SE602 Final Term Paper

Villafane-SE602-final paper-777

Church and Community (Liberty University)

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Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Villafane-SE602-final paper-777

Church and Community (Liberty University)

Scan to open on Studocu

Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Traditional theological education is increasingly losing its relevancy; therefore, a more contextualized approach is needed. The present work is a proposal made to GordonConwell’s Center for Urban Ministerial Education program (CUME) in order to establish an urban theological education program for church leadership in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. The proposal begins with an analysis of the targeted community followed by an analysis of CUME. It then offers two models to evaluate and use as guides in this endeavor. A brief survey of theological education in general is then offered followed by a small section on globalization, and then a lengthy explication of urban theological education is rendered. This section includes discussions of constituency, contextualization, and curriculum. The intention of this proposal is to convince the reader that the realization of this program could prove to be significantly instrumental in participating in the earthly expansion of the reign of God.

The following analysis is the result of a community study of the Highland Neighborhood in Lowell, Massachusetts. On the North of the neighborhood is the Merrimack River and Middlesex Street runs along side it. A railroad also runs along the river. On the west side, Wood Street crosses Middlesex Street heading south. It passes the Middlesex Plaza not too far from Lowell University. On the South, Wood Street runs into Westford Street and Westford Street travels to the east side and runs into route 3A. Florence Street hugs the eastern border and Wedge Street borders the southern part of the community. The total population of the community was 5,394 in 1990. By the year 2000, 5,857 was the population rendering an increase of 463.1 According to the US Census Bureau, the racial/ethnic breakdown is as follows: race percentage 1990 percentage 2000 white 76.4 58.9 black 5.2 4.1 Asian 13.9 29.5 other 4.5 7.5 Note the drastic decrease in the white population from 1990 to 2000 and the immense increase of the Asian population. There are slightly more men than women in this community since 1990 when there were slightly more females. However, this appears to be true only for the Asian community.2 But note that it evens out above age 18. This begins to reflect the national average with 49.1 males and 50.9 females.3 According to the US Census Bureau the age categories compared to the national statistics are as follows: age community nation 0-4 8.3 6.8 5-9 6.1 7.3 10-14 5.5 7.3 15-44 56.4 44.1 45-64 16.0 22.0 65+ 7.7 12.4 Note that the population is significantly higher between the ages 0-4 and 14-44 than the national percentage. Statistics taken from the MISER Institute indicate the following marital status of the community: now married (except single): 41.06

single

never married: 23.32

3 Ibid.