Love Thy Neighborhood

Organizational Principles

Purpose & Mission Statement:

Love Thy Neighborhood is an urban missions agency for young adults, ages 18-30, impacting homelessness, the adult entertainment industry, crisis pregnancy, adoption & foster care, healthcare, refugees, construction & low-income housing, legal aid, book editing & publishing, podcasting, visual arts, media & design, multicultural church ministry, multicultural worship ministry, urban youth ministry, international college ministry and nonprofit leadership. Believing that relationships change lives, Love Thy Neighborhood emphasizes spending time with neighbors, the local church, each other and the Lord. We equip and mobilize the next generation of Christian leaders to work with the poor, the suffering and the marginalized in Louisville, KY.

Doctrinal Statement:

1. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original documents, and of final authority in all matters of faith and practice. 2. There is one God, the Creator of all things, infinitely holy and eternally existent in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 3. The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and sinlessly perfect. His sacrificial death on the cross is substitutionary and representative. He rose bodily from the dead and ascended to his Father’s right hand, where he now ministers as our Great High Priest. He will come again to receive his own unto himself and to reign in power and glory for all eternity. 4. Each member of the human race is fallen, sinful and lost, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for the salvation of man. Redemption is wholly by the blood of Christ, and salvation is by grace alone through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 5. God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. 6. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer, who is sealed until the day of redemption and empowered to live a godly life. 7. The church began with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and is composed of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. These believers are united to him and to one another by the indwelling Spirit. This means that the church, as a whole, is not an organization, but a living organism, known as the body of Christ. 8. There are two Christian ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism signifies that the believer is buried with Christ and is risen with him to walk in newness of life. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial celebration, instituted by the Lord himself exclusively for his own. In the observance of this supper, believers remember him, they show his death until he comes, and they function as worshiping priests before God. Although baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the church until the return of Christ, they are not to be regarded as means of salvation, which is by grace alone through faith. 9. Every true child of God possesses eternal life and being justified, sanctified, and sealed with the Holy Spirit, is safe and secure for all eternity. 10. There will be a bodily resurrection of the saved and of the lost—of the saved, unto eternal life, and of the lost, unto eternal and conscious judgment.

Core Values:

Additional Information:

Love Thy Neighborhood is passionate about discussing current topics, we do this through a podcast: http://lovethyneighborhood.org/podcast/ These podcasts are helpful for anyone but especially for those looking to come and serve with Love Thy Neighborhood.

Trip Costs Details:

LTN uses Collaborative Funding to care for those that serve. Our unique approach to funding allows people from all walks of life and financial backgrounds to participate in urban missions. This approach ensures that your fully-furnished housing, groceries, in-town transportation and living allowance will all be covered. Our Team Members all support each other by generously compiling the money they raise into one pile to care for each other. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Team Members set a personal goal of raising $9,900 for the year and $2,700 for the summer ($900/month). DO I RECEIVE HELP? Every LTN Team Member is guided step by step through the fundraising process – making raising funds achievable even for a fundraising novice. Our Teams have an average fundraising success rate that exceeds 100%.

Training Required for Service:

Training happens during the first 2 weeks of your service with us.

Long-Term Missionary Accountability Practices:

Love Thy Neighborhood provides our Team Members with guidance and opportunities for biblical discipleship and personal development. Because the gospel of Christ is the core of the work that we do, our desire is for Team Members to know Jesus more intimately and love other people more passionately. Our Team Members live life together as Christians in households of 4-8 people. Here, they learn how to live out the Great Commission communally and how to love one another graciously and sacrificially. We pursue this by providing 1 hour each day for silence, solitude, prayer and study. They meet weekly with 2 other Team Members for a time of encouragement and accountability. Team Members read important books together and have bi-weekly times of training and worship. We grow their passion and commitment for the local church by having each team be involved in the life of a church in their neighborhood. Our church partners provide our Team Members with an opportunity to hear the Bible taught faithfully, worship the Lord together and join the church in engaging the neighborhood. Each Team Member goes through a personality evaluation and skill set assessment to help them grow in their self-awareness. As they serve at their service site, they grow in their personal skillsets.

Application Process:

Our application has ## steps. 1.) Short form application (Takes 60 seconds) 2.) Long form application (Takes 30-45 minutes) 3.) Provide 2 reference forms (Take 5-10 minutes) 4.) Complete an interview with a staff member or alumni (Take 30-45 minutes) - Interviews are typically done via Skype/phone call unless you live near Louisville. 5.) You will hear from a LTN Staff member about our decision and then you have a week to get back with us. Extensions are allowed if additional time is needed. This above process typically takes anywhere from 1-2 weeks to compete depending on how quickly the applicant gets appropriate forms in and timing of interview.

Characteristics of the Ideal Missionary:

We don't necessarily have an "ideal" candidate. We are asking people to show up and jump into what we are doing. You can do that if you are an extrovert, introvert, high energy, low energy, etc. Just show up!