LM404E

With Vulnerable Neighbors

Lay Ministry Elective 41 lectures about 10 hours of reading English Program
Curriculum › LM404E

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Most churches want to help their most vulnerable neighbors and default to one of two postures: occasional charity that never asks why the need keeps recurring, or an activism that forgets the person in front of it is a specific human being, not a cause.

This course works through eight kinds of vulnerability - poverty, homelessness, disability, isolated aging, migration and displacement, domestic crisis and addiction - asking in each case what Scripture actually requires, what a church can realistically do, what it cannot and should not attempt alone, and how to build a sustainable system of service that does not run on one exhausted volunteer's goodwill.

Eight weeks, each ending in an 'In the Field' exercise: mapping the vulnerable neighbors near your church, examining your own prejudice, an accessibility audit, role-playing hospitality across a language barrier, and - in week 5's required lecture - a crisis response protocol for the moment a real emergency appears.

Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible. This course does not assume any one country's welfare system or institutions.

Chapter 0

Introduction: Between Charity and Justice

Assessment

Midterm exam LM404E Midterm — Weeks 1 to 4
Final exam LM404E Final Examination