Change from within: The ABC-AME church

Church growth strategies have long been employed throughout the United States. However, are general approaches for church growth and vitality applicable for all churches no matter their ethnic and cultural makeup, or should churches utilize unique strategies tailored to the ethnicities and cultures represented within their churches? This research investigated the distinctive factors that contribute to the thriving nature of Hispanic churches within the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical denomination within the U.S. Six key factors emerged that provide valuable information for current and future church growth strategies concerning the unique cultural factors present within these Hispanic churches. This research challenges the notion that church growth and vitality strategies can be one size fits all in their methodology. Instead, a more targeted approach may be more appropriate, one which gives serious consideration to the ethnic and cultural makeup and identity of the local church.

Brooks; and (3) my family: my mother, Ruth Blue, and my sister, Lorena Oliver, for their continual prayer and unflinching support; my brother, Roderick Blue; my late father, William Blue; my late grandparents, Curtis and Lillian Wrenn; my great-grandfather, the late Reverend J.R. Nelson; my most wonderful children, Fredrick, Cedrick, and Anitria; and most especially my wife of 23 years, Dr. Elfreda Blue, without whose encouragement and support this project would not have been possible. But, indeed, all honor and praises be to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me exceedingly, abundantly, above all that I could think or ask. vm CHAPTER I Just as we have vocabulary to describe the wealthy, we also have one to describe the poor: "lazy," "irresponsible," "free loader," "welfare queens." Poverty is seen as either a curse from God on those who are not obedient to His will, or the result of a character flaw in the individual. It is reasoned that if only a person were more faithful to God, harder working, thriftier, intelligent, savvy, or more diligent in his or her affairs, then he or she would not be poor. The propagators of the gospel of prosperity, with their books, and tapes, and DVDs, have convinced many that wealth is theirs for the asking: that all they have to do is "name it and claim it." 1 Little consideration is given to the fact that there are many reasons for poverty and not all are the results of individual character flaws. Some poverty is also the result of the greed of the wealthy, the apathy of the fortunate, the ignorance of the good, the circumstances of birth, and the consequences of life. There are the working poor, who although industrious do not receive the same remuneration for their labor. Among the poor are the widowed, those made poor through illness, some elderly, those who have lost wealth due to bad investments, the disabled, and single-parent or single-income families with dependent children.1 2 There are many reasons for poverty, many of which have nothing to do either with the integrity of the person, or the retribution of God. 1 The so-called "Word o f Faith Movement" founded by E.W. Kenyon involves the doctrines o f correct thinking and believing accompanied by positive confession. Word-Faith teachers claim that God is bound by spiritual laws and is bound to obey the faith-filled commands and desires o f true believers. Major propagators o f this doctrine include Kenneth Hagin,

Having a vision for the future is an important barometer of church health and vitality. Drawing from analysis of the Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS) 2011 data of Victorian Baptists (8330 adult attenders across 79 churches) and a small set of follow-up interviews it is clear that while there are high levels of commitment to the idea of vision, at both a leadership and membership level, it can be hard to help attenders capture and own a vision. The data has demonstrated a strong association between churches with a clear vision for the future and numerical growth, a strong sense of belonging and innovation. Church leaders reinforce this, stating that a well-defined vision gives a clear sense of direction and facilitates decision-making and resource allocation. To be most effective a church’s vision should be mission focused, engage the skills and gifts of the membership and be accessible to the whole group. A vision should be discerned in a context of trust, acceptance, h...

This essay explains the importance of proceeding cautiously when making significant changes in a church congregation. Mainly by raising key questions many leaders ignore, the essay explains how to implement these innovations effectively.

Great Commission Research Journal, 2014

This article introduces new language and an alternative paradigm to the topic of revitalizing declining churches, which presents a transforming process for pastors, church leaders, denominational executives, and consultants to implement when coaching revitalizing churches. The biblical foundation for this writing is Jesus' letter to the church of Sardis, recorded in Revelation 3:1-6. Five principles for upcycling a declining church are presented: embrace the crisis, answer the wakeup call, strengthen what remains, strengthen who remains, and return to spiritual roots.

