At the heart of Christian Community Development is the body of Christ fully engaged in the process of transformation. The church is uniquely equipped to affirm the dignity, gifts, and skills of individuals and communities. We want to equip you with tools to help you, your congregations, and communities flourish.
Here are ten resources with both encouragement and practical steps to help you and your church experience God’s shalom.
Philosophy & Community 2024: Church-Based
Why is Christian Community Development church-based?
The church is uniquely equipped to affirm the dignity, gifts, and skills of individuals and communities. The greatest sustaining power of community development is the community building of a local church.
Cultivating Communities Congregational Formation For Church-Based Christian Community Development
What does it mean to be the church in 2023 and beyond? The Cultivating Communities team introduces their congregational Learning Journey, which was forged over two decades of church-based community development in Indianapolis and Chicago. You will learn about congregational practices for embodying and embracing real community among neighbors.
Liberating Church: A 21st Century Hush Harbor
While the North American church grapples with an eroding position of privilege in society, there is a liberating vision of church from the margins. Liberating Church will define eight marks of liberating churches that were identified through research of antebellum hush harbors.
Centering Discipleship Connects The Church To CCD
Connecting the Church to Christian Community Development centers discipleship to raise people who imitate Jesus in both formation and praxis. Learn more about embracing and inviting movement towards the neighborhood and not just connection within the church.
Education Equity Church Partnership Guide
We want to support the (w)holistic education of each student. As an association, we want to better equip and strengthen each person who joins this collective effort of bringing about community transformation.
Join CCDA communities across the country in supporting students’ education equity through church-based partnerships!
Healthy Models Of “Decolonizing” Faith From 500 Years Of The Brown Church
From the Spanish conquest, to Jim Crow segregation, to the contemporary exploitation of undocumented immigrants, Latina/o Christians have developed theologies and ecclesial models which have enabled them to keep Jesus and His Church at the center, while at the same time rejecting racial injustices of many kinds.
Reimagining Your Relationship With Christ And The Church
The recent pandemic and events of the past few years have challenged and even shaken the faith of many. The God we met in Sunday School now seems too small, too narrow, too white or too weak to match up to the ugliness of modern-day isms and the turmoil of our adult lives. This workshop is designed to help participants reconnect with a God who right now may feel foreign or distant. Let’s reimagine a more just, loving and prophetic church and our place in it.
Pastoring Okra And Shaking Our As Paragus On The Veggie Bus Radical Joy As The Path To Finding Kingdom Work
In this workshop, one ordained leader and two lay participants at BattleField Farm share what they are learning about doing church differently. They describe their community organizing for food justice work in Knoxville, and invite attendees to reflect on the work that brings them joy and energy.
Organizing Your Church To Engage Your Community
In this course, Zac Martin helps churches understand how to use their capacities and gifts to engage the community.
Cultivating Flourishing Congregations
Establishing wellness in congregations in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be challenging, with the effects being both taxing on clergy and churches struggling to embrace belonging in the community again. This workshop offers an approach to moves through trauma to congregational wellness.
