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Brotherhood Configuration, Part Deux

In UncategorizedTags , Danzo Pratt

Part of the purpose of developing my brotherhood model is to gain a better understanding of the inner workings of ministry on the local level. I’ve been looking over massive amounts of numbers, both with this particular project, and for the music ministry guide that I produced earlier this year, and am beginning to better understand the makeup of the church as a whole, it’s concentration and its mark. I reason that gaining a better understanding will allow for more efficiency and effectiveness in local governance of the local congregation.

I’ve once again began looking at the numbers at the predominately black congregations of the church of Christ to gain a better view of the works of the brotherhood.

Just a few thoughts:</p

  1. Of the 13,700 total congregations of the Church of Christ located stateside, there are only 91 predominately black congregations with 300 members or more.
  2. There are 103,358 members attending 998 congregations in the southern and northeastern regions of the United States.
  3. In the southern and Northeastern regions of the US, there are four states which have no predominately black congregations of the Church of Christ (Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont).
  4. There are 3 states with at least 100 congregations in the 2 regions studied – Alabama (118), Tennessee (141), & Texas (231).
  5. There are 7 states which have fewer than 10 congregations statewide – Connecticut (2), Massachusetts (3), New Jersey (9), Pennsylvania (6), Delaware (2), Virginia (7), and West Virginia (1).

Numbers reflected Here.

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Brotherhood Configuration, Part 01

In UncategorizedTags , Danzo Pratt

I’d imagine that I should have actually titled this post, “Grandiose ideals for a sophisticated brotherhood deployment strategy”, but I just want to get my brotherhood information together before I work out training ideals. Anyway, I’ve worked out all of the individual congregation profiles.

Brotherhood Profile

The Ministry Simulation framework is built on a local brotherhood consisting of 13-congregations in a 3 county system. This local three county local brotherhood is referred to as C.A.R, named for Carter, Amsted, and Renault counties respectively. The 13 congregations that make up the CAR are not the only congregations in the area, as there are 5 other congregations within the reach of the brotherhood, though these 5 congregations do not actively participate in activities with the other 13. The 5 remaining congregations, however, are still in fellowship with the brotherhood and attempts are made by various others of the 13 to engage the delinquent congregations.

Congregation Snapshots

  1. Griffin Lake Church of Christ is located at 7534 Mason Avenue, Dalliance River, 77318. Their minister is William Rogers. Phone number at Griffin Lake Church of Christ is 555-732-1982. Currently, Griffin Lake Church of Christ has 110 members, of which, 75 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 20 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  2. Navis Street Church of Christ is located at 1700 Navis Street, Dalliance River, 77315. Their minister is Paul Smith. Phone number at Navis Street Church of Christ is 555-235-5900. Currently, Navis Street Church of Christ has 180 members, of which, 140 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 45 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 10:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 11:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 5:30:00 PM.
  3. 19th Ave Church of Christ is located at 5200 Northwest 19th Avenue, Dalliance River, 77310. Their minister is Jerry Williams. Phone number at 19th Ave Church of Christ is 555-727-8300. Currently, 19th Ave Church of Christ has 175 members, of which, 125 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 30 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 8:45:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  4. South Cochoran Church of Christ is located at 5300 Weston Avenue, Cochoran, 76310. Their minister is Randy Phillips. Phone number at South Cochoran Church of Christ is 555-393-2344. Currently, South Cochoran Church of Christ has 420 members, of which, 310 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 100 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 5:00:00 PM.
  5. West Cochoran Church of Christ is located at 2900 Ashton Carter Road, Cochoran, 76299. Their minister is Terry Solomon. Phone number at West Cochoran Church of Christ is 555-923-1400. Currently, West Cochoran Church of Christ has 230 members, of which, 170 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 50 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:30:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:30:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  6. Northside Church of Christ is located at 2359 Leeds Boulevard, Jasmine, 74501. Their minister is Andrew Hall. Phone number at Northside Church of Christ is 555-877-9221. Currently, Northside Church of Christ has 523 members, of which, 375 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 145 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 10:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 11:15:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  7. Eastside Church of Christ is located at 374 Colonial Park Road, Jasmine, 74510. Their minister is Jack Wilson. Phone number at Eastside Church of Christ is 555-783-1990. Currently, Eastside Church of Christ has 235 members, of which, 175 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 65 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:30:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  8. Davis Blvd. Church of Christ is located at 7210 North Davis Blvd., Neeland Ridge, 72345. Their minister is Martin Jones. Phone number at Davis Blvd. Church of Christ is 555-293-2332. Currently, Davis Blvd. Church of Christ has 92 members, of which, 70 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 13 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  9. Neeland Ridge Church of Christ is located at 4400 West Michigan Avenue, Neeland Ridge, 72344. Their minister is Stephen Harper. Phone number at Neeland Ridge Church of Christ is 555-923-1300. Currently, Neeland Ridge Church of Christ has 117 members, of which, 80 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 45 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 10:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 11:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  10. Spicer Avenue Church of Christ is located at 3450 Spicer Avenue, Morton, 71044. Their minister is Willard Adams. Phone number at Spicer Avenue Church of Christ is 555-769-3455. Currently, Spicer Avenue Church of Christ has 210 members, of which, 150 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 45 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:30:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:45:00 AM, and evening service is at 5:00:00 PM.
  11. Johnsonville Church of Christ is located at 8950 East Courtview, Johnsonville, 71054. Their minister is Albert Jackson. Phone number at Johnsonville Church of Christ is 555-823-3455. Currently, Johnsonville Church of Christ has 150 members, of which, 108 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 35 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:30:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:30:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  12. Amber Lake Church of Christ is located at 1950 N.W. 89th Way, Amber Lake, 77298. Their minister is Horatio Carter. Phone number at Amber Lake Church of Christ is 555-922-8954. Currently, Amber Lake Church of Christ has 200 members, of which, 160 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 33 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 9:00:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.
  13. Walton Edge Church of Christ is located at 6250 Simicourt Lane, Walter Edge, 77290. Their minister is Neal Campbell. Phone number at Walton Edge Church of Christ is 555-455-5687. Currently, Walton Edge Church of Christ has 75 members, of which, 70 provide giving information in the form of an envelope. They currently have 8 youth at the congregation. Sunday school begins at 8:30:00 AM, morning worship begins at 10:00:00 AM, and evening service is at 6:00:00 PM.