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2008

Great Commission Research Journal, 2023

The data behind the study The Top Ten Challenges Facing Churches (Moody, 2023) is presented and analyzed with a focus on differences between growing churches and non-growing churches. Church leaders (N = 129) indicated how difficult they believed it would be for North American churches to overcome 50 potential challenges. For most challenges, no significant difference between the church leaders from growing and non-growing churches was detected. However, church leaders from non-growing churches viewed 1) attractiveness of programs, 2) retaining young adults, 3) youth programs, 4) small group participation, and 5) effective strategy as more difficult challenges to overcome than leaders from growing churches. Church leaders from growing churches viewed church conflict as a greater challenge than leaders from non-growing churches. An analysis of these differences provides insights for addressing these challenges.

2018

This project explores the thesis that a corporately shared experience of mission outside the life of a local congregation increases congregational vitality inside the life of a congregation. The context for this research project is a new initiative of St. George's Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee: the creation of a network of parish-based Missional Communities (MCs). These emerging, mid-sized, and lay-led congregational groups seek to be visible forms of intentional community within the parish that are constituted around a clearly articulated dual desire for deepened internal fellowship and robust missional outreach. Seeking first to ground the development of MCs within theoretical claims about the nature of a local church body, this work then reviews the genesis and development of MCs at St. George's, evaluates the experiences of MC leaders and participants derived from interview and survey information, and finally posits learnings from this ministry initiative as well as questions raised by the study. The research question at the heart of this study investigates in what ways the outward orientation and ministry of Missional Communities at St. George's Church shape participants' understanding and experience of fellowship within the local congregation. Exploration of the question involve engagement with three primary and related theological concerns: 1) the essential sociological nature of the Christian life; 2) the need to identify, mentor, and equip congregational leaders to become disciple-makers of other members in the church; and 3) the priority of mission and evangelism as the end of Christian fellowship. These three themes build on one another to shape both the theological basis for understanding MCs at St. George's Church as well as the criteria for evaluating research data concerning the relationship between internal fellowship and missional engagements. I must also acknowledge the sense of holy privilege I feel sharing in ministry with beloved clergy colleagues, the Reverends Kristine Blaess, Michael Blaess, Sam Adams, and Clint Wilson. Their loyalty to me and commitment to the vision behind this project has been essential.

2012

This thesis reports on a project to guide the leadership team to prepare the church body for ministry at the Connecticut Valley Church of Christ. This intervention involved the leadership team in a series of one-hour sessions in the fall of 2011 that brought together different sources for theological reflection, such as lectio divina, prayer, theology of equipping from Ephesians 4, contextual engagement with the congregation, and the participants’ own experience of leadership. The sessions’ purpose was to generate discussion and practices among the sources so that the leadership team could become more effective in its congregational role to guide the church membership in ministry. Evaluation of the project revealed several key insights: (1) the leadership team connected Paul’s theology in Ephesians with their own ministerial tasks; (2) active engagement with the congregation provided the participants with opportunities to grow as leaders; (3) exposure to necessary spiritual and lead...

The Foundation Review, 2012

2007

perspectives serve to construct a framework describing the various aspects of the Porch Project and illustrates a methodology for the ongoing missional transformation taking place in the church. The active aspect of praxis includes all the corporeal, mental, and volitional activities by which we intentionally realize ourselves as agent-subjects in place and time. 2 The genesis of the Porch Project began with relationships between members of Akron Mennonite Church and persons in the local community. Susan, a member of the church, is a hospice nurse who lives with her husband and eight-year-old son. Her son Christopher is friends with Cameron, a classmate at Fulton Elementary School, who lives with his grandmother. Within the Ephrata Area School District, Fulton Elementary School currently has the highest number of students from families at or below the poverty line. Just over 30% of the students qualify for the Free and Reduced lunch program, 3 and Cameron is one of those students. His grandmother, Sharon, is single and works for minimum wage at a local supermarket. Cameron has also lived for brief periods of time with his mother, a single mother of two, and separately with his father, a former truck driver who lost his license due to alcoholism. Through school events, sports, and mutual visits centered around the boys, Susan and Sharon developed a friendship. Sharon's modest brick duplex on Franklin Street has a front porch that is broken down to the point

