HOPE recruits women between the ages of 18 and 29 to live for one year or one summer in an urban neighborhood near downtown Louisville, KY. Working together with your five team mates, you will live life alongside the urban poor building relationships with your neighbors and serving the needs of the homeless at Jefferson Street Baptist Center. Our brand new women's program begins this Summer 2008. What does this look like, you ask?
HOPE is a ministry of
Jefferson Street Baptist Center
733 East Jefferson Street | Louisville, KY 40203
www.jeffersonstreet.org
CONTACT US
Email: hope@jeffersonstreet.org
Phone: 502.584.6543
Fax: 502.584.4377

...they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved...

Our female HOPE team members live in a low-income urban neighborhood in a fully furnished apartment or house with five other female team mates.

Our hope is that each Team Member will eventually establish a handful of ongoing friendships with nearby families and homeless women from JSBC, through which they can communicate the love of God in both word and deed. Though often difficult at first, building community relationships usually makes it happen. Particularly early on, Team Members look for opportunities to be involved in creative outreach in their community. On Wednesdays and other “unscheduled” times throughout the week, Team Members walk around their neighborhood, visiting with people in order to develop new friendships, offer practical help, take prayer requests, and often talk candidly about their relationships with God.

As HOPE progresses, you will spend more and more time each week focused on those new friends and the women at JSBC you believe God has placed on your heart.  More often you will just be “hanging out” as friends, building positive, loving relationships that advance the Kingdom of God. Team Members often share with their neighbors the reality of their own life of faith, including their struggles, in a manner that cultivates authentic relationships.

Outreach Day Prayer and Preparation

On Wednesdays at 8:00 a.m., the entire team gathers to pray for their day in their neighborhood. Team Members share with one another the outreach activities they have planned and the people they hope to visit with. This is a time to support one another in your outreach efforts and to brainstorm with each other how to have the greatest impact. Pray that your team could truly be a part of Jesus' body working in your community that day.


...they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need...

JSBC Service gives you the opportunity to serve the needs of your new neighborhood in Jesus' name. Each Team Member serves 30-35 hours a week at Jefferson Street Baptist Center. HOPE Team Members take their ‘job’ at least as seriously as they would take a paid position.

In 2006 through our Day Shelter we provided services to 59,827 homeless guests (an avg. of 164 guests each day.) Our guests are provided a drug free, safe environment in which they may access our laundry room, showers, storage room, mail and phone services, or just enjoy some hot coffee and a light breakfast. Additionally, our guests may receive assistance with employment, housing, physical and mental health referrals, as well as help with disability and other applications. We want to help our guests to become more employable and to gain permanent housing.  
...they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers...

Your growth in personal discipleship is our foremost concern, rivaled only by our obsession with actually blessing your neighbors and homeless friends in a significant and lasting way. Simply stated, this handbook, and indeed every aspect of HOPE, is in one way or another devoted to developing your personal discipleship as a follower of Jesus. From the beginning of orientation all the way through the end of the closing retreat, our goal is to give you a genuine opportunity to better understand yourself and the world around you, to pursue the disciplines of thought, prayer, worship, sacrifice, and service, and to draw closer to God by loving some of his most precious people.

Devotions

Immediately following Team Devotions is an hour set aside for Team Members to pursue their individual relationships with God. HOPE houses are quiet during this time with Team Members turning off their phones and refraining from doing any errands or other “tasks” during the quiet hour. Often, because of the Day Shelter work schedule, Devotional time will not happen until after your service for the day is done. While some Team Members may find that the afternoon after a workday is not optimal for their devotional time, we ask all Team Members to make every effort to make the best of this time. Many Team Members find they need to add a personal quiet time in the late evening as well.

Sabbaths

You will have an official Sabbath from normal HOPE responsibilities. Generally, you may not use this day doing ministry! Having said that we believe that no Christian ever has a “day off” from living in light of the question, “In this moment, how can I best love both God and people?” Your plans for each Sabbath will flow from faithfully responding to this question.

Sabbaths help us pace ourselves for the long haul, instead of the quick burnout, which means we need to recharge our bodies and souls whether or not we feel like it. Given the desperate needs all around you in the city, it may be hard for you to step away from ministry in order to take care of yourself, but do your best to trust God's wisdom in laying down the fourth commandment. Get out and away, do things that heal and energize you, and don't forget to catch up on your sleep. Sabbath's begin on Saturday mornings and end Saturday night.
...day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple...

Each Team Member spends about six hours each week participating in the life of their church by attending some combination of worship services, classes, Community Group, small group Bible studies, worship team practice, and other activities, depending on their individual interests and abilities. Team Members generally get involved in at least three aspects of church life including Sunday service, mid-week Bible study or another meting of core church members, and a role in which they partner with existing church ministries. The main point here is for you to become part of God's family in your new community, and to establish a spiritual home base from which you can reach out to your neighbors as followers of Jesus.

...all who believed were together and had all things in common...

HOPE takes the calling of Christians to live as the body of Christ very seriously. To this end, we cultivate community among Team Members through the following activities. In addition, we seek to equip Team Members with conflict resolution skills through various suggestions and exercises. During all of these team gatherings, Team Members turn the ringer off on their phones and turn the volume down on the answering machine so they won't be interrupted.

Team Dinners
One great way to foster community is to eat together. HOPE teams typically eat at least one dinner together each week.

Team Devotions
Team Devotions set a good tone for the day. They are simple, easy, and brief. One Team Member will share a brief reading, a thought from their personal devotions, or a passage of Scripture. Each Team Member may choose to share a brief prayer request for their teammates to lift up during their quiet time. These five minutes can really get your team moving in the right direction.

Team Business Meetings
Usually held once a week, these are times for housekeeping and important team conversations, established in part so that everyone can review the team's completed cleaning chores simultaneously. On a rotating basis, a few people go grocery shopping following the meeting. These times are also generally times you and your Team Members use to do your laundry, review outreach plans, make appointments with neighbors for the next day, write your monthly support letter, or generally stay caught up with your life.

Team Time (Prayer & Share)
Once a week your team gathers to spiritually support and encourage one another, and to draw closer to God as a group. Sometimes you will pray and share together about your ministry, but other times you may plan activities to get to know each other better or just to have joy filled fun.

Curriculum
Another key opportunity for you to grow through Christian community is the HOPE curriculum, a collection of books, articles, movies, CD's, and other materials we have put together to help you think critically about some of the deeper issues of life. Each week you and your teammates receive the same study assignment for review prior to your team's weekly curriculum discussions. These discussions give you a chance to process your reading, ask and answer difficult questions, and think incredibly profound thoughts together. As with almost everything in HOPE, in most cases you will get out of these times precisely what you put into them.