Description:
Already with decades of experience speaking prophetically into the charged racial climate of the American south, John Perkins began to see a need for organized thinking and collaborative imagination about how the church engages urban ministry. And so the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) was born, with Wayne Gordon an immediate and enthusiastic participant. Nearly thirty years later CCDA's eight key components of community development still set the bar for how churches, parachurches and nonprofits engage cities with the whole gospel.
- Relocation
- Reconciliation
- Redistribution
- Leadership Development
- Listening to the Community
- Church-Based Development
- A Wholistic Approach to Ministry
- Empowerment
In Making Neighborhoods Whole Perkins and Gordon revisit these eight commitments and how they've played out in real communities, even as they scan the horizon of urban ministry to set a newtone. With profiles of longstanding and emerging community development ministries, they guide a new conversation and empower disciples of Jesus to seek the welfare of their cities to the glory of God.
Brief description:
Wayne "Coach" Gordon is founding pastor of Lawndale Community Church in Chicago, Illinois. In 2011 he was given the William Wilberforce Award by the board of directors of Breakpoint and the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview.
Review Quotes:
"Perkins and Gordon lay out the keys to successfully engaging cities with the Gospel. They give examples of how certain core principles have helped empower communities and how they can transform churches' urban ministries."
--Relevant Magazine, January-February 2015