A Ministry Framework

In UncategorizedTags , , Danzo Pratt

I’ve been looking forward to writing on this topic for some time now, but have only now [Friday, 2:30am] gotten around to actually sitting down and taking the time to organize my thoughts for this particular post.

The Idea of ministry management has become a major sticking point for me as I’ve come to believe that ministry can and should work a whole lot better in the engagement of the members of any particular congregation. Congregations, for the most part, have come to take on the idea that individuality saves the day. However, what I really wanted to do was simply create a working model that could be used as a possible framework for training and development purposes.

So, A Framework?

Well, I continue to feel like the best way to understand anything is to actually learn by doing, and since I couldn’t go out and become minister of an actually congregation, or lead a brotherhood, I figure the next best thing has to be trying to work on building a systematic model of what a brotherhood would look like, with congregations of various backgrounds and standings. I wanted to build something that was both easily understandable, yet at the same time was built with a sense of reality, that a user could imagine being at any particular congregation within the brotherhood.

Schematics

In developing my faux brotherhood, I took into consideration a few things that I felt were necessary elements in building something that was feasibly understandable. Looking for ways to make this whole project manageable in the long run, I set in place some parameters for my brotherhood.

  1. The local brotherhood could have no more than 15 congregations – I actually came in under the allocation of 15 congregations (13), leaving two out for future purposes. I chose the number 15 as a limit because I didn’t want the entire process to become so expansive as to limit functionality. In a very large local brotherhood with every congregation having fully developed, active ministries, I just felt that planning, even fake planning, would become a task too major to handle effectively.
  2. I would stick to realistic numbers for the brotherhood – You aren’t going to typically find a brotherhood with massive attendance numbers, so I really wanted to stick to the reality of the actual brotherhood numbers. In writing The Music Ministry Guide, I did a lot of research on the brotherhood-at-large and realized that the total brotherhood is not as large as I thought, and so, my planning reflects that.
  3. Financial Numbers should reflect actual trends – I built my own scale using financial data that I found at various congregations. Basically, I looked at membership numbers and total giving, and built a simple formula for individual member giving per week and then simply expanded it forward for an entire year.

Now, all of this really is extensive when you understand the actually scope and focus of this research and modeling, and that is simply to develop a single congregation model. I wanted to develop a single congregation for training and development purposes, but when I began building the framework for Griffin Lake church of Christ, I quickly realized that a congregation can’t stand alone, and must therefore be a part of a larger brotherhood. The more I thought about it, the more the reality of an entire brotherhood being built looked feasible.

Now that I have a simple framework to build the rest of my model on, I’ve looked to start planning out the rest of the project. I figure to begin working on the rest of the project immediately

  • [download#9#nohits] – The framework is released as a proof of concept and is provided as-is.