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Preparing for the harvest: Growing a vision of community within Bethel A.M.E. Church in Boonton, New Jersey
Kevin D Miller
Paperback. ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing 2011-09-03.
ISBN 9781243520210
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Publisher description
Communities have changed over the years. Churches are on a steady decline. It seems that people no longer know their neighbors and don't share the importance of the commonality of experience. My doctoral work at Drew University has focused in the area of Congregational Growth and Development. During my studies, I have become extremely intrigued with the premise that in order to grow a congregation we must first build community. In my efforts to understand, formulate and build community I took particular interest in several areas of research during the course of my studies. I focused my attention on community and how the concept of community, and in particular Christian community, has changed over a period of time. Communities have been segmented by a number of factors including denomination, race, social status and class. Using some of the work by Dr. Diana Butler Bass as a foundation, I was able to develop a picture of the declining community while constructing a possible model for building community and growing a congregation. In addition, I examined the role of mission in the local church and the impact it has or fails to have on church growth and the development of community. Bethel AME Church in Boonton, NJ, served as the place for the implementation of the professional project and the focus of the professional paper. The project allowed me to theologically explore the essential ingredient of hospitality and the ancient Christian practice of koinonia as necessary components in the building of community. The professional project was the implementation of a one-day feeding program entitled "An Invitation to Sunday Dinner" which was designed to lay the foundation for building community on several levels. The scope of this project targeted the Bethel AME Church family in Boonton, NJ, with the intention of reaching beyond the walls of the church to Boonton residents and Boonton's local churches through a one-day feeding program highlighting the Christian practices of fellowship, hospitality and koinonia
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Preparing for the harvest: Growing a vision of community within Bethel A.M.E. Church in Boonton, New Jersey
Book reviews » Preparing for the harvest: Growing a vision of community within Bethel A.M.E. Church in Boonton, New Jersey
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