Sowing the Seeds of Friendship: Cultivating Hospitality Across Class Lines Öffentlichkeit

Evans, Hammett N. (Spring 2020)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/r494vm31j?locale=de
Published

Abstract

The Feed Our Neighbors ministry at First United Methodist Church of Monticello, Arkansas provides a free weekly meal for impoverished families in the surrounding neighborhoods. Through an eight-week period of ethnographic observation, the participant researcher worked with a group of church volunteers who prepare and serve the meal in order to cultivate better practices of friendship and hospitality across class lines. The servers participated in a five-week study of the book, "Friendship on the Margins" by Christine Pohl and Christopher Heuertz in order to identify and reduce "Othering Behaviors" (setting boundaries, distancing and rejection, stripping personal identity, and imposing stigma) on the part of those who serve.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION   1

Community & Ministry Context   1

Beginnings of the Feed Our Neighbors Ministry   6

Project Design and Implementation   7

Measures of Transformation   9

Motivations, Theology, and Expectations   10

PART TWO: RESEARCH FINDINGS   15

First Ethnographic Observation and Reflections   15

The Study   24

Second Ethnographic Observation   27

PART THREE: SUMMARY   30

BIBLIOGRAPHY   34

APPENDICES   35

APPENDIX 1: Book Discussion Curriculum   35

APPENDIX 2: Informed Consent Form   44

About this Dissertation

Rights statement
  • Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.
School
Department
Degree
Submission
Language
  • English
Research Field
Stichwort
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor
Zuletzt geändert

Primary PDF

Supplemental Files