Workshop on Community Transformation

In a collaborative effort of the four "downtown" United Methodist Churches, Brown Street UMC, under the direction of Rev. Barb Marshall has organized a Bible Study / 4-week workshop on Community Transformation. We're encouraging out-of-the-box thinkers, perhaps those newest to our congregation, to participate. It'll be on Tuesday evenings, 6:30-8:30pm, beginning on Sept. 29 at Brown St. UMC (corner or 9th and Brown streets) in the basement.

If you plan on participating, please email Barb.Marshall@inumc.org with your name and church affiliation.

PREPARATION:

Week 1: There are readings suggested for our first gathering. You are invited to read the first part of Job (in the Bible), Chapters 1-28. We will be working from 2 excellent books. If you have not come across them before they are well worth reading. I have included a link to the synopsis for each book if you would prefer to read that.

• Job, Chapters 1-28
• The synopsis Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community, Changing the Nature of the Conversation http://www.peterblock.com/_assets/downloads/Civic.pdf
• Block, Peter. Community: The Structure of Belonging. :Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008.

Week 2:

• Job, Chapters 29-42
• The synopsis: http://southwood.org/files/pdf/WhenHelpingHurtsSummary.pdf
• Corbett, Steve; Fikkert, Brian, When Helping Hurts, How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009.

No further reading is planned for weeks 3 and 4. However, a list of reference materials will be available at our first meeting.

Further information how our workshop conversations connect:

BOOK OF JOB
In Job we are witness to his experience of a range of emotions as he struggles with the incomprehensibility of his fate. His connection with his family, friends and community are all impacted as each imparts their own wisdom. Sure of his faithfulness, Job rejects their worldview that insists he repent of his sin. We will look at the folly in wisdom as Job comes to a new understanding of his relationship with God and his place in God’s creation.

EMERGENT DESIGN
We will look at simple but fascinating discoveries of modern science to arrive at new insights in our worldview. Then along with Job, we will reconstruct what new knowledge suggests for our interactions, with and place in, community.

COMMUNITY
Drawing from Peter Block’s writing on community, we will look at the current state of our communities and the place they hold in life. As Block suggests, rather than looking at fixes for current problems, we will begin to look at ideas of what might be possible using our own inter-church community as an example.

MISSIOLOGY
We have some wonderful examples within our INUMC conference of how the UMC is active in partnering with and serving in community. We will touch on the topics of evangelism, charity, and missiology and what they have to offer to our conversation on community in making disciples for the transformation of the world. We will reflect on how our community interactions connect with the mission and vision of our churches.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Appreciative Inquiry will be introduced as a tool for use in guiding the continuing work of a conversation circle to better discover and name connections and resources already at hand.