“I recently had the opportunity to attend the Inhabit Conference hosted by Parrish Collective in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, and I’ve been processing what I saw, heard, and felt ever since.
To be honest, my first takeaway was just how different their context is from ours in Roanoke. The needs are more visible, more urgent, and in many cases, more complex. Issues like food insecurity, financial instability, and even fear related to immigration enforcement are part of daily life in ways that we simply don’t experience in our community. In Roanoke, those struggles may exist… but they are often quieter, less visible, and sometimes easier to overlook.
But here’s what struck me most: the response of the Church in Lawndale was not built on comparison… it was built on presence.
I visited a gym in the basement of a church run by the Chicago Youth Boxing Club. Over 400 kids from the neighborhood are involved. Four hundred. That number stuck with me. They’ve created a space where kids are known, challenged, and invested in. It’s structured. It’s relational. It’s consistent. Meanwhile, many of the kids in my own community are isolated… spending hours on devices, disconnected from meaningful, face-to-face relationships.
That was a moment of conviction for me. Not guilt… but clarity.
The question isn’t… ‘Why don’t we have their problems?’ The question is… ‘Are we responding to our reality with the same intentionality?’
I also visited a neighborhood theater called ‘Theater Y.’ This group has purchased a four-story building in the neighborhood originally built for storage, complete with a loading dock. They are intentionally and thoughtfully repurposing every square inch of that building in support of the various arts and dreams of their neighbors.
What I learned at Inhabit is this… faithful presence is not about copying someone else’s model… it’s about deeply knowing your own community and stepping into it with intentional love.”
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Thompson
Roanoke (Indiana) First Brethren Church
Midwest Regional Leadership Team