Philosophy Study, 2017

Rev. Smith has been appointed to be the pastor of First United Methodist Church (FUMC). With the appointment, it comes a specific instruction that the church must be "turned around," and it was Rev. Smith's responsibility to make it happen. FUMC has been in decline for many years under the leadership of several pastors. Rev. Smith is black and the congregation is predominately Caucasian and elderly, with longtime members who have stayed on because "this is their church." Rev. Smith comes to the church bringing her experience, energy, and vision. This appointment is a cross-racial cross-cultural appointment, which is part of her denomination's mandate for the future, as it places pastors that reflect the diversity of the surrounding community in churches that do not currently look like the community around them. Currently FUMC does not interact with the community-it does ministry "to" the community but not "with it." Therefore, from the beginning, Rev. Smith knew that her job would not be easy. She accepted the appointment believing that a "new wind" must blow through the church bringing forth spiritual revival. She now faces a crucial issue in the church, which she feels is in a make or break situation. First United Methodist is located in an urban environment. FUMC has been in this city for 133 years but has been at this site for 83 years. Originally, the neighborhood consisted of predominately white, blue-collar workers, but has since transitioned into a neighborhood community of mostly African Americans, Caribbean Blacks, and Hispanics. When the church was first built in this neighborhood and for many years after that, both consisted of white blue-collar workers. As the neighborhood began to change, no efforts were made to develop new programs or a more inclusive worship to include the growing diversity. The lines are drawn; Rev. Smith knows it but she is determined to turn First Church United around. As she has said before in conversations with the church, "God called me into ministry and the Bishop sent me here. No one is going to stop me from serving God and the church." For a brief moment, she felt terribly alone, but then she remembered that she did have some support at FUMC. Rev. Smith took a deep breath, "I am going back to the drawing board. There is much work yet to be done, and I will not give up. But what is the next step?" This paper is based on a case scenario for a religious education program and as a response to Cooling of the "Spirits" by Marjorie Nunes of the Summerfield United Methodist Church Bridgeport, Connecticut. The author of this response paper analyzing the problems from the case study provides suggestions for a Religious Education ministry as a program for the church, and data on effective church growth and leadership. 1

2015

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the disconnection of Christian doctrine from both the practices internal to congregational life, and the church's external mission, particularly in Episcopal and Anglican congregations; and discuss how the synthesis of basic Christian practices, the contextual reframing of baptismal vows, and the teaching of doctrine as narrative can work toward their reintegration among the members of congregations. It begins with a discussion of how the three areas have become disconnected in late modernity, using the insights of philosopher Charles Taylor and his concept of "social imaginaries." What is suggested is that the Christian social imaginary has been subverted by modern secularist ones. This theory is expanded by critique of the approaches of both traditionalist and progressive Anglicans in dealing with it. A theoretical framework is discussed presenting doctrine as the vision, end, or telos which is pursued by the intentions of believers, and is shaped by a set of basic practices. The vision is framed as doctrine reframed as the narrative of God's mission, with its proper end being the Reign of God, rather than focus upon propositions. Intentions are explored through the classical promises made at baptism, and the vows of monasticism, together with discussion of a set of basic practices and their role in Christian formation. Vision, intention, and practices are discussed in terms of knowing the story of God, committing to that story, and participating in it. A narrative scriptural theology provides the vision, and becomes a common doctrinal core. Intention is pursued through reframing baptismal vows. The basic practices discussed are Eucharist, the Daily Office, Lectio Divina, ministry to and with the marginalized and poor, and indwelling neighborhoods as places of mission. The proposals are then discussed the larger issues of leadership and further strategies for implementation.

2016

The Inside Out Church: The Principles of Moving an Internally Focused Church to Become an Externally Focused Church Dale Melenberg Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2015 The purpose of this doctoral project will be to provide missional-minded church leaders in the Christian Reformed Church in Canada with principles to create environments in which their churches’ members grow in becoming active agents for Christ in their own communities of home, work or recreation. The Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA), founded in Canada by Dutch immigrants, remained isolated and insular for most of its history. Despite its rich heritage of reaching out both at home and abroad through evangelical and diaconal ministries, its theological doctrines, beliefs and practices purported a posture of defensiveness against the culture, including other denominations. Canada is saturated with secular values and ideals that either promote Christians to withdraw in...