COMMUNITY.REVITALIZATION.CHANGE
The Center for Community Change
The Center for Community Change is an Operating unit of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, a division of Andrews University. Providing individualized mentoring and guidance to pastors and lay leaders using contextualized innovative solutions for their revitalization and the unique needs of their communities.
Our Program
The Center for Community Change uses a Three-Phase mentoring paradigm along with a 12-month Revitalization Roadmap to provide mentorship, training, church assessment tools and community engagement objectives for pastors and lay leaders to be able to make a positive difference in their life, church and community.
Our Program Leaders
The Center for Community Change was developed by a team of educators, administrators, and serving pastors who are all passionate about engaging churches with their communities. A study found that many of our churches are not as engaged with their communities as they could be. Sadly, some churches even try to avoid their communities, because of these findings, the Center’s leadership team is laser-focused on empowering pastors to develop and strengthen church-community relationships through community engagement. We invite you to join this incredible movement and together help transform our churches and their communities.
Three Phase Mentoring
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Phase 1 - The Keel - Whole-Person Care of the Pastor: Just as a sailboat's keel provides stability and prevents capsizing in turbulent waters, the whole-person care of the pastor forms the foundational anchor of effective ministry. This deep, unseen foundation runs beneath the surface, ensuring that everything above remains steady and true.
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Phase 2 - The Hull - Healthy Church Foundation: The hull of the church represents the structural integrity of the congregation itself - strong enough to hold the community together while flexible enough to navigate changing waters. A healthy hull protects what's precious inside while enabling forward movement through any conditions.
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Phase 3 - The Sails - Community Engagement: The sails represents community engagement - the visible, dynamic aspect of ministry that catches the wind of the Holy Spirit and propels the church forward into its surrounding community. Well-positioned sails harness divine power to create movement, while poorly managed sails can leave a church stalled or even driven backward.
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The Holy Spirit: The Divine Wind
Throughout this entire journey, the Holy Spirit serves as the wind that provides all forward momentum. No amount of human effort, strategic planning, or good intentions can move a sailboat without wind. Similarly, church revitalization depends entirely on the Spirit's power to breathe life into efforts, open hearts, and create supernatural transformation.​​
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Community Engagement
The Center works with the Church to complete a comprehensive evaluation to identify core areas of improvement within the church, to then empower the pastor and the congregation to make an assessment of the needs of the community and create a community event to engage and make an impact.
