GEORGETOWN, Ind. — It’s probably hard for a pastor not to become complacent when he’s been at a solid church for 18 years.

Steve Cline recently became convicted about his complacency in evangelism.

“God has blessed the people here at Georgetown Southern Baptist Church,” Pastor Cline told Baptist Press. “This is a precious, precious place to serve. We have a lot of Christian charity toward each other.”

The multigenerational congregation of about 110 gathers in this church that dates to 1976 in a small town about 20 minutes northwest of Louisville, Ky.  

Over the last five years, though, several hundred new homes and apartments have been built within a five-mile radius of Georgetown Southern Baptist Church.

That’s an opportunity and a challenge for the church snuggled in a community of older homes. 

“We want to be sure we continue to minister in this community at the same time we reach out to the new people moving in,” Cline said. “We do VBS (Vacation Bible School)  in the summer and a block party before school starts, plus fall and Easter events, but we have to do a lot better at meeting up with the people who live right around us.”

Cline said he was convicted of that for himself a couple of weeks ago when he attended a Send conference at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“I’m no longer meeting with ‘tax collectors and sinners,’” Cline said, referring to Jesus’ example. “This is on the forefront of my heart right now.” 

During an early pastorate, Cline volunteered as a police chaplain, but after he started working on a master’s degree in biblical counseling at Southern Seminary while pastoring at Georgetown Southern, he no longer made intentional time to be involved with unbelievers. 

By the time he graduated in 2013, his life was full: family, ministry, accountability group with other pastors, active participation in the Southeastern Indiana Baptist Association and State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, as well as couples counseling that grew out of the struggles he and his wife had in the early years of their marriage.

“We didn’t get along well. Had a couple bad Christian counselors,” Cline said. “How have we stayed married for nearly 40 years? I think we just started intentionally loving each other more. Just accepting the other one where they were at, not responding in anger.”

The Clines are parents to five, ages 15 to 27, three of whom are adopted.

Those adopted children led to one family new to the community joining the church in 2023.

“It was like God was leading us to Georgetown Southern Baptist Church,” Jess Quinlan told Baptist Press. “Our son Owen gave his second grade teacher a small Bible he’d received at the community’s harvest festival, ‘because I know you love Jesus,’ he told her.

“She was the pianist at the church,” Quinlan continued. “We visited, our daughter Nevaeh — whom we’d just adopted — met and made friends with the Cline kids, who were adopted.”

When their 6-year-old developmentally delayed son Noah would act out, “the entire church completely understood,” Quinlan said. “Not one person would judge. So each of our kids had a special connection to the church.”

The Quinlan family quickly became immersed in the church — and for the Quinlan parents, also its baptistry — and in the community they moved into.

“We live the way like Christians are supposed to,” Quinlan said. “We help out where we can and we just love on our neighbors.”

As others at Georgetown Southern also reach out to people in their neighborhoods, the church also is making an impact worldwide. It allocates 12% of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program, the way Southern Baptists work together in reaching the world with God’s unconditional love.

“It’s a way we can partner financially, a way we can help in God’s mission around the world even when we can’t go ourselves,” Cline said. “Also, I think it’s a great example when the church gives 10% to missions. Here, we realize for every dollar given, 12% leaves our church and goes around the world.”

Even when the church was in debt, Cline said, Georgetown Southern gave 10% to missions through the Cooperative Program. They’ve added 2% over the five years the church has been debt-free.

The church also allocates 4% of its offerings for the Southeastern Indiana Baptist Association and 2% to the local Choices for Life Resource Center, which, in addition to caring for unwed mothers, also reaches out to men to help them become fathers.

Georgetown Southern’s youth, college students and adults go on mission trips such as to a women’s shelter in Huntington, Ind.; eight members are active Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers; and last year, members participated in Crossover Indy, which preceded the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting. About five years ago, the church helped with a Utah church plant, Hope Valley Church in West Jordan, southwest of Salt Lake City.

Georgetown’s population of about 2,200 in 2000 grew to 3,800 by 2020, but it’s still a small town with many needs, the pastor said.     

“We have a heart to reach out to our community,” Cline said. “We have a Blessing Box on our property where people can pick up the food they need for their next meal.”

The community comes to play on the playground that is near the pastor’s office, giving him opportunities to engage parents who bring their children to burn off some energy. 

“Our church has always loved reaching out to kids and families,” the pastor said. “Our people really want to see families come. That’s a real blessing for us.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)