Urban Church Research Articles

New Urbanization and the Changes of Christian Churches in County Towns and Rural Areas Taking L County in Central Henan as an Example

Since the reform and opening up, China has been developing through the stages of old urbanization and new urbanization. In recent years, with the rise of county economy? the new urbanization centered on county towns> as an important way to promote the urbanization of the population transferred from rural areas,has played a significant role in the changes of Christianity in urban and rural areas. Based on the ease study of L County in central Henan, this paper analyzes the new trend of the flow of Christian believers and the changes of churches in county towns and rural areas from five aspects： number and population characteristics of Christian believers? church activities and participation of Christian believers>theological personnel training? theological construction and finantial offerings. The study finds that the gap between urban and rural churches has further widened, the uprooted settlement of immigrant in county towns has led to a sharp drop in the number of rural Christian believers>a growing aging population>single and simplified church activities> the lost of theological talents> the rc-cmcrgcncc of heretical cults in rural areas, and shrinking finantial offerings. ’I'hc decline and fall of rural churches has become a general trend. Although the development of urban churches is on the rise as a whole> it also faces many challenges and difficulties.

Abstract 2550: Participant's satisfaction with the cancer community awareness access research and education (C-CARE) project at urban and rural sites

Abstract Introduction: The cancer-Community Awareness Access Research & Education (c-CARE) project includes a series of cancer-related educational sessions that focus on educating the enrolled participants about cancers that are either preventable or have the potential for early detection to positively impact cancer outcomes. One of the important indicators of success is the level of satisfaction with the program expressed by the study participants who were navigated to needed medical or non-medical community resources through the program. Methods: The study (n=548, 98 rural (17.9%),450 urban (82.1%), provided education, cancer screening, and addressed perceived barriers and self-efficacy to accessing early cancer detection resources, while providing a list of community-based resources. Inclusion criteria included adults with 21-80 years of age primarily living in small urban and rural GA or SC counties. The study occurred in 9 urban AA churches, 3 rural AA churches, 3 community clinics and one Community Center. The responses to each question in the satisfaction survey were summarized using descriptive analysis (frequency, percent, and p-value). Results: A majority of respondents reported satisfaction with the program (86.5%) and that they would recommend the program to others (99.8%). Approximately, one-third (31.1%) stated that they used one or more of the c-CARE community resources provided. Of those who used c-CARE resources, 74.3% participated in Lung Cancer Screening, 58.3% used the Tobacco Cessation Clinic, and 44.3% used Community Resources. Almost all of the respondents stated that they were satisfied with the c-CARE resources (82.3%). Significantly, more rural participants reported accessing Lung Cancer Screening (100%, p < 0.03), the Tobacco Cessation Clinic (100%, p < 0.04), and community resources (100%, p < 0.01). There were no significant differences between the rural and urban cohorts in program satisfaction, if they would recommend the program to others, used one or more of the c-CARE resources provided, or were satisfied with the resources provided. Conclusion: These results demonstrate increased need in both rural and urban communities for access to cancer screening and resources. Participant satisfaction is an important outcome measure for vulnerable population needs and experiences within their community. The c-CARE project was able to successfully provide education, cancer screening, and navigation to community cancer prevention and support resources to both urban and rural populations with demonstrated satisfaction and success. Citation Format: Ghadeer Albashir, Samantha Sojourner, Marlo Vernon, Justin Moore, Stephen Looney, Martha Tingen. Participant's satisfaction with the cancer community awareness access research and education (C-CARE) project at urban and rural sites [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2550.

A TYPOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE Y.B. MANGUNWIJAYA’S URBAN CHURCH

As the iconic buildings in Yogyakarta, the Mangunwijaya’s churches contribute a great influence on the city. His wisdom is not only written in his books, but also has been implemented through his architectural projects, revealing a specific composition of a spiritual language. A qualitative study is used to reveal Mangunwijaya’s architectural principles, by using the tracing method to highlight the structural elements of his urban churches. A typological investigation is accompanied by retracing Mangunwijaya’s drawing, where its spatial composition and form are emphasized through points and lines. Hence, by eliminating decorative elements, the most fundamental components of the churches can be raised, consisting: 1) The roof as the most dominant element, a volume that suggests the openness of the building; 2) Landscape defines a mutual symbiosis between indoor and outdoor, stimulating communication and gesture; 3) A typological composition that respects a Roman-Catholic church’s principles while revealing a local identity.

