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

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

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School	Candler School of Theology
Department	Divinity
Degree	DMin
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Theology
Mot-clé	feeding ministry soup kitchen Body of Christ United Methodist Church community rural church Arkansas
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Jennifer Ayres, Emory University

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