35tory Life Ministry

THE Y’S mission statement is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. At the Y, strengthening community is our cause. We believe that positive, lasting personal and social change can only come about when we all work together to invest in our kids, our health, and our neighbors. (Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA, 2013)

 The association organizes mission work locally and internationally to reach people not normally reached by the message of the churches. Whether these churches minister to people here in the community or in another country, such as Honduras, the members of the association work hard to ensure that their

Billingsley lists seven characteristics of churches that make a difference when it comes to outreach ministry. “These are denomination, church age, size, membership composition, ownership of church building, number of clergy, and other paid staff. (Billingsley95).” He believes that more characteristics a church possesses the more valuable the outreach they provide. A separate 15 year study of the black church is outlined in Lessons Learned: Conducting Culturally Competent Research and Providing Interventions with Black Churches. In terms of research to determine the true effectiveness of the black church several researchers conducted the study to determine how social workers can play a central role in church outreach. At the conclusion of their research they “experienced a number of challenges and barriers. These challenges and barriers that impacted the research process are communication, cultural insensitivity, theology and branding, gender, position of the pastor,

Purpose/Mission – The mission is to actively represent the community to focus support for every child’s success.

They offer classes for youth that include, summer camps, role model programs, youth fitness programs swim and gym time among many other activities offered. They promote healthy living by providing access to the community to its facility and keeping in mind the needs of each individual when it comes to membership fees so that it is affordable. They also give many lectures on healthy eating, art, and pastimes the community might have an interest in. They show social responsibility by offering programs that partner with local hospitals that focus on diabetes, support groups for cancer patients etc. which makes us aware of the community’s responsibility to take care of these group of people that are the most

I joined the staff of the Carolina Missionary Baptist Church in March 2002 as a church administrator. My first major responsibility was to complete the development and construction of the Family Life Center. Although, I had worked on development projects in another County before, I had not actually managed the construction of a building and certainly did not know the process in Prince George’s County Maryland where the church is currently located. There was an enormous amount of knowledge for me to gain. My first assignment was to develop a detailed plan. The initial undertaking in the plan was to learn the Construction process.

For this assignment I took part in a religious service at a small Orthodox Church in Baltimore.

As a campus, it is up to us to expose out students to more and to inspire them to do more. So, it is in our best interest to partner with our surrounding community leaders. We are within the ideal area; there are major churches such as Antioch, Concord, Friendship West, and Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Along with the churches, there is Youth World that serves as an aid to at-risk children. Another bonus is the fact that the high school a majority of our students will graduate from is right up the street.

Hillcrest Baptist Church is a body of believers located in a small mid-west city that has experienced double-digit growth for the past nine years. Over the course of the last forty-two years, God has allowed only three senior pastors to serve. The longevity of the pastorates contributes to the strong lay leadership and positive community reputation. On the surface, Hillcrest appears very healthy. A survey of the average congregants would record this overall disposition. Numerical growth and vibrant services contribute to the attitude of satisfaction. Contrariwise, the systems and structure of the organization pose a serious threat to the continuation of expansion and vitality.

The growth of the church is consistent with the original impetus for the church plant. God continues to pour His blessing through a vibrant ministry to

By provide affordable child care for middle and low income families. The company also provides drug prevention, anti-gang programs for at-risk youth, and help military families to cope with having a family member to serve their country across oversea.

The general location I chose for this church planting project was in the inner city areas of Baltimore, Maryland. There are currently no daughter works and only three preaching points in the Baltimore City area. It is because of this that I decided to use one of the three preaching points as my foundation. Based off of information from the Reever family, I chose the preaching point in Armistead Gardens. This preaching point is located 20 mins northeast of Central Baltimore near the Inner Harbor area and 20 minutes southwest of the mother church in Rosedale area. The demographics of Armistead Gardens is made up of white, lower class individuals. The majority of these individuals are either, middle aged and single mothers, teenagers, or children. There is a very high presence of gang activity and crime. It is here that the Abundant Life Church of Baltimore, Maryland, pastored by David Reever, sends out a group to hold weekly meetings in a space rented from a Baptist church. This group consists only of one single adult and one married couple. The attendance currently runs between 10-20 people per week.

I serve the Disciples of Christ Denomination (DOC) by planning and carrying out all events for youth belonging to DOC churches in Georgia. Our biggest event is a retreat in St. Simons that reaches around 300 high school and middle school students. Our planning takes place during weekend retreats at our regional camp site.

Other general information I would like to review are the size of the church membership, current lawsuits against the church, the church’s reputation in the community, and the number of churches in the area where the church is located. Basically, I am trying to determine the church’s prospect for growth in the future. Since the church depends on the contributions of its members, it is very important to determine if it will be able to sustain its membership going forward.

The community and church context is the foundation of the ministry project because it describes the church history. The history of the community and church context explains the past, present, and future. In other words, it is the root which brings life to the community and church context. The past history of the church was watered with tradition, the present is the nuture of leadership, and the future of the church rests on the light the Holy Spirit. The past, present, and future of the community and church are an integral part of the ministry project. These parts will demonstrate the demographic and the make up of the community and church as a whole.