If you are a member of Grace Baptist Church, then you are an inner city minister. I don’t know if you’ve ever personally thought of yourself as a minister, much less an inner-city minister, but you should.

First of all, we know that the Biblical role of the pastoral leadership is not to do all the work of the ministry but to equip Christians to do the work of the ministry.

Secondly, if God has called you to join Grace in the Bywater, then obviously there is some kind of connection between you and the inner city. The Upper 9th Ward is our primary mission field, and that makes you inner city ministers.

So in the interest of equipping you for the work of inner city ministry, our friends at LINCNewOrleans are providing a workshop entitled Asset-Based Community Development.

What is Asset Based Community Development? I’ll let Rev. Kevin Kieschnick of LINCNewOrleans and pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church describe it:

Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is a “framework” to find and mobilize the community’s resources around the vision and goal set by the community.  In many communities, social service organizations and government agencies  attempt community transformation by asking what is wrong in the community, what has to be fixed.   ABCD approaches community transformation by asking what is right in the community, by looking at what a community has that it can give or contribute to the desired change.

 Please come as we continue to sharpen our ministry skills together.

• Asset-Based Community Development Training
• At St. Paul Lutheran Church, 2624 Burgundy Street
• Friday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. AND Saturday, June 19 (most of the day)
• Deadline to sign up is Sunday, June 6.
• Cost is $10. (Scholarships available for Grace Members.)
• Contact Brother Charlie to sign up.