A Community Support Group Meeting At New Horizon Church Of Christ

Just over a year ago I was homeless, pregnant, and sleeping in a tent on the grassy median next to the beach in Waikiki. Twelve years of hard drinking, two years of shooting meth, a failed marriage, abusive relationships, and losing custody of my oldest child brought me to this self-centered existence. I was battling depression and struggling to stay clean and sober. I did not see a future for me and feared I would lose my youngest child to CPS. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get help. I reached out and on December 2, 2013 I entered the Salvation Army Family Treatment Services (SAFTS), a residential drug treatment facility in Kaimuki. My journey to recovery had begun.

In 2006, Love Center Family Church (LCFC) was birthed out of the vision of Pastor Joseph Hill. He along with his wife created LCFC to “Reach out to others with God’s love.” LCFC operates as a 501c3 company and is guided by the regulations that govern non-profit organizations. Love Center Family Church is led by the founding pastor and the decisions are made by the board of directors. The church is a storefront church located in Suffolk, VA and since its start Love Center Family Church has grown from 10 members to over 250. The church offers various ministries within the church such as the Men’s, Women’s and Children’s ministries but also reach out to the community through their outreach ministry. While the church is still relatively small

Hillcrest Baptist Church began in 1954 as a mission church, seeking to target families with children on the east side of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Since inception, the church has worked with under ten senior pastors. Pastoral longevity is a rarity in the prominent churches of the region. The newest lead pastor has a tenure of eighteen months, following tenures of twenty and eighteen years respectively. However, Hillcrest exists in a unique and blessed group of churches in Western Kentucky. Nine years ago, an administrative pastor position began with the purpose of aiding the senior pastor, relieving him of certain duties and expanding effectiveness. Additionally, a discipleship pastor joined the team within the last nine months. Other part-time and temporary hires helped facilitate the growth. In the last eleven years, the church has doubled in Sunday Bible study, erected a new worship center, hired two full-time ministerial staff, paid off the building debt, and is poised to break ground on facility expansion with a significant percentage of funds in the bank.

Westside Baptist Church has been blessed to serve our community under the direction of Pastor Dale Ingersoll for the past twenty-seven years. After many years of faithful service, Pastor Dale had made the decision to retire from ministry and notified the church of his decision in December 2014.

During the first phase participants are given basic recovery principles and skills needed to overcome their substance dependency and are asked to commit to a Christ-centered recovery plan (phoenixrescuemission.org, n.d.). During the second phase program members attend classes and counseling to identify destructive patterns and behaviors. They also commit to making amends and take responsibility for damage relationships or harm that they have caused themselves and others (phoenixrescuemission.org, n.d.). Additionally, at the end of this phase participants begin to focus on their talents and skills that will help them lead a new life. They are offered training in areas that they may be deficient. The third phase prepares program members for their independence by offering them three options. Participants will either begin pursuing and maintaining employment, start a mentorship in Christian leadership and receive service responsibilities, or began intensive re-entry training for those who are married, face legal mandates, or must deal with health difficulties (phoenixrescuemission.org, n.d.). Those clients who wish to receive additional support are offered six months of aftercare, during which they complete monthly progress reports and participate in meetings with the program’s alumni association (phoenixrescuemission.org,

For this paper, I observed a staff meeting on March 8th at The Journey Metro East, the church I attend. Six people attended the meeting, including the pastor, worship leader, and children’s ministry coordinator. Throughout the two hour run time of this meeting, the staff demonstrated numerous concepts we have covered in class. Six small group communication concepts they displayed most prominently were the procedural model of problem solving (P-MOPS), group roles, group socialization, Tuckman’s model of group development, types of groups and, lastly, systems theory.

On March 20, Albuquerque Agape Community Church (P) held Sunday Service, where 6 people attended and Pastor Haiyan preached the word on John 20. The church rejoiced as one new person became a registered member.

“A Three-month plan for pastoral transition at Oak Grove Baptist Church which will strengthen unity and promote Church Growth”

The First Baptist Church of Wasilla is a well-structured and organized church.  The mission of the church states that  We will advance the Kingdom of God by embracing the following five pillars Worship, fellowship, ministry, evangelism and discipleship.   These pillars are simply five components of religious interaction that helps to fulfill the aim of the church which is to bring persons closer to God and to each other.  The doctrine of the church has ten core values which includes, Biblical authority, Kingdom perspective, servant ministry, community impact, cultural engagement, authenticity, integrity, grace-filled relationship and teamwork.

Greater Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church started as a mission doing the work of the Lord in 1969. We toiled tirelessly, and in 1970, we felt the call to organize into a church. A meeting was called, and the motion to organize the church and to elect Reverend Andrew Kelly as Pastor was established. Pastor Lloyd Johnson of New Third Heaven M.B. Church and Pastor J.P. Gordon of New St. Matthew M.B. Church proceeded to assist in the organization of the church.

Architecture has always been adapting, revisiting and appropriating what has been done before, looking back to precedents to find new inspirations. Despite new technology and pop-culture, history dictates symbolism and formalistic appeal even if we are unaware of it. We grow up associating certain symbols and imagery to its connotated meaning, for example, when we see a cross we immediately think of Christianity. Because of that, churches nowadays continue to look back to ancient Christian structure to draw long-established design elements and symbols and Sacred Heart Church is no exception. Firstly, I will describe the physical elements of the Sacred Heart church. Afterwards, I will compare and analyze the similarities and differences between this church and pre-modern Christian architecture.

Alcoholism is as prevalent in my family, as blood is in our veins. When previously asked to observe 12-step groups, I ritualistically flocked to Alcoholics Anonymous, without consideration of the possibility that other groups had any potential to make an impact on me. I always pride myself in my ability to identify as an individual that is not ensnared in alcoholism, but unfortunately am an individual that was highly tormented by alcoholism. Through observation of the group and how it processed, as well as identifying how I felt as a new attendee, I was able to understand why self-help, support groups are so vital for individuals in recovery. I finally realized, I too am in recovery.

Atlanta Bethal Community Church(C) Monday, March 7 was touched by the serving heart of a recent Church Attendee. Larry Tharpe, middle age African American male, expressed a serving heart by asking Minster Anderson if he could help with any church works, including evangelism.

On Wednesday, March 16, Cheyenne Faith Evangelical Church(p) held a Wednesday service. Minister Helen meditated on a message from Matthew26:6-13. It is a story about the woman that broke her alabaster jar and poured her ointment onto Jesus. This is a very touching story, and it encouraged the minister to go forward with a heart like this woman.

Nice, you’re correct the 12-step AA program definitely adds value from a holistic perspective. Spirituality believing in something gets the person with the addiction through especially in those difficult and dark times of recovery. Spirituality helps them pull through unexpected moments or have a better understanding for the cause, meaning and purpose and why it’s significant for them to remain focused regarding their recovery verses relapsing. A person or their family progression takes time even before the transcendence begins. Often times it can lead the client to finally believe that they need spirituality in their life or God’s grace to make it through during the withdrawal stages. Although AA has an open door policy families pray and hope