Search: Jimmy Dorrell, Christian Community Development Association (CCDA)

For seventeen years, Mission Waco has been mobilizing hundreds of middle class students and adults toward more compassionate involvement among the poor through its weekend Poverty Simulations and Out-of-Country Exposure trips. This workshop will describe how carefully designed experiences confront many of the myths about the poor during the guided mining. It will also provide both guidelines from building this experiential training from a Christ perspective and other creative initiatives which stretch Christians who want to be more involved in ministry with the marginalized.

Institutional and denominational churches are struggling to grow and impact culture in a growing postmodern environment. Church renewal is desperately needed to live out the claims of Christ and address systemic and personal evils which oppress the poor and marginalized. This workshop will engage the group in meaningful exploration of the theological and practical guidelines needed to create these new wineskins.

Institutional and denominational churches are struggling to grow and impact the culture in a growing postmodern environment. Church renewal is desperately needed to live out the claims of Christ and address systemic and personal evil which oppress the poor and marginalized. This workshop will engage the group in meaningful exploration of the theological and practical guidelines to creating these new wineskins.

What is the Church? Most Americans (Christan or not) seem inclined to describe the Church in terms of what it does or doesn't do, particularly in terms of growth and social impact. The question then becomes, "how is the Church distinct from any other human organization?" We Christians are quick to act but do we know why, and to what end? If we are unclear about our ecclesial identity and mission, we risk being at best charitable or even "radical" without bearing witness to anything different than what the world can already produce. Craig Wong (Grace Fellowship Community Church), Shane Claiborne (the Simple Way), and Jimmy Dorrell (The Church Under the Bridge) each represent very different congregations yet share a common insistence on taking theology of Church seriously.

Dr. Jimmy Dorrell speaks at CCDA 2005 on how to run a ministry that addresses the needs of the whole person.

What is the Church?  Most American Christians seem inclined to describe the Church in terms of what it does or doesn't do, particularly in terms of growth or social impact.  The question then becomes, "how is the Church distinct from any other human organization?"  We Christians are quick to act, but do we know why, and to what end?  If we are unclear about our identity and mission, we risk being at best charitable or even "radical" without bearing witness to anything different than what the world can already produce.  Each presenter represents very different congregations yet they sh

Experiential learning for middle-class Christians about the issues of poverty are very effective through an intensive plunge for students and adults.  The leaders have been training over 600 participants a year for twenty years to understand God's heart for the poor using Kolb's model of education.  The workshop will focus on how to design similar models of learning in your own context.

Including the Excluded: Mental Illness and Recovery

Of all folks in our communities, the mentally ill and those recovering from addiction desperately need to be loved and included. Yet the average church or ministry struggles to find meaningful ways to embrace those on the margins. The panel discusses the important threads that are missing in the tapestry of Kingdom Shalom and how intentional community can be formed to include and empower these that are commonly “excluded.”

CCDA2010-Jimmy Dorrell, Janet Dorrell-Mobilizing Middle Class Christians