Specialized Training Program in Community Engagement & Ministry

Churches are integral to the wellbeing of neighborhoods and communities. By listening to residents in our neighborhood, working alongside community partners, and building strong networks and coalitions, the gifts of all can be harnessed to strengthen the whole community.

Upon completion of the four-units that comprise the Specialized Training in Community Engagement and Ministry, you will have the skills to help your congregation move outside the walls of the church building and better engage with your neighbors and neighborhood. You will be equipped to guide your church to deepen its connection to your community and discover a renewed sense of purpose.

The four units of the program build upon one another and must be taken in succession. Participants must enroll in Unit One to enroll in subsequent units.

Who Should Attend? Anyone interested in building their capacity and toolkit for authentic community engagement. This specialized training is designed with religious leaders (lay and clergy) in mind. However, the tools and practices are applicable to staff and volunteers in any sector who desire to partner with their communities to create deep and lasting change. This program is eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from Austin Seminary.

Cost per Unit: $250 per person ($1,000 for full Certificate)

Registration Open for Unit One: Foundations and Theology of Place-Based Community Building
September 5 through October 3, 2023
Interactive Zoom Sessions are from 11:30am-1:00pm CST on September 5 and 19, and October 3

Participants will register for each unit separately but must enroll in Unit One to enroll in subsequent units.

Units & Structure

Unit One: Foundations & Theology of Place-Based Community Building

The Foundations unit begins with a reawakened call to embody the Biblical vision of Shalom. We explore scripture, prophets, and modern sages, to express our own prophetic visions for God’s Shalom in the neighborhoods and towns where we serve. It includes a mindset shift from scarcity to abundance, a mission shift from doing for to doing with, and a ministry shift from charity to justice. The unit will help students articulate their theological grounding for community engagement and ministry.

Unit Two: Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

ABCD is a powerful approach to community engagement and development that focuses on abilities and potential, rather than problems and deficits by discovering the resources that are already present in a community. With ABCD tools and practices, congregations deepen their connections to their neighborhoods and towns and discover new ways in which they can support neighbors and strengthen the community. ABCD is a place-based approach to community well-being that begins with the gifts, wisdom, lived experiences, and dreams of the residents of the place – the neighborhood.

Unit Three: Facilitative Leadership

This unit is designed to help you think differently about leadership. We begin with a mindset shift from top-down/command & control to inclusive and participatory methods of leadership. This unit offers a set of tools and practices to lead people in a way that is inclusive and participatory; including Focused Conversation (or
ORID) Method, Mutual Invitation, Technology of Participation (TOPs) and other facilitation techniques that provide space for others to bring their ideas, gifts and abilities and generate new ideas.

Unit Four: Connecting & Collaborating

Building upon skills learned in previous units, students will learn how to begin to engage and mobilize potential partners in co-creative and collaborative ways. Students will begin to build their own toolkit of social technologies that encourage innovation, nurture collaboration, welcome diversity, and engender ownership and commitment. Skills contained in this unit include network mapping and assessing network contacts and strength; identifying potential partners; and holding partnership conversations. This course will equip students for people-centered leadership that connects people and organizations and inspires community change.

Structure

Using a "flipped" classroom experience, students will engage online content, apply the content in their context, and then meet with facilitators to engage the content more deeply alongside peers. Two or three times during each Unit, students will meet with facilitators and peers. Through facilitated discussion, students will process their learning and experiences, working in large and small groups.

Time Commitment: Each Unit is delivered over approximately six weeks. You should anticipate dedicating three to four hours each week for the following activities:

•   Review online content and selected readings
•   Community engagement assignment
•   Interactive Zoom sessions with Certificate Facilitators

Amy Moritz, MBA, MAR

Following a successful corporate career, Amy Moritz began a distinguished consulting practice working with organizations that serve the community and the common good. The consulting led her to found and lead two faith-inspired nonprofit organizations – Uptown Alliance Community Economic Development Corporation (2001-2004) and Center for Transforming Communities (2008-2018). At Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), Amy was both practitioner and coach in authentic community engagement that leads to healthy and more vibrant neighborhoods. She trained and coached eight neighborhood coalitions in Memphis, Tennessee, and facilitated Asset-Based Community Development with over forty congregations. Amy has developed nationally available curriculum for Communities First Association, where she was certified as a trainer/coach, and for Communities of Shalom, where she was certified as a National Trainer. Alongside training and coaching at the grassroots level, she has been sharing the practices that lead to deep, sustainable change with institutions such as Memphis Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt Divinity School/Turner Center, Tennessee Episcopacy of the United Methodist Church and Texas Rio Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Rev. Annie Allen, MPA, M.Div.

Rev. Annie Allen is an Ordained Minister who also serves as a consultant to churches and social-profit organizations. Her ministry includes community development initiatives, teaching, training, group facilitation and retreats. Rev. Allen is currently serving as Interim Pastor of the Rutherford Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in New Jersey. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Ramapough Lenape Community Center in Mahwah, New Jersey. Previously Rev. Allen worked at Drew Theological Seminary, where she served as Director of the National Shalom Resource Center. Communities of Shalom is an international faith-based community development ministry, providing training in underserved communities. Annie has been on the Council of Higher Education of Newark (CHEN) and helped re-develop the neighborhood known as University Heights. She has also served as the NJ State Chairperson for the Commission on Racial and Religious Violence. She Chaired the Bergen County Rainbow Coalition, worked with the National Council of Christians and Jews, the U.S. Justice Department, served as Director of Human Services for Bergen County, NJ, and has worked for two state Senators, helping to write some of New Jersey’s Bias Crime and Education Laws.

(To learn more, or ask any questions, please email the instructor, Amy Moritz, at amycmoritz@gmail.com.)

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