Course Description
This free, self-paced professional development course introduces students to the theory and practice of Christian community development in an increasingly interconnected, urban world. Course topics include: relocation, racism, reconciliation, redistribution, community asset mapping and other Christian community development principles. This course also helps students understand a range of social justice traditions including the Black church, the Latino/a church, Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army, Global Justice traditions and others.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate the eight principles of Christian community development.
- Reflect on the complexities of relocation, racism, reconciliation and redistribution.
- Create a community assessment for a neighborhood including an asset map and needs assessment.
- Compare social justice traditions including the Black church, the Brown church, Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army, Global Justice traditions among others.
- Apply the principles of Christian community development and social justice traditions into a personal reflection paper and an organizational strategy paper.
Self-Paced or Group Facilitated
This course is designed so that students can go through it individually on their own, or go through it as a group facilitated by any group leader. The Guide for Group Leaders & Live Discussions provides suggestions for discussion topics for those going through as a group. The group leader may also choose to assign some of the items in the Student Assignment Workbook as "homework" to do between meetings.
Students that wish to advance their learning may find it helpful to go through the assignments in the above workbook.