DEVELOPING CIVICALLY ENGAGED, JUSTICE ORIENTED CHURCHES RIGHT FROM THE START - A HISPANIC PENTECOSTAL PERSPECTIVE

Most church planting training programs train pastors in typical church operations systems as well as how to build their teams with a strong mission. However, often their training is vague and even non-existent in the area of biblical justice and advocacy, an area of pressing need in the changing face of the United States. We are more racially divided than ever, and we struggle with a myriad of socio-economic issues that need to be addressed at the root level. Those who are called to plant churches must therefore understand that unlike any other time in history, church planting today requires an additional set of skills, particularly when planting in urban locations where lack of justice abounds. This research project provides a biblical basis and justification for training church pastors to establish civically engaged, justice-oriented churches right from the start by returning to an old framework of partnership between evangelization and justice, which I suggest is particularly important for churches who desire to make a real difference in their communities and to be more effective in bringing long-term, sustainable change. Chapter One introduces the problem, and its relation to the ministry of the writer. Chapter Two explores a biblical and theological framework in support of justice-oriented church planting through a selective reading of key texts. Chapter Three discusses the Hispanic population\u27s importance in the United States, which is the particular population of interest as it relates to church planting. Chapter Four reports on data collection and analysis as well as describing the content of seminar sessions. Chapter Five and Six discuss lessons learned and recommendations for further research