INDIANAPOLIS — With hotdogs on the grill, the bounce-house full of air, and singing and keyboard music under a tent, the stage was set.
A large sign in front of Crossroads Bible Church beckoned the neighborhood to come over on a hot, humid Saturday afternoon for lunch, games, and activities.
Renewal Neighborhood Ministry is a new non-profit organization aimed at strengthening the neighborhood around 42nd Street and Post Road. This neighborhood surrounding Crossroads was one of six areas Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard identified in 2014 as needing extra police patrols.
Members of the Renewal board come from Crossroads and from Outlook Christian Church in McCordsville.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe two churches had come together several years ago through a ministry that sought to form partnerships among suburban churches, city schools and the churches in the schools’ neighborhoods. That ministry organization has faded, but the Crossroads-Outlook partnership continues, and they hope Renewal will be an avenue to even wider influence on the area.
“The whole point of Renewal is to serve this neighborhood,” said Mike Wilkins, missions and outreach minister at Outlook. “This neighborhood could be a vibrant neighborhood, like any other neighborhood in the city.”
For several years the two churches have worked together on programs such as a summer reading club for students of Charles W. Fairbanks School 105, an Indianapolis Public School that is Crossroads’ neighbor to the south. The hope is to offer a preschool to help students be prepared when they show up at Fairbanks for kindergarten.
The June 16 community event at Crossroads offered nearly 20 stations with activities and information.
Barb Reisinger of Outlook worked the station offering a free family portrait. Cayce Strong of Crossroads was reporting for her shift; she said an announcement from Crossroads’ interim pastor had persuaded her to help at the event.
“He was talking about the importance of being involved in the community,” she said. “I just really wanted to heed that call.”
It’s a call George Radford, Crossroads’ senior elder and interim minister, has himself heeded. He and his wife, Cindy, were attending Crossroads when it located at Crossroads Bible College. Several years ago, said Cindy Radford, the present Crossroads building at 8607 E. 42nd Street was inhabited by a small, older, white congregation that approached Crossroads about moving in.
Soon after the move, the church had a funeral for a boy shot to death. The Radfords sold their house and moved a few blocks away from the church. George Radford said it was a step he might not have originally sought to make, but one he felt called by God to do and has embraced.
“This is just our new home and our life,” Cindy Radford said. “We love it here.”
Volunteers from both churches have said serving the community has meant getting to know people in the neighborhood and learning about the needs they voice. A flag football league took shape after parents said they were looking for positive activities for their children. Some also said they would like parenting classes; visitors at Saturday’s event could sign up for an upcoming class.
That information booth was one of several stations, from information about library cards, to making crafts, to petting horses from the IMPD Mounted Patrol Unit. Those who made the rounds of the stations and got a sticker in each square on their card received a free gift.
Standing in the church parking lot that soon filled with cars, George Radford said events like this are another chance to get to know community members and to not only address physical needs but to also offer hope to meet spiritual needs.
“I’m hoping that God can establish some relationships with people that don’t know him … that will carry on,” he said. “I don’t care whether they come to this church or not. What I care about is that they go to God.”
