose this title with a double meaning in mind! I assume it wasn’t lost on you. ☺)

Please check out our sermon audio to hear Kurt’s sermon from his May visit.

It’s interesting that you would entitle your post “growing elders” because I remember very clearly when Aaron nominated me on behalf of the elders growing was the main adjective he used to describe how I had a come to be qualified as an elder. I contribute alot of my growth to some of the very things you’ve mentioned in your previous posts. Now we haven’t had elders for the majority of my time at 3ABC nor did we have “open” meetings for men to sit through. Nevertheless, there were still strong models of leadership.

As for Sunday nights, those 15 minute talks aren’t easy. They require time management and thoughtful organization. More preparation goes into a 15 minute talk than one would expect. But there is a freedom you have that you don’t in a Sunday morning. And they’re something you have to learn to do well. I think alot of guys realize that after doing their first one. (I’ll never forget my first few.) But it’s amazing to see how these men grow the more they do it. Obviously, they grow in their preaching. But it’s also amazing to see who grows in leadership, which testifies to the fact that leadership and authority accrues to the preacher. Furthermore, these men take feedback from the elders and congregation very seriously. They have an earnest desire to be faithful to the text and see the congregation encouraged.  And that’s the kind of elders I what us to raise up.

Where 3ABC is distinct is that we actually come back to church in the evening to end the day in a similar way. It’s fast becoming a relic for a church to have any Sunday evening activity. I would not say that it is required for a church to be considered faithful, but it is beneficial. We find that it has been very helpful for the spiritual nurture of the church and for our worship to gather again on Sunday evenings. What do we do? We gather to sing, to pray for needs of the church and beyond, and to hear again from God’s Word. The evening text we meditate on is usually from the opposite testament than the one we studied in the morning – e.g. NT in the a.m. means we would hear from the O.T. at night — but both texts are always on a similar theological theme.

We prioritize this evening service in our corporate life over other options like one-on-one discipleship, home groups, etc., because we believe that the corporate identity of the church needs to be prioritized and nurtured. As you can see, we value those things (home groups, etc.) too, but the purpose of the corporate life of the church isn’t first to make those other things possible. Those other benefits grow from a healthy and vibrant corporate church life. You’re not part of a family so you can have one close brother or sister — the gift of family life, biological or spiritual, is so much more than that one close relationship.

Bruce,

I just read the 3rd blog where you wrote about elders’ meetings.  I just wanted to agree with everything you said.  It is very encouraging to see the elders work through tough issues and see how y’all love the church.  Plus, the food is awesome.  Thank you for your generosity.

One of our goals as a church is to mentor and train elders. We are small and don’t have a lot of formal mechanisms for this yet. One thing that we do is to invite non-elders to our elders’ meetings. Our elders’ meetings can be rather lengthy, and at times even downright exciting. Keith may start pontificating about the Trinity for example, or he may throw my kids toys around. (There is also usually lots of coffee and dessert prepared by my wife.) A few months ago we decided that inviting non-elders to selected portions of our meetings would be a simple way to mentor young men and to help train those who may be preparing for full-time ministry. We thought at first that it would only be Seminary students who were interested in coming. The reality is that we have had many U of L students come also. The conclusion for all those non-elders who’ve come is that this has been one of the most insightful and helpful things for them in understanding how elders practically lead and shepherd the church. It’s small, and it’s simple, but it helps us fulfill what we see as our responsibility to help train future leaders of the church.

I think the college students at 3ABC are unique because they have folded themselves into the corporate life of the church. In a season of their life when circumstances lend themselves very heavily toward independence, these faithful brothers and sisters have sought to serve and grow in a community of believers. And that’s exactly what we want. I think there may even be a current trend toward genuine Christian experience and community among young twenty-somethings. Here are a couple of articles worth reading. What Disillusioned 20-Somethings Want and The Young, Restless, Reformed

(Hey, Keith. Don’t you have a class ring with Jerry’s profile on it?)

The encouraging moment was this: observing a U of L student serving in a part of the church where s/he would not be expected to be seen serving. This member went about doing tasks for others that had nothing to do with furthering college ministry or anything that might benefit him/her. I had no idea that this person was doing these tasks, and the way that it was being done told me that this was a very routine act of service. This typifies a general quality that I have seen in nearly all of the university students that have joined the church. Quite remarkably, they do not come only to be served, but also to serve. This is having the mind of Christ, and it is a reason to be deeply encouraged by what God is doing in our fellowship.

