PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 25, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Thousands of activists and church leaders from across the country will gather in Philadelphia this month for a five-day conference on Christian community development, a growing movement that Eastern University in suburban St. Davids helped pioneer and lead to address problems of the urban poor.
The gathering -- at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown from Sept. 27 through Oct. 1 -- is the 18th annual conference sponsored by the Christian Community Development Association, a group of more than 600 community development organizations, religious institutions, schools, colleges, businesses and foundations, all advocating a faith-based philosophy to overcome the crushing problems of today's urban poor.
Rejecting the more common practice of only providing services to a city's poorest areas, activists adopting the philosophy of Christian community development move to blighted areas to help residents build vital economic enterprises and strong communities able to fight social and political inequities. With the current wave of renewed interest in the nation's cities, practitioners see the approach as a way to help stem the dislocation of longtime residents by giving them the means to stay and benefit from the revival.
"We've seen the limitations of faith-based programs started by suburban Christians living isolated middle-class lives," said Shane Claiborne, a Philadelphia activist, author and graduate of Eastern University. "With Christian community development, your problems become my problems, and we both use the love of God to work together for justice."
Claiborne, who detailed the philosophy and his experiences this year in the book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, founded the community The Simple Way with six others in 1998 in Kensington, an impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood. The Simple Way has become a model for a growing group of young Christians who feel a passionate need to fight urban ills from within poor communities. Claiborne serves on the board of the Christian Community Development Association.
Organizers estimate 2,000 people will attend the conference, Cities of Love With Liberty and Justice for All. The evening sessions, open to the public at 6:30 p.m, will feature Philadelphia Mayor John Street on Sept. 27; the Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo on Sept. 28; and Marian Wright Edelman, Children's Defense Fund founder and president, on Sept. 29.
Campolo, a professor emeritus at Eastern University, has founded nine faith-based organizations serving more than 20,000 urban poor annually. The author of 32 books, Campolo served as an adviser to Bill Clinton during his presidency. He is widely recognized as a charismatic leader of the Christian community development movement.
In response to the growing interest in urban ministries, Campolo helped found the School for Social Change at Eastern in 2000. The school prepares students and professionals for the complexities of urban activism while helping the community where the school is located in Philadelphia.
"Our students forgo high-powered, lucrative positions to focus on urban ministries," said Vivian Nix-Early, dean of the School for Social Change. "They have a true passion to serve at the grass-roots level, and they bring extraordinary skills to their missions."
Instrumental in organizing the conference, Eastern is a Christian university dedicated to preparing students for lives of Christian faith and service. About 3,700 students attend undergraduate, graduate, seminary and accelerated adult programs on four campuses in the Philadelphia area and one in West Virginia.
The Eastern University, School for Social Change logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2607
Links of note
Philadelphia conference: http://www.ccdaphilly.org/ Christian Community Development Association: http://www.ccda.org/ Eastern University: http://www.eastern.edu School of Social Change: http://eastern.edu/academic/campolo/inst/index.shtml The Simple Way: http://www.thesimpleway.org/