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What kind of
church has no members?
UrbanSpirit
is a different kind of church. We figured that the
biggest need in this neighborhood wasn't an organization to collect members. We focus
instead on teaching ministries, lending our voice to those who live in poverty,
bringing change through new perspectives. We believe poverty is an
impediment to the common good and inconsistent with most faith traditions.
And most people of faith don’t really want it to be that way. We believe
that if you could see what we see here, you would agree. So, we invite you.
Through our gospel service, we reshape community; through our educational
leadership and scriptural reflection, we reshape perspectives. Come and see!
In 2001, Grace Lutheran Church closed its doors after serving
110 years in Louisville’s Portland neighborhood. Church leaders gave the
properties to UrbanSpirit for the work of social change through social
awareness. We are a new church for a new day.
Our Vision
Imagine a place where people-of-faith and
people-of-no-particular-faith-at-all work together to renew a community;
where teachers are learners and learners are teachers; where people with
little in common have radical conversations over coffee; where we challenge
the systems and change the world. An urban village, where strangers are
welcomed and anything is possible.
It is Church for a new day, a new world...
That is UrbanSpirit: an urban village, built on partnership, justice and mutual
care. We are a faith community where people from all kinds of circumstances come
together -- for service, for study, for sabbath.
Here's how we see it --
"Urban" is a hard thing to pin down.
For some folks, it conjures up grand images of loft apartments,
brand-name coffee shops below, groovy nightlife, designer boutiques within
walking distance, and a light-rail train just waiting to whisk you off to
your job on the 25th floor of a downtown tower.
But for others, urban is harder core and less glamorous. It means two
jobs at minimum wage just to keep paying rent and feed your family. It means
watching the money run out before payday, trying to get groceries from a
church or agency to tide you over. It means constantly worrying about your
kids, wishing the schools were in better repair and the streets were safer.
It means being surrounded by liquor stores, crack houses, pawn shops,
check-cashing stores and lottery terminals, all trying to pry your last
dollar from your hands. It frequently means being stuck in a cycle of just getting by, of
wondering if this is the month that your rent goes higher than whatever you
can scrape together. It may mean staying in your car a few nights until you
can find another place you can afford, and not being able to get a job
because you don't have a permanent address. It can mean celebrating eighth
grade graduation, because that's as far as you'll likely go.
UrbanSpirit is dedicated to understanding. There is a disconnect
between God's people, and we want to build bridges of awareness. We want to
help bring resources to this neighborhood in distress; to rely on the
neighbors as teachers of what poverty can do; and to invite more well-off
people of faith to encounter the Spirit of God in new ways, in a new place,
then bring a new spirit to their own communities.
Our Mission:
We are changing the world by changing the way people
see the world.
UrbanSpirit exists to help people --
especially people of faith -- take a fresh look at social realities. We
engage people who are not poor in an experience and exploration what it
means to be among the working poor in America, and to reflect on the
experience in the context of faith.
Then, armed with new awareness, we
challenge our participants to seek justice -- to create new
relationships across economic class lines, and to advocate for changed
attitudes and policies in their communities.
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