As gently as I can, I always try to explain the realiites of what our situation has been. We have had a very large physical plant, we had over 1,100 people on the rolls and about 40-50 attending. 3ABC was discussing whether or not to have a bi-vocational pastor in 1999 because they couldn’t afford to pay the pastor and the chior director and the organist and the pianist. The pastor had to be cut according to some. The future was bleak because not even the children and grandchildren of our members were attending or supporting the church. Over 1000 members didn’t show up or send us a dime. As I said, I explained briefly in my other post why this happened.

When I came to 3ABC though, I soon learned of another church about 8 blocks down on 4th street in a similar situation. 4th Ave. Baptist Church had about 50 people, a big building, and probably a very large membership. I learned yesterday that the remaining 36 people at 4th Ave. Bapt. voted to merge with Walnut Street Baptist Church and close. They haven’t determined what to do with their property yet. 4th Ave. was the church home for a good number of SBTS faculty when the seminary was downtown. It is a very historic church in this city. And now it is closing. They were probably still paying the choir director and organist.
So my question is would you rather have the youth group running the church or no church?

There are two primary reasons for the present situation. The first is that most of these churches didn’t have many people when folks like me first came to them. In 1999 when I first came to 3ABC, there were about 50 in attendance and 1,100 on the rolls. The people who were here then have mostly died or are no longer able to attend. Seven years is a long time for those who are in their 80′s.

So then, are there no middle-aged people going to church in Louisville? Yes, there are, but most of the middle-aged people who grew up in churches like 3ABC stopped going to church, or they took their children to churches like Southeast Christian. How do you think Southeast grew to have 20,000 members? Most of the children and grandchildren of those who were coming to 3ABC when I first came either didn’t go to church or went somehwere like Highview, 9th and O or Southeast.
I would love to have it other than it is, but in God’s providence this is the lot that has come to us and other churches like us. As the sands of time sink, we’ll take care of having some older members. My gray hair is coming in nicely. Thanks for asking.

The primary question we were wrestling with last Wednesday was how should we engage with the culture even though we were are not to be “of” the world. My response to that question is what should we be doing? If we have been sent as Christ was sent into the world, what does that mean for us? Surely there were things that Christ did that were unique that we are not here to do. What are those things, and what are the things we should be doing? I think that part of the difficulty we have deciding how “missional” or indigenous to be comes from the complexity of deciding what we are to do as “little Christs”, what is for the church, and what was uniquely Christ’s to do? Are we to be feeding the poor, engaging in healing ministries, incarnating as Indie rockers . . . You can only answer these questions it seems by deciding what specifically we are to do as we are sent.

According to the article I am working from, pro-culture means looking for what God is doing in the culture and participating in it.  In my perspective and understanding of how McKnight describes culture and Christ, they are place side-by-side because God is acitve in both equivically and so God’s people are active in both equivically.  Is this how the Scriptures really describe God’s activities and how Christians are to act?  In our John 17 study it is clear that a great divide is cast between “the world” and the disciples/church.  Christ does not pray for the world, but only for those the Father had given him.  The work of the Kingdom (salvific grace) has precedence over the creating, sustaining work of the world (common grace).  Believers are in the world, but not of it.  They are to go into the world and transform it.  They are not old creations just seeking to act a new way.  Believers are transformed, receive a new nature and status as children of God, and proclaim the kingdom.

We at Third should be missional in the sense that we are going to order ourselves around the command to go make disciples.  We must recognize that we have a culture to reach and seek to interact with the people of that culture as much as possible.  We do this while not becoming or thinking like them, as if they will complete us in some way.  Instead we hold to the Scriptures and seek to proclaim God’s truth so that those who are lost and dead in their sins will be converted and begin to think like us.  This does not sound generous to many.  But we cannot get around the fact that the world we proclaim Christ in hates the God whom we proclaim.  So, we go to coffee with them, go to lunch with them, play basketball with them, study with them, you get the point…all to proclaim the one they will either receive by faith or hate by rebellion. 

