COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Community Outreach

Community Outreach

Abstract

The paper aims to going into the community, addressing needs; such as social, economic, crime, education, drug abuse, child development, mentoring, housing, employment, abuse and transportation. It links the collateral benefit of building one's church to the community outreach. Six hundred and thirty-five Northern black churches were surveyed regarding the offering of youth support programs. Of these, 176 reported having at least one program directed at adolescent nonmembers of the church, primarily from low-income homes. The most common programs consisted of Christian fellowships, ministry, counseling, group discussions, rap sessions, seminars, and workshops. It appears the greatest interest in youth programs are in churches that are Methodist, older, middle-class, large in membership, owned or mortgaged, and with more paid clergy and staff. Characteristics of youth-oriented pastors are discussed. Generally, it was found that some of the most prominent issues facing black adolescents are not being adequately addressed by black churches. Suggestions for improving this situation are made as well as citations of promising programs.

Community Outreach

Table of contents

Abstract2

Table of contents3

Chapter I4

Introduction4

Chapter II7

Literature review7

Black Church Outreach13

Chapter III27

Creating and Implementing a Model30

Role of the Black Church33

Research method34

Types of Youth Programs36

CharacteristiCs of Churches37

Results38

Characteristics of Pastors40

Findings41

Factors Associated with Services Delivery51

Directions for Future Research64

conclusions67

References70

Bibliography76

Appendix80

Chapter I

Introduction

Churches have been important actors in political life throughout American history. Quakers played a central role in abolition, evangelical churches fueled temperance efforts and moral reform, mainline Protestant churches were foundational to the antiwar movement of the 1960s, and the black church generated important resources in the Civil Rights movement. But the successful grassroots mobilization of religious conservatives around the range of family values issues, like school curriculum reform and opposition to abortion, has brought renewed attention to the political role of religious institutions in American politics.

This attention emphasizes their activities as independent political actors and their influence on individual political preferences and behavior. Religious institutions can take on these roles because they stand at the intersection of public and private life, serving simultaneously as arbiters of social relations and purveyors of private values. They are intermediary institutions between the state and the individual and serve as an arena to generate criticism of the state or dominant cultural discourse. In this capacity, religious institutions frequently serve as a safe or "free space." from where groups can deliberate and generate the foundations of collective action.

Religious institutions are part of the network of associations that bolster democratic governance, as well as generate challenges to dominant groups and discourses. As Robert Putnam argues, "networks of civic engagement" foster an interest in the collective good, which has positive consequences such as improving the performance of "representative government."11] Conversely, these same associations serve as a source of challenge to authority, just as the black church fueled the battle against racism and for civil rights legislation. The challenge is to discern the ways that religious institutions translate this social capital into concrete political and social action.

Although many of the pastors were very enthusiastic about the Los Angeles Mammography Promotion in Churches Program and ...