The Community Is The Young Adult Ministry Of Good Church

This book The New Christian Counselor 2015, provides its reader with an understanding of the purposefulness of this discipline. The authors communicate that this discipline of Christian Counseling entails focus and directive to the new Christian Counseling practice in this era (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015, pp. 5-6). The authors’ are conveying the purpose of the new Christian counselor which is to help readers be open to God’s wisdom so that they can develop into mature and discerning believers while being sensitive enough to hear God’s truth and share it with others.

Community Service is not strange to me because I have been doing community service at Northview Church since the beginning of my sophomore year in high school. When I saw the assignment that I have to complete 4 hours of community services, I knew that Northview church was my first choice. Northview church was found by Tommy Paino in October 1980. There were only 30 people in the cafeteria of Carmel Elementary School where they formed the church which later become Northview Church. Three years later, in the month of July, 1983. 285 people attended the last service at Carmel Elementary School, then they moved to the church’s new place which is located at 131st and Gray Road. In the late 1985, the church bought an 81-acre of land located at the highest point in Hamilton County on the southwest west corner of Main Street in the city of Carmel. This is the place the church is currently located at (“Northview Church History”). Throughout my service, I learned that the church’s mission is to connect people with God and connect people with people. They value relationships, spiritual growth, and the ability to reach out to those who are far from God.

God calls us to serve and to do everything with love (1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 16:14). As a Student Affairs (SA) professional, my main goal is to help students discover their calling and equip them to better serve the world while integrating their faith. Smith (2004), states why it is important to serve as a mentor during a critical adult faith development stage. In The Council for the Advancement of Standards and Higher Education (CAS), CAS has incorporated faith, spirituality and religion into the standards and competencies that they advocate for individuals working as educators in the student affairs field ( Smith, 2004). In the CAS masters-level graduate program for student affairs standards (2004) the authors spoke to the essential need to incorporate spirituality.

One organization that is becoming increasingly popular, is the new youth church. These churches are made up primarily of young adults; those that attend gain a sense of belonging by their family-like structures and “cell groups”. They also dabble with the postmodern and nontraditional ways of worship, to attract outsiders, and they have a strong emphasis on missionary work.

Young employs a descriptive framework in his book The World’s Religions that is used to understand religion and the ways in which religion plays various roles in human life (Young 12). The framework was developed from the definition of religion he describes in his book. Young defines religion as being, “human transformation in response to perceived ultimacy” (4). This framework developed by Young was a tool of analysis he employed to compare religions through seven questions that formulate a basic understanding of a particular religion’s worldview. The seven questions that make up Young’s framework are as follows: what does it mean to be human, what is the basic human problem, what is the cause of the problem, what is the end or goal of transformation, what are the means of transformation, what is the nature of reality, and what

Living in Christian community is a necessity for the everyday life of a Christian. Without community, the Christian has no one else to “sharpen” them, no one else to understand the everyday struggle of living in the world, sharing the Gospel, but not partaking in the sinful ways of the world. In “Life Together”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explores Christian community, and presents not only the benefits of Christian community, but also the toxins that can destroy the community. Living in Christian community brings incomparable joy and community in and through Jesus Christ, but can be easily lost due to humanistic ideals, or “dreams”.

Providing students to explore one’s religion or spirituality can begin to bridge the separation that exists between faith traditions in institutions. Dr. Casey mentions repeatedly that “the term religion is problematic,” and although this is true, this perspective can change. Religion is so deeply engrained in individuals and this does not have to form a type of “war zone,” but instead, it can provide us with an opportunity to learn about other citizens, rather than creating a sense fear or anxiety within us. Although we may be living in “an age of chaos today,” building understanding amongst global citizens is the prominence of religion in this

development of Sunday school and new denominations like Methodism’s, Christian Church, The Salvation Army, and Pentecostalism etc. In addition, there is the contribution of Theologians to the praxis of Christian living.

On Friday, June 5th, Megan Crews and I attended a community support group meeting at New Horizon Church of Christ. This meeting was a for teens and young adults that were experiencing issues of emotional abuse, substance abuse, sexual abuse, depression, co-dependency, and anything else that was causing them struggles. The Landing (what this group is called), is a daughter program of Celebrate Recovery, which has been helping people in different communities for 20 years. This collection of groups is faith based and helps the whole family, not just the individual experiencing the problem. It is set up as a fifty-two week program, based on principles that Jesus shared in the Sermon on the Mount. They use a 12-step program model using Jesus Christ as their focus and not psychological theory. There are over 20,000 programs in churches around the world. The programs have also had great success being used in the prison system. Since the beginning of these programs, many people have found peace and healing from their issues, hurts, and habits.

City Youth is a non-profit organization in downtown Jonesboro that provides programming for youth in Jonesboro. This semester I had the privilege of volunteering my time to further their vision of “developing Christ followers while building strength, wisdom and character in young people.” (“Mission and Vision,” 2001) As an after school and summer program, City Youth reaches children who would be engaged in little to no activity if they did not attend this facility. Throughout this experience, I discovered the emotional benefits of participating in physical activities with Jonesboro’s youth.

As my future endeavors as a social worker include opening a youth center, I enjoyed my visit at the Brotherhood Crusade Youth Source Center. Brotherhood Crusade Youth Service Center is located at 4401 Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. It is a non-profit community based facility with many components. Programs they provide are Youth Development, Financial Literacy, Business Enrichment and Sports. According to their website, the mission of Brotherhood Crusade is to remove and/or help individuals overcome the barriers that deter their pursuit of success in life and facilitate opportunities for a better quality of life by effectuating improved health & wellness, facilitating academic success, promoting personal, social & economic growth, providing access to artistic excellence & cultural awareness, increasing financial literacy and building community agencies & institutions.

In this paper, Religious Analysis, I will discuss my, observation, experience, and emotions attending a religious service that is different from what I was raised. The purpose of this assignment is for me to gain an understanding of another religion practice, understand the similarities and difference between religions, and find common ground with other cultures. By doing the Religion Analysis assignment, it will allow me to become culturally competent now and throughout my journey in the field of social work. It will help me comprehend what other people believe in and why they might believe in it. This will allow me to relate to and understand people more or better. As a future social worker, it is essential to know the diversity of religion

a need with today’s young worshipers. The challenge is to bring young people into a sense of

Over the years, many models have been developed and implemented to endeavor to make disciples. Some of the models have been effective and others have not. Among some of the most biblical and efficient models are the ones that involve small groups. Within the small groups models, they can be broken down into further detail, such as pastoral involvement, the church’s goal, missions mindedness, etc. In this paper, I will explain my philosophy of small groups in a church and the importance of the relational group in authentic disciple making. I will also explain how missional groups can help the body of Christ move out into the community. Finally, I will summarize my status in regards to living in community with other believers and being missional with that community.

There are many aspects of religion that causes positivity in the life of its followers. For one, religion is composed of a congregation of followers who share the same faith and beliefs that unite them with one another. Studies show that people, especially those without a family, feel comfort in religion because they feel welcomed by the members, along with being accepted by them. In many religions, members often gather together not only to partake in religious activities but also to pray together in