Audio by artist heidi_unruh

Despite a desire to share God's love in their communities, many churches stumble along the path from intention to action. To become a change agent, a church must itself undergo transformation, on two levels: leadership development and mission realignment. This workshop identifies the necessary components for this change process.

Research can serve ministry by helping to exegete the context, address a problem, identify assets and stakeholders, assess impact, or move toward a goal.  This workshop provides an overview of methodological, theological and ethical dynamics of ministry-related research, focusing on participatory action research that involves the community in problem-solving learning.

A Theology of Assessing Ministry Impact

How does a kingdom theology shape how we define and assess the outcomes of community development ministry? Is there a tension between being faithful and being effective? What are the indicators of shalom? This workshop applies the theology of shalom to the realities of practical ministry evaluation.

By Heidi Unruh

Making Children in Poverty a National Priority

Almost 13 million children in the US live in poverty. With poverty comes multiple barriers to shalom, the wholeness of life God intends. This workshop makes the theological and practical case that ending child poverty must be a national priority, and will identify key policies and practices toward this goal.

By Heidi Unruh