Rituals of Restorative Resistance: Healing Cultural Trauma and Cultural Amnesia through Cultural Anamnesis and Collective Memory

Using a womanist auto-ethnographic approach, this essay presents an anamnestic remedy for healing cultural trauma and cultural amnesia within the African American community. The essay narrates the creation then infusion of rituals of restorative resistance into the liturgy of a traditional, urban black Baptist Church as a means of resistance, resilience, and restoration. By commemorating the sacrifices of Jesus and enslaved African ancestors in eucharist rituals that are enhanced with sacred songs, readings, and symbols, the liturgy expands the meaning of “Do This in Remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24) to “Re-Member Me.” Drawing especially on work of Engelbert Mveng, Delores S. Williams, Barbara A. Holmes, Linda E. Thomas, and JoAnne Marie Terrell, and combining theology and anthropology, the essay describes a hermeneutic of healing within the community. It argues (1) that participation in enactment of rituals of restorative resistance decolonizes minds and deconstructs negative Western characterizations of black and brown bodies and (2) that ritualistic inversion and transformation of painful histories and traumatic stories into narratives and symbols of endurance and faith can re-invent, re-construct, and re-member individuals and communities into whole and healed entities.

THE FIRST URBAN CHURCHES 5: COLOSSAE, HIERAPOLIS, AND LAODICEA. Edited by James R.Harrison and L. L.Welborn. Writings from the Greco‐Roman World Supplement Series, 16. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2019. Pp. xxii + 457. Paper, $80.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 47, Issue 1 p. 96-96 Short Reviews Of Recent Publications: Christian Origins THE FIRST URBAN CHURCHES 5: COLOSSAE, HIERAPOLIS, AND LAODICEA. Edited by James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn. Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplement Series, 16. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2019. Pp. xxii + 457. Paper, $80.00. First published: 30 May 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15099Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue1March 2021Pages 96-96 RelatedInformation

The First Urban Churches 5: Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea. Edited by James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019. xxii + 457 pp. $60.00 paper.

The First Urban Churches 5: Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea. Edited by James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019. xxii + 457 pp. $60.00 paper.

Exclusion in Upscaling Institutions: The Reproduction of Neighborhood Segregation in an Urban Church

This paper examines the intersection of neighborhood change and parish reconfiguration in Charlestown, MA. The merger of two Roman Catholic churches has unsettled the congregational cultures, just as gentrification is unsettling broader neighborhood dynamics. Based on findings from 28 in–depth interviews and participant–observation, I examine the spatial reproduction of neighborhood segregation in the sanctuary of St. Mary's church. Affluent newcomers and “Townies”–stalwart residents who have weathered earlier waves of neighborhood upscaling–form power alliances that result in the exclusion of the poorest residents in the shared space of this urban church. By paying attention to the seating arrangements and other social interactions of churchgoers, I discover that the new parish vision of the merged church–albeit one that purported to celebrate the diverse residents of the neighborhood–resulted in the cultural exclusion of Latinos. Institutional decisions, the desire to maintain ethnic enclaves, and tacit messages of group exclusion reify the race and class divisions of the neighborhood within the walls of the church. I conclude with an exploration of the strategies of resilience to gentrification and merger evident in this case by attending to the actions of the disadvantaged in relation to the changing institution.

P13 Social Network Analysis of Urban Church Food Pantries

<h3>Background</h3> Examining social networks helps to explain the connectedness of individuals, groups or communities, and is useful in demonstrating the potential that lies within and between networks. When evaluating social networks, relationships are viewed as "nodes" (eg individuals or points) and their connecting "ties" (eg the relationships between the nodes). Detailing food pantry and client "connectedness" through social network analysis can assist researchers and policymakers to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the informal emergency food system. <h3>Objective</h3> The objective of the study was to examine the degree to which urban church food pantries are connected to the clients they serve using the social network theory. <h3>Study Design, Setting, Participants</h3> The research design was a population-based, cross-sectional study using a snowball sampling method of church food pantries in Nashville, Tennessee, from 2015–2018. The study population included 93 urban churches with 46 having on-site food pantries. <h3>Measurable Outcome/Analysis</h3> Zip codes for church-based pantries and clients served were collected via an electronic survey tool sent to urban churches. Social network ties between church food pantries and clients were analyzed utilizing UCINET 6 software. <h3>Results</h3> From the social network analysis a sociogram (eg visual matrix) was developed depicting 56 nodes (26 churches; 30 client zip codes) and 148 ties. Five large churches (membership ≥ 300), 13 medium-sized churches (membership = 100 to 299), and 8 small churches (membership ≤ 100) were identified within 23 zip codes. Large churches had 31 ties, medium-sized churches had 98 ties and small churches had 19 ties. Two central, medium-sized churches had the most ties with 20 and 30, respectively. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Although it was assumed that larger churches would have more social network ties, church size was not a limiting factor in serving urban areas through food pantries. Further research is needed to evaluate if current church food pantry social networks ensure vulnerable populations are being adequately served.

