UTO Grantee in New Orleans
Diocesan Press Service. March 11, 1974 [74070]
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- "We don't want to be a church. We see ourselves as an expression of the church," explains the Rev. Bill Brown, director of the Trinity Christian Community in New Orleans, a 1973 grantee of the Episcopal Churchwomen's United Thank Offering.
Located in an upstairs store front at 1123 Erato St. in an ethnically and racially mixed neighborhood between the Irish Channel and the bowery, The Upper Room is the headquarters for the Community's year-round ministry to anybody and everybody.
"I don't care if a person is from Nob Hill. It's the inner man that counts. Jesus wants to make them whole," avows the Rev. Mr. Brown.
He certainly is no starry-eyed social worker. A Presbyterian by faith, he grew up in Detroit's inner city and was converted to Christ there some 20 years ago.
"The essence of the Christian gospel is not changing a person's environment. It's changing him. That's what salvation means. Here we seek to establish creative relationships, so we can structure programs to help people and to share the Gospel with them."
Emphasizing one of his strong beliefs, he continues, "The programs are the last thing. The church has made a terrific mistake in making programs first and making people fit them. The result is that they stay away in droves."
Programs which have emerged since the Community's foundation in 1968 reflect practical responses to perceived needs.
Roughly these activities center around camping and recreation, evangelism which includes worship services, guest speakers and street missionary work and rehabilitation and nurture, ministry to the alcoholics, prostitutes, drug addicts and derelicts who congregate in the low-standard housing pockets of the Channel.
The national United Thank Offering (UTO) has earmarked some $25, 000 for the Community, one of 87 programs throughout the world to receive a slice of the $1,493,207.80 allocated by the 34th Triennial meeting simultaneously with General Convention last fall in Louisville, Ky.
The Community will use that money "to buy a van and hire a couple to work in a rehabilitation program, particularly with women. "
" I just talked to a girl who has four children. She was a prostitute and a junkie. After we found her, she lived in our home for a year. Now, she is winning souls for Christ," Mr. Brown says.
He readily admits that "we have loads of disappointments," but he insists, "The victories are startling. "
The Upper Room is a colorful gathering place, featuring on one wall a psychedelic mural that fairly screams, "God is Love!" On Sunday evenings it is the site of informal worship services which are "friendly, warm experiences. Instead of signing an attendance card, everyone meets another person with a hug," says Mr. Brown.
The back of the donated building is given over to offices and craft space for the eight full-time and 10 part-time staff members.
The Community's board of directors are drawn from four denominations. "We decided early that we couldn't do this thing in a sectarian way. You create a lousy image. We're not trying to make Presbyterians out of the Irish Channel. We want to make them Christians," the director explains.
So, where do you send people when they have been won to Christ?
That, Mr. Brown admits, is a problem. "We thought at first we could just recommend a church, but some churches weren't so happy to receive our recommendations, and some of the people weren't happy with our suggestions," he recalls.
" For a period of time, we have to be a bridge. Ultimately, most do find a church on their own. Some even find a seminary before they find the church. Four young men from here who are going to Bible college next year are half-way identified with faiths, but all they really know is that they want to work for Christ, " he explains happily.
Episcopalians from New Orleans and Metairie are numbered among the volunteers who aid the Community. Their help comes in the form of time, but particularly in talents and money.
Their current $78,000 budget owes a lot of thanks to individual contributions. And that is a long way from zero, which is what they started with when the Rev. and Mrs. Brown first became involved in inner city work on instructions from a local Presbyterian Church to which Mr. Brown was attached as an assistant.
The Presbyterian Presbytery which includes New Orleans (akin to an Episcopal diocese) approved and funded the continuation of their ministry when he resigned from the parish ministry.
A personable man who immediately falls into first-name relationships, Mr. Brown, his wife, a former public health nurse, and their four children have a home near The Upper Room, where "We had morning Bible study and rehabilitation meetings for addicts long before there was a methadone center in the city. "
Bible study courses still figure strongly in the Community's gamut of activities, as do summer camps for children and their parents.
The Community is also involved in temporary resettlement to take people who need constant attention off the streets. They provide foster families and even own some cottages where people can live while they undergo rehabilitation.
The Risen Son is one of their small settlement houses near the St. Thomas Housing Project in the very heart of the Channel.
Mr. Brown considers their one ace in the hole to be "flexibility. " He is unimpressed with buildings, with owning them, with building them. If you seek his opinion as to where the action is, you might consider an apology:
"I'm sorry you can't meet your recreation director, but he's out on the street. "