Therefore, let the members of Third Avenue begin making Old Louisville their “homeland” as much as a missionfield.  Get to know the people, language, art, interests, gathering areas (pretty much their culture).  You do this not because God has graciously provided that culture for you to become a better person, but in order to be an agent of grace in the fallen culture.  We befriend our neighbors in the hope that they will be converted and declared “friends of God.” 

Last night Greg summarized most of what the elders talked about during our time away. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about it over time. One of the most encouraging things to me was having an extended conversation about the church and as part of that an extended time thinking about the church’s future. Talking about the future of the church has not always been the most encouraging thing over the last several years, but for the first time it was. It was encouraging to reflect on what God has done for us over the last year and what we may be able to do in the future.

Also encouraging was Greg’s sermon from Luke 24 on the resurrected Christ. It was the perfect sermon for this weekend. The reality of the resurrection — that God would raise His dead Son to life — is the ultimate source of hope for us as believers. It is also my source of hope for 3ABC. While we cannot presume on God’s will, the fact that He brings that which was dead to life has been and continues to be a great source of encouragement. Greg’s application of bearing witness to the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection to Old Louisville also warmed my heart.
There is much that we need to do, but encouragement like this is certainly welcome.

Allow me to take this as an opportunity to mention another “distinctive” about life at 3ABC: the corporate life of the church is “favored” over “small” group assemblies. Some churches have, for example, cancelled their Sunday evening services or other meeting times in favor of home groups — and it is usually done with the goal of fostering “community”. Now we are not against “community”, and have home groups meeting at least monthly to help that very thing. Community is not a bad thing, but it is also not the main thing.

The main thing is nurturing the church. The “body” that is the church seems somehow less satisfying to many today. Small, informal groups tend to foster traits and patterns that don’t necessarily benefit the whole body. Would Aaron, or anyone care to elaborate? Surely there is some moral in the penguin documentary that could be employed here.

You mentioned how Will got folks together to go clean-up Central Park. Oddly enough, I think it is a good example of ways that we can reach out to people in our neighborhood. Will and others saw an opportunity to serve the community and to be evangelistic and then gave time to it. Individual members serving at the Crisis Pregnancy Center would be another way.

I think an important thing that we as a church should do in our worship and life together in the city is to avoid trying to use suburban approaches to our church life. An example of having a suburban outlook in church life might be to expect to find guaranteed parking for your SUV every time you come to church.

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. 

The topic I’d like to launch is: Should the ministry of our church be different because it is in a city? I was reminded of the question today when I heard a summary of the life and work of Jane Jacobs on NPR. She died recently but was well known for her activism for urban spaces — especially in NYC in the early 1960′s. She was also well known for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

I live in the city and care about the city. I view living in the city as a form of incarnational ministry just as I did when I lived in Washington, DC for many years. I do not think that you have to live in the city to be a member of 3ABC. But I do think that it would be fruitful for us to talk about how our church could/should respond to its context. Is there one soul that would respond to my question? Would a member like to send me an email in response to the question?

What you’ll find here at The Gate is, we hope, an interesting and sometimes raucous conversation about a whole broad range of things–from theology to church life to culture to philosophy to apologetics to history.  You might come one day to find us talking about whether Christians should pray to the Holy Spirit, and another day to find us wondering whether “In God We Trust” should be on our money, or whether the invitation system is a good thing or not.  And what about politics?  Should Christians engage in it?  How about movies?  Should Christians watch them?  Is the regulative principle right?  And how exactly is it supposed to work?  And for that matter, what is it?

We’re not coming to these questions with answers already in mind.  In most cases, we’ll probably not even have talked about them beforehand.  So what you’ll be getting is just a bunch of Elders talking through theological and practical questions—the way we might if we were sitting around in someone’s living room.  That means we’ll probably be challenging, questioning, and disagreeing with one another quite a bit.  But that just makes it interesting.  Odds are, some of us will probably say things you disagree with.  Please email us about them.  Not just so we’ll know what you’re thinking—we want to make it a point to post comments from you that help push the conversation along.

My guess is there will be plenty of times we won’t even come to a concrete, unanimous conclusion.  But that’s fine.  It’s a good thing for Christians to think about these things, and we hope The Gate will be a way for our church to talk back and forth—in an informal way—about interesting and important questions.  This is going to be fun.  Welcome to The Gate!