The Undercurrent Coming to the Surface

This paper explores the convergence and divergence in the development of Chinese Christianity and the global surge of Pentecostalism by focusing on the evolution and expansion of an indigenous Pentecostal sector in Chinese Christianity. Drawing on extended ethnographic fieldwork among prosperous urban church communities in coastal southeast China and the growing Chinese merchant diaspora in Europe, I show that the Pentecostal undercurrent sustained by mostly charismatic women and their rural networks has come to surface and been increasingly transformed by an entrepreneurial male-dominated prosperity gospel. The surfacing of this Chinese Pentecostal undercurrent under the current context of China’s state-led modernization and global business outreach has resulted in a combination of entrepreneurial logic, spiritual renewal, and emotional nationalism in a self-envisioned Chinese-led global mission movement, contributing to the growth of a neo-Pentecostal sector of post-Mao, globalizing Chinese Christianity.

Attachment to God and Religious Coping as Mediators in the Relation between Immigration Distress and Life Satisfaction among Korean Americans

ABSTRACT We investigated the effect of immigration distress on Korean Americans’ life satisfaction, using attachment to God and religious coping as mediators. A sample of 214 participants was recruited from urban ethnic churches in various states, and they responded to online or offline surveys. There were two serial multiple mediation models (Models A and B) developed based on the attachment system activation model and empirical evidence. Each of the models included a pair of the two mediators: avoidant attachment to God and positive religious coping for Model A, and anxious attachment to God and negative religious coping for Model B. We initially examined the overall model fit as well as the direct and indirect effects using AMOS 21. Upon finding significant aggregated indirect effects, we examined individual indirect effects using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results demonstrated that Model A showed a poor model fit and Model B showed a good model fit to the observed data. Serial multiple mediation analyses provided some support for our conceptualization that distress activates the attachment to God system as an internal working model that is translated into religious coping as attachment behavior. As expected in Model B, distress was inversely associated with life satisfaction through anxious attachment to God and negative religious coping. Model A demonstrated rather complicated relations. The implications of cultural, theoretical, and methodological issues, with special regard to attachment to God and religious coping in Korean Americans as immigrants, were discussed.

Barron, Jessica M., and Williams, Rhys H. The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City. New York: New York University Press, 2017. vii+95 pp. $30.00 (paper).

Barron, Jessica M., and Williams, Rhys H. <i>The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City</i>. New York: New York University Press, 2017. vii+95 pp. $30.00 (paper).

From God’s home to people’s house: Property struggles of church redevelopment

Religious organizations participate in urban redevelopment in various ways including redeveloping their churches. While the literature has attempted to explain church redevelopment from different perspectives, what has often been forgotten is the fundamental characteristic of churches as property in cities. Drawing on the established scholarship of legal geography, this article argues that the lens of property relations offers an insightful framework to examine church redevelopment. By presenting a case study in Hong Kong, this article unpacks the property struggles of church redevelopment to examine how that resulted from the conflicting property claims and why these claims emerged. This article contrasts and analyzes the religious and market-driven values underlying these claims in the context of a property-led society like Hong Kong. To understand how urban churches transform from God’s home to people’s house, it is necessary to recognize the diverse readings of property. In so doing, this article invites scholars to re-conceptualize urban struggles from the property lens.

