Check Out Trey Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trey Davis

Hi Trey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ridge Road Baptist Church was founded in 1954 as a moderate church on what was then the western outskirts of Raleigh. It has always been a church with an eye toward its neighborhood. In 2021, coming out of the pandemic, RRBC founded The Ridge to attempt to serve a broader group of Raleigh’s citizens.

The Ridge consists of four different congregations, three of them English-speaking. They represent different theologies (from conservative to moderate to progressive), different worship styles, different denominational histories, and different demographics. The Ridge also includes a mental health counselor, a theater and voice studio, local nonprofits, and groups from other cultures. It is part ministry center, part community center, and part event space. All of our partners and residents function separately here, with different leadership teams and budgets. But when it makes sense–like when we host an event for the community or a community service project–we all come together.

Raleigh as a city continues to change rapidly, and the international Church is changing as well. Congregations will need to find ways to adapt in order to remain relevant. Local churches will especially need to find ways to work together across theological and denominational lines. This kind of collaboration lies at the heart of The Ridge.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s a lot of activity here. When we put the word out that we were looking for more partners and residents, we quickly attracted new groups. Using all of our different spaces efficiently and communicating effectively to everyone is sometimes a challenge, but everyone wants to make this work, and we’re figuring things out as we go.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a pastor by trade, but the work of The Ridge stretches farther than a typical church. We host events like plays and concerts that you might expect to find somewhere other than a church. Last spring, we brought the band Chatham Rabbits here for a concert–their last concert in Raleigh before that was at the Lincoln Theater. We’ve also helped produce plays ranging from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to My Name Is Asher Lev, a play with heavy Jewish themes and an all-Jewish cast.

Each of the congregations that meets here has its own way of worshiping, but we frequently combine our efforts to host these kinds of events. We also work together to feed the hungry, to welcome refugees to our city, and to provide clothing for those in need. These are projects that churches everywhere support, and by working on them together, we’re able to accomplish more.

We also come together for socials and workdays on our campus, and we get to know each other better in these settings. There’s an opportunity to connect on The Ridge, and we grow in our respect for each other when we do.

We do all of this because we think it serves the community around us, and it brings people together who might not normally set foot in a more traditional church.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
We’ve taken on a lot of change in a short period of time, and that definitely feels like a risk for us. We’ve opened up our doors to a lot of different groups–groups who have different beliefs and practices from ours. Any time you open yourself up, it feels like taking a risk.

We’re also trying something with The Ridge that isn’t being done elsewhere. We haven’t come across any other campuses that are the home to multiple English-speaking congregations who seek to unite when it makes sense and yet keep their own autonomy and identity. That feels risky as well. We don’t know how this experiment will play out.

Churches have a history for being slow to change, for clinging to tradition longer than they should. We want to be a church that will try new things, even risky things, knowing that even if we misstep, we’re at least moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ridgeraleigh.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ridgeraleigh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556633893529