Date
5-16-2024
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Joseph Eugene Butler
Keywords
Christian Leadership, Inner-city, Poverty, Community formation, African American, Ministry, Outreach
Disciplines
Christianity
Recommended Citation
Moore, Kevin Laron, "Community Formation and Effective Leadership in African American Churches in High-poverty Communities" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5546.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5546
Abstract
African American church traditions were reputable for serving “the least of these" (Matthew 25:35 - 46) (TLOT) through intentional, Bible-based community fellowship and relationship. However, African American churches are moving away from community ministries to inside worshiping that does not fulfill God's agenda. As a result, the phenomenon of serving in isolation versus serving through community formation is incrementally deviating from the biblical worldview. This qualitative phenomenological study explores, community formation and effective leadership in African American churches in high-poverty communities in the aggregate city of Newark, NJ. This research aims to explore community formation and effective leadership in African American churches in high-poverty communities. At this stage in the research, a servant-leader profile is generally defined as Ministry leaders with proven character, doxological motives, and a passion to fulfill the divine agenda of Jesus (Howell, Jr., 2003, pp. 296–301). The following general findings of this research were: 1) “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), especially when serving in urban America; 2) Effective Christian leadership in HPC is a direct result of a leader’s authentic relationship with Jesus, their clear calling, and passion to serve; 3) Bygone African American church traditions are the possible solution to effective church leadership in HPC based on this study’s findings. The servant-leader theory aligns with the biblical worldview and Shepherd motif doctrine steering this study (Ezekiel 34:1 – 6, 23, 37:24; Jeremiah 3:15, 10:21; Psalm 23, 78:70 – 72; Matthew 25:35 – 46; John 10:11 – 15; Hebrews 13:20).
