The sound of worship fills the new Ark Church, formerly First Baptist Church of Lookout Mountain.The oldest church on Lookout Mountain has relocated to the inner city in an effort to attract more people and increase its chances of survival.
“Ninety-nine percent of our people were coming from the valley to the mountain, and so it made sense to come to the valley,” says the Rev. Jeffrey Jefferson, pastor of the historically black Lookout Mountain First Baptist Church, now called The Ark Church.
The late Rev. E.H. Dial established the church at 205 N. Bragg Ave. in 1904, and it operated for more than a century until relocating last year to 2200 Rawlings Ave. in Avondale and changing its name.
Relocation meant leaving a sanctuary where the median household income is more than double that of the state – $117,119 vs. $48,547, according to City-Data.com. In Avondale, more than a third of residents live in poverty.
“We just want to meet people where they are,” says Jefferson.