Date of Award

2-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Len Hjalmarson

Second Advisor

Krish Kandiah

Abstract

The topic of this dissertation centers on church planting and multiplication in urban poor communities in the United States. The ministry problem being addressed is the fact that The Wesleyan Church denomination does not have a strategy for church planting and multiplication in urban poor communities. In Section One, the complexity of this problem will be explored by: first, considering The Wesleyan Church’s predominantly rural-based, white-evangelical past; second, considering the effects of urbanization and globalization, which have created an increasingly urban, multiethnic, and socioeconomically divided mission field in the United States; and last, gaining a deeper understanding of systemic racism and poverty and the white-evangelical church’s contribution to creating and embedding these injustices in American society. Section Two will introduce other possible solutions by exploring current, popular church planting and multiplication approaches being used across the United States. This section will be broken into four parts: Theory and Theology, Church Planting Models, Denominational Approaches, and Focused Networks. In Section Three, the thesis of this dissertation will be developed, exploring the praxis of Christian community development as a church planting and multiplication strategy for The Wesleyan Church within urban poor communities across the United States. This section will introduce the vision and mission of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) by describing the origin and development of the CCDA, exploring the five dimensions of a holistic gospel and the eight components of the CCDA philosophy, and lastly developing a potential model that could be considered as a church planting and multiplication strategy for The Wesleyan Church in urban poor communities. Finally, Sections Four through Six describe and outline the dissertation artifact of a film and website produced to provoke engagement in exploring the praxis of Christian community development as a church planting and multiplication strategy in urban poor communities.

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Christianity Commons

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