focused spiritual transformation in jesus
A Louisville Community recognizing who God is and who we are called to be
A new story
Discover your new story of transformation in God by His answers and work in your life. At Our Story Church, we do this by asking three primary questions: Who is God?, Who am I?, Who are we called to be?
Our beliefs
We believe that God has existed from the beginning as the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus, we can come to know God the Father, and the presence of the Holy Spirit draws us closer into a relationship with the Father and the Son. We affirm that God created, calling it “very good,” and made humans in God’s image. However, through the freedom of choice, humans allowed sin and brokenness to enter the world. These three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal and exist in a relationship of divine love that we are welcomed for healing and transformation as God’s children, set apart and sanctified, as we turn away from sin.
FATHER | CREATOR – God the Father is the creator and giver of all things. The Father is not set above or over the Son and Holy Spirit, as each person is co-eternal with the other. The gift of life was given to all creation, and the Father chose to send the Son to redeem humanity for a loving relationship with God and one another.
SON | REDEEMER – God the Son comes to the world in Jesus—fully God, fully human—to make God’s love known. Jesus is faithful to God’s plan for redemption by his death on the cross and bodily resurrection. This act of sacrifice is God’s grace and love offered to us freely for a renewed life now and an eternal life to come through the bodily resurrection of believers.
HOLY SPIRIT | SANCTIFIER – God the Spirit—fully God— is calling us to repentance and awakening us to what happened in the work of the Son. The Spirit empowers us to take part in God’s redemption plan for creation. Through our participation, we grow in God’s love, serving as a witness to the world through the work of the Spirit within us.
We participate in the Sacraments and the practice of spiritual disciplines. John Wesley saw these as “outward signs, words, or actions ordained of God, and appointed for this end – to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men preventing, justifying, and sanctifying grace….”
SACRAMENTS | BAPTISM & HOLY COMMUNION – The Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion are a means for God to work within us as we respond. Baptism is our profession and mark of difference from the rest of the world, serving as a sign of our new birth. Communion is the sacrament of redemption that we join in together to remember Christ’s work on the cross.
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES | PRAYER, FASTING, SCRIPTURE, WORSHIP – Prayer, fasting, reading and meditating on Scripture, participating in corporate worship, and joining small groups are all acts of spiritual disciplines that God can use as means for transforming us into more like Jesus. We commit to consistent practice and reliance on the Holy Spirit for our sanctification.
As Methodists, we use Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience as our guides to understand our faith, to mature as Christians, and to fulfill our call for response in worship, discipleship, and service. Scripture is the foundation of the Christian faith, with other categories (tradition, reason, and experience) serving as helpful tools and guides.
SCRIPTURE | THE HOLY BIBLE – Scripture is the authority and primary rule for our Christian faith, morals, and service. It is trustworthy and without error for shaping us to be more like Jesus as the inspired, authoritative Word to God’s people.
TRADITION | THE HISTORICAL CHURCH – The teachings of the early church are a guide for our Christian professions. The Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon provide us with true expressions of the faith and understanding God.
REASON | CRITICAL THINKING – God created us and gave us a mind to think, discern, and form logical thought. We can use this gift of reason as a means to study Scripture, to consider our Christian journey, and to understand who God is.
EXPERIENCE | PERSONAL JOURNEY – Experience shapes our understanding as God works on us for our salvation, transformation, and relationship with God. These experiences are helpful as we apply our Christian journey in meaningful, personal ways.
Meet Our two leading pastors
Leading Pastors, Amy and Ashlee, lead the church alongside one another as equals in shepherding and operations. When it comes to major decisions regarding the direction of the church, they will work together with the committees to make those decisions. For day-to-day operations, Ashlee and Amy have specific areas that they primarily oversee.
Rev. Amy carlson
Amy combines strategic planning and living discipleship with 20 years of experience and training in marketing, advertising, and communications, alongside a decade of immersive ministry application. Aimed at assessing the climate and culture of spiritualism and agnosticism, alongside church culture and discipleship models, to provide insights into the needs of the community that the church can address through innovative and orthodox approaches. Practically speaking, this means making space for the big questions and criticisms many have of the Church to bridge the gap of hurts and needs for healing.
Previously not a Christian, Amy avidly pursues what evangelism looks like in our society for skeptics and those hurt by the church. Traditional methods do not work, and it has been her dream to create a church that connects with those people the same way another church did for her. She is naturally a creator and builder who can look back on all that God has brought her through to how it culminates in this moment of launching Our Story Church.
Amy is also the Director of Communications for the MidSouth Annual Conference of the Global Methodist Church. She has been with her husband, Ted, for 20 years and lives in Louisville, raising their two teenage sons.
Master of Theological Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary
Ordained Elder, Global Methodist Church
Ordained Deacon, Global Methodist Church
Pastoral Ministry License, Candler School of Theology
B.A. Advertising & Marketing Communications, Wesleyan
B.A. Studio Art, Wesleyan
rev. ashlee adkins
Ashlee has served in different capacities in the church for
several years. She brings natural energy and vision to creating authentic spaces where trust can flourish and the Holy Spirit has room to work. Having experienced God's transformation throughout her own life journey, she is passionate about helping others engage more deeply with their own stories to discover how God is working to transform them.
In Ashlee's work as a life coach, where she comes alongside people for the work of spiritual direction, and her work as a pastor, she has a deep conviction that the church can be a place where people experience transformation, healing, and the love of Christ. She especially believes this is true for those who’ve been wounded by the church in the past. Ashlee is excited to plant Our Story Church, creating a community that offers the trust and belonging she's always envisioned for those seeking God's love.
Ashlee has been married to her husband, Chris, for 10 years and lives in Louisville raising their three young children.
Master of Divinity, Western Theological Seminary
Ordained Deacon, Global Methodist Church
Enneagram Life Coach, Full Circle Life Coaching
B.S. Athletic Trainer, Eastern Kentucky University
We affirm the calling of women
We stand in accord with the Methodist tradition of women in church leadership, dating back to 1761, when John Wesley licensed Sarah Crosby to preach. This practice of ordaining women has continued in various strands of Methodism, including the Free Methodist Church, the Methodist Church (which later became the United Methodist Church), the Global Methodist Church, and other holiness/pentecostal movements. This tradition is supported by the canonical representation of women in leadership throughout Scripture, with five accounts of female prophets in the Old Testament and an additional five accounts in the New Testament. Paul, who is frequently cited for not affirming women in leadership, also accounts for acknowledging in the early church a female deacon, five different female house church leaders, referring to females as “co-workers in ministry,” and a female being among the apostles. To infer that Paul spoke against women in ministry is to contradict the many Scriptures where he cites his respect for women in church leadership roles. We stand alongside many other biblical scholars and theologians who interpret the two scriptural references used to oppose women in leadership as being taken out of context and distorted from the original meaning intended for the speaker's biblical audience, who addressed specific issues of order within those churches. There is also the recognition that the gifts of the Spirit are given to men and women, including prophecy, and the gifts of the Spirit are given to the brothers and sisters for the common good. Furthermore, the people of God are equipped for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, with no delineation in that equipping between male and female.