The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City

The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City

Artificially induced calcium oxalate on limestone in urban environments – New findings

Calcium oxalate, known for its greater resistance to deterioration when compared to calcium carbonate, is the desired end product when ammonium oxalate treatment is applied to calcareous stone. Calcium oxalate can form naturally, on exposed limestone and marble architecture and statuary, although over long periods of time. Two mineral forms can be found, these being the monohydrate whewellite and the dihydrate weddellite. This paper focuses on the first detection of the formation of weddellite, following ammonium oxalate treatment, applied to an inland urban church in Malta built with porous limestone. This new finding is discussed within the context of the conditions presented by this particular site, and the resultant products that could potentially form between the treatment and soluble salts that may be present in the stone. Investigations first started in the laboratory with artificially salt-contaminated Globigerina Limestone, using individual sodium salts of chloride, sulfate and nitrate. The more stable whewellite was consistently found to have been produced in these situations without any by-product formation. This steered the research towards real buildings where salt mixtures would be present. Extending the chloride, sulfate and nitrate laboratory case studies to the field, a marine, garden and urban building were respectively selected to represent each scenario through expected salt predominance within existing salt mixtures: chlorides in the marine environment, nitrates in the garden location and sulphates in the urban setting. The calcium oxalate formed in the first two sites – a coastal bastion and a garden wall – was whewellite in both cases, as per results from the laboratory studies. Weddellite was only formed in the urban environment case scenario. This paper discusses the determining factors in ammonium oxalate treatment of porous salt-infested limestone in relation to the resulting form of calcium oxalate produced. These were found to be the calcium to oxalate ratio and the environmental conditions during treatment.

THE FIRST URBAN CHURCHES 3: EPHESUS. Edited by James R.Harrison and L. L.Welborn. Writings from the Greco‐Roman World Supplement Series, 9. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 361. $46.95.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 45, Issue 2 p. 213-213 Short Reviews Of Recent Publications: Christian Origins CHRISTIAN ORIGINS First published: 08 July 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14041Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume45, Issue2June 2019Pages 213-213 RelatedInformation

THE FIRST URBAN CHURCHES 2: CORINTH. Edited by James R.Harrison and L. L.Welborn. Writings from the Greco‐Roman World Supplement Series, 8. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 353. $51.95.

THE FIRST URBAN CHURCHES 2: CORINTH. Edited by James R.Harrison and L. L.Welborn. Writings from the Greco‐Roman World Supplement Series, 8. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 353. $51.95.

‘I might be wrong’

For about ten years (1998-2008), Kester Brewin was one of the principal instigators of the Vaux community, a ‘vehicle for exploring radical theological thought and practice’. From these experiences and events, he wrote The Complex Christ: Signs of Emergence in the Urban Church (2004). Since then he moved on as a blogger, columnist, tedx-er, and writer. In 2016 he published Getting High: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the Dream of Flight with Vaux Publishing. Getting High is a fascinating reflection on an era dominated by the flight of technology (from the 1960s on), substituting for the eternal longing for the ultimate. But it is also a moving introspection into Brewin’s own life. Being the son of a preacher man, he was getting high on evangelical ecstasy as a young adult, before he became one of the influential figures in the emerging church movement. He ended up, however, ‘outside of what would be taken as orthodox belief.’ This paper discusses Kester Brewin’s ‘piratic’ thoughts on the church, based on his books, blogs, and columns. How did his ‘theological’ thinking evolve, and what does it mean for ecclesiology?

Book Review: The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City

Book Review: The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City

The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City. By Jessica M. Barron and Rhys H. Williams. New York: New York University Press, 2017. Pp. vii+195. $89.00 (cloth); $30.00 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewThe Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City. By Jessica M. Barron and Rhys H. Williams. New York: New York University Press, 2017. Pp. vii+195. $89.00 (cloth); $30.00 (paper).Mark T. MulderMark T. MulderCalvin College Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 124, Number 5March 2019 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/701593 Views: 84Total views on this site For permission to reuse a book review printed in the American Journal of Sociology, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

MISSÃO INCULTURADA NA CIDADE: O PERCURSO DO SÍNODO DIOCESANO DA DIOCESE DE SANTO ANDRÉ

O presente artigo tem por objetivo desenvolver uma breve análise sobre o Sínodo Diocesano, orquestrado e vivido pela Igreja particular de Santo André, no ABC Paulista, no período de 2016-2017. Ele reflete o significado e a importância de um Sínodo dentro de uma Igreja tipicamente urbana, seus desafios e suas urgências, suas inspirações e finalidades; seu lema, “o sonho missionário de chegar a todos”, o sonho salvífico de Deus, que para isso se encarna na realidade humana, inculturando-se em uma determinada cultura.