I Visited Love Thy Neighborhood

In this series, we're visiting Southeast's Mission Partners to understand their vision and how God is using them in the community.

By Carla Williams

As I prepared to spend a day with Love Thy Neighborhood (LTN), an urban missions ministry for young adults, I couldn’t help but think about who I was when I was 20. I was in the throes of liberal arts at a state university, and I was committed to my faith and conflicted about how to align my heart for the Gospel with the everyday social concerns around me. 

I wish LTN would have been around. 

LTN matches young adults with ministries in the Louisville area. The interns live in community together, serve in their ministries during the week, invest in the life of a local church, and intentionally engage in community outreach in their neighborhoods. LTN started in its current form just about five years ago. It began with two staff members and just a handful of interns its first year, but now it hosts 55 summer interns and a dozen or so full-year interns.  

Through LTN, the interns are “impacting homelessness, the adult entertainment industry, crisis pregnancy, orphan care, healthcare, refugees, construction and low-income housing, education, neighborhood renewal, book editing and publishing, podcasting, visual arts, media and design, and nonprofit leadership.” They partner with several local ministries, so the interns get a life-changing experience, the ministries get valuable help, and the wounded and marginalized in Louisville get comprehensive Gospel care. Win. Win. Win. 

I arrived at their offices in downtown Louisville on a cold Friday morning. The full-year interns were set to gather together later in the day, so I made myself comfy with some of the staff. Kiana, who has been with LTN since its beginning, answered endless questions for me about recruitment, training, ministry partners, LTN’s history, and what dreams they’re praying through for the future. Over and over I heard the same themes–community, intentionality, the local church, faith, the marginalized, and how all of those things intersect with the Gospel.  

Kiana’s own life is evidence of the program’s effectiveness. She was an intern in an earlier version of the program, which focused on homelessness. Those themes and experiences shaped her views, faith, and obedience, just like they continue to do for each new intern.  

I also hung out with Rachel—another LTN alumna—and we talked about storytelling, interviews, and the art of podcasts. Rachel oversees LTN’s podcasts, and she explained to me that they found their niche by exploring what perspective they had to offer that was unique to them. They discovered they have a special view of how the Gospel impacts social justice issues like racial reconciliation, adoption, abortion, homelessness, incarceration, sex trafficking, LGBQT, and so much more. The podcast has been a powerful way for them to tell stories and connect with a wide community.  

The Interns 

While I was still talking with various staff members, the interns began trickling into the LTN offices. Every other Friday, they take a break from their regular schedule to have lunch, worship, and a training together. The first interns to arrive were the four girls whose house was in charge of lunch for the day, and they began setting out the amazing chili they’d prepared for the group. They’d only been living together for a month of their year-long journey, but it was easy to see they were already understanding the privilege and burden of life in intentional, authentic community. They were champions for one another, neither reserved in polite kindness nor bickering in unchecked frustration.

Soon, the small dining room was packed with interns and staff, all laughing and present. No one was trapped behind the screens of their cellphones, no one was dominating the room, and no one was exempt from the fun.  

As I casually engaged with the interns around me, I learned that they are from different parts of the country, have various pasts and hopes for the future, and are all uniquely gifted and wired. But they’re all serving for a year with LTN because they have a deep desire to see the Gospel lived out practically and personally.  

Intentional Growth and Community 

Within a few minutes, we’d transitioned from the lighthearted familiarity of the dining room into a more serious kind of joy in the conference room. We prayed together, with voices joining in and dropping out seamlessly. Between prayers, a guest on a guitar drew us into hymns and worship songs, the lyrics rich with theology and praise. It was the kind of sincere moment of communal reverence that at once nourishes the whole soul and leaves you aching for more.

After that worship together, the interns listened attentively to a Biblical counselor who had volunteered to train them on caring for one another with wise and deliberate conversations. The interns showed strength and vulnerability as they navigated the topic, and I was once again impressed and thankful that these young men and women represent the future of the Church.  

When the training had finished, Leandro, the Program Director, led them in sharing victories and challenges from the time they’d been apart, the whole group celebrating and supporting in response. As one intern casually mentioned that this season is really difficult, everyone nodded in unison. Nothing about this internship is easy. Every piece of it is designed to stretch and grow young Christ-followers so that their faith may prove genuine as they step into their futures.  

Soon, our time together was finishing and the interns began dispersing, some to clean the kitchen, some to pull staff members into follow-up conversations, and some to soak up one another’s company just a few more minutes before they went back to their houses, ministries, and communities. 

In an era of selfies, endless controversy, watered-down theology, and growing division in the church, my day at LTN was a beautiful reminder that there is great hope. LTN is finding and training future leaders who care deeply about the world around them, fight against injustice and depravity, and pursue Christ-centered restoration and Biblical obedience. They’re impacting Louisville in tangible ways, and they’re making chili to share on cold days. That’s my kind of internship. 

To learn more or get involved, visit lovethyneighborhood.org.