HBC & Ridgewood Baptist Church

Highland is in an extended partnership with Ridgewood Baptist Church in southwest Jefferson County in order to enhance and support their progressive voice of faith to this part of our city.

HBC ministers Joe Phelps and Nina Maples, along with the entire congregation, are giving considerable energies to this outreach project. Members attend worship, participate in work days to revitalize the building, teach Bible study classes, work on task forces, provide expertise in project management, PR, and offer financial and spiritual support to the revitalization of RBC.

Currently the churches are working under the following arrangement, approved by both congregations in December 2008:

1. Extend the HBC/RBC partnership to at least December 2009, with the knowledge that either church can decide to withdraw from or propose a change to the current partnership.
   a. Joe and Nina will continue to preach and give administrative leadership to the church. Nina will work at RBC no more than 2 days/wk. We will continue to monitor this arrangement on a quarterly basis (January, April, July, October).
   b. HBC members will continue to support the partnership through participation in projects, outreach endeavors, attendance, and Bible study leadership.
   c. The HBC/RBC Task Force will meet monthly to review progress and propose future directions.
   d. Intern Stephanie True will continue her work at RBC.
2. HBC and RBC provide an equal amount of funds up to $10,000 each to underwrite the outreach and renovation plans of Phase 2.

History
Ridgewood Baptist Church began in the 1960’s and has always been a moderate, progressive Baptist congregation. They are affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. Following the resignation of their pastor in 2007, Ridgewood struggled with declining attendance, limited resources, and an unclear direction for the future. Conversations with Highland began in early 2008 that resulted in a plan to partner together to strengthen RBC. A task force, with three members from each church, was formed to give oversight to this effort. The plan included moving RBC’s worship service to 1:00 p.m. on Sundays in order to allow HBC to provide worship leadership. Joe Phelps and Nina Maples began as co-pastors of RBC in September 2008.

Plans
Currently, we are working on facility and outreach plans in order to “relaunch” RBC by Easter (April 12). A revitalized deacon ministry, new signs on Greenwood Road, new programming to meet real needs in the community, a growing youth ministry, a web site, a mass mail campaign, and a renovation of the sanctuary are some of the current areas of focus.

Future
Where the effort goes from here is unknown. Early in our discussion we broached the idea of merging our two congregations to make one church in two locations. This option has some benefits but many challenges. We have also discussed working together until Ridgewood becomes strong and independent again. At this point we are suspending judgment on these options in order to work together to enable Ridgewood to be a vital community of faith that provides an important witness to God’s love in this community. Once this happens we will be in a better position to discern what is best for our congregations. We seek God’s guidance as we move forward.