Visioneering Case Study

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.

Pat Wiebe is an 87-year-old woman who lives in a home in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her husband, Laverne. Laverne had a fall last year, and still is experiencing difficulty with mobility because of it. He is also beginning to experience short term memory loss, leaving Pat responsible for his care from managing pills, to minor bed positioning and assisting him to bathe. Prior to Laverne’s fall, Pat was very active in her community. She loved to bake for friends and family, and until she was 83 years old taught piano lessons from her home. Pat still gets out for her weekly bible study on Thursday Mornings, but this is her only scheduled “outing” every week. Pat expressed that she still feels active in her community, but that she has chosen to take on different roles that allow her to do them from home. For example, Pat used volunteer with the drop in center for Youth for Christ in downtown Winnipeg. She would spend her afternoons there 3 days a week, hanging out with students and specifically organizing crafts. She now volunteers her time by baking cookies and other sweet treats that are used for snack during the drop in. This baking takes up a large portion of Pat’s day, but does not allow her the same social, physical and mental stimulation that her volunteering used to.

A very large part of our church leadership and established membership were adults that have supported this church since the fifties.

After two decades of ministry with and to college students, I know Chi Alpha and the Assemblies of God to be on the cutting edge of engaging emerging generations. Despite my enthusiasm, we still face a sobering reality that some researchers have described as a “dropout” phenomenon. True to form, interpretations of the data range from those prognosticating the end of the modern church to those wanting to dismiss the data as a natural product of spiritual maturation, but scripture teaches that the wise find a balanced perspective (Ecclesiastes 7:18). So, what experience and expertise can we draw from others (Proverbs 15:22) to empower Chi Alpha and the North Texas District in a coordinated effort to proactively engage current young adult adherents

Many times, we don't realize when see something with our eyes that our brain stores that information away... rather we were aware of what we saw or not. Often our brain stores and processes that imagery in a subconscious format after the fact. This can have some interesting spiritual implications.

In order to keep Wesley Housing’s vision alive, a new concept will be implemented to target the second and third generations. That is, mentoring. A mentoring initiative that challenges residents from the beginning of middle school to young adulthood to set higher standards for themselves. Warren (1995) refers to this as starting with a new population. For example, worship services with different worship styles are being added to reach people that are not being reached by current worship methods (p. 180). Likewise, the future of Wesley Housing is rediscovering its vision to reach the younger population so that the mission and vision of the organization is not

|a. |They were traders in the Aztec empire who traveled from village to village in armed caravans. |

help within this new church. At first my brother and I didn’t like the idea of moving away from

The Boston Baptist Church youth group has been one that has thrived in the past years as it reached out to the community at large and attracted youth to it’s programs. In the past year, other churches in the community have decided to reschedule their youth group meeting times to the same time as the Boston youth group. As a result, the population of the youth group has dwindled to an average of five to six youth in attendance. It is interesting to note that the most consistent attendees are ones from the community instead of the church, which is because the church does not have an abundance of youth in the congregation. While this group is very small, every third month there is an opportunity for youth groups in the area to combine and come together for a program called Hive. This program allows for the youth to meet others in the area, have a great time and to support each other in Christ. There are also special events within the Boston youth group once every month where they will go ice skating, go on a hike or something else similar. The goal of this proposal is to; present a plan where we are able to focus on the spiritual growth of the youth and to focus on how we can reach out to the youth in the community.

The United States of America is still a relatively young nation though it has been through quite a lot in that short time. One main theme that I have observed through what I have learned over this course is that we almost seem to go through a reoccurring cycle. We seem cursed to repeat the past. Following the Civil War as we entered the industrial age there was a general distrust of “foreigners” and increasing nationalism. As stated in The Enduring Vision “All immigrant groups faced increasing hostility from white native-born Americans” and the anti-German attitude during World War I such as “Banning all German books” and “targeting American citizens suspected of pro-German or antiwar sentiments” (Boyer et al. p. 572). Along with that there

Externally outside of school work, I volunteer and take many Senior Citizens who live in Haven Towers and are members of Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church to the Grocery store on Saturday,return back to the Senior Building and prepare a meal for all of the participants in the Community Kitchen, and sit down with them and enjoy their company. As an Independent researcher of Urban/Human Geography I have come to learn that when Senior Citizens do not have anyone to be amiable with them, that is usually when they fall into a depressive state, and give up on life. Ever since I have been spending Weekends with this group of senior citizens, it has been fulfilled with food, frivolity, fellowship and

Imagine a world free from disease, free from hate, free from hunger, with better education, and most importantly free from pollution. Seems impossible doesn’t it, well, that's why I’m considered an optimist. Though faith in humanity is almost gone, through new generations maybe we can re inspire this country.

1985). This clear vision is simple and understandable. In fact, it should create energy and

They believe and have hope that they will be one of the 144,000.00 people that will go to heaven. However with that being said I could imagine that people would eventually lose hope in that. Working with clients who may have a crisis in their faith, I would recommend some resources to them to help. The resources I would recommend to them would be talking with someone who has a similar faith as them, perhaps a mentor at their place of fellowship. Perhaps it would be helpful for them to join a bible study or group of other believers who they can communicate with regarding their faith. I would also recommend the www.jw.org website to them as this is the official website of Jehovah's Witness and offers information regarding their

For the service learning project, I teamed up with three of my classmates to volunteer at a lady’s conference at Imani Restoration Centre church (IRCC) on the 16th of September, 2017. IRCC is a non-profit organization which is a Kenyan community founded that focuses on bringing African immigrants together to support and learn the things of God. Samuel Mwangi, the senior pastor of IRCC, said that through the counseling sessions that he holds at the church every Thursday, he discovered that most ladies go through the same challenges. Therefore, he thought it would be great for him to organize a lady’s conference, so that ladies could come together to share and support each other (Personal communication, September, 16, 2017)