Covenant News

Community Transformation Classes Slated for August

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 25, 2004) - The Center for Community Transformation will be presented August 3-12 as a joint venture of Covenant Ministries of Benevolence (CMB), the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC) as the Covenant seeks to further ministries of compassion and justice.

Courses are being held at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Sessions last either three or four days. Sixteen faculty members are teaching or co-teaching nine classes.

The classes will be offered over three sessions during this period. Sessions from August 3-5 include "Bridging an Existing Church Into Community Transformation" by Berkeley Covenant Church (CA) pastor Al Tizon; "Financial Management For Nonprofits" by Ed Delgado, dean of the Hispanic Center for Theological Studies (CHET) in Bell Gardens, California; and "Advancing Diversity in the Local Church" by Russell Jeung, a college professor at San Francisco State University with ties to New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland, California.

A pair of four-day, team-taught intensive classes - "Foundations in Community Transformation" and "Advanced Fund Development" - will be presented August 6-9. Four seminars are scheduled to run August 10-12 and include Strategic Planning For Sustainable Ministry, Community Analysis and Community Organizing, Starting a Nonprofit At Your Church and Integrating Church Planting With Holistic Outreach Ministries.

Four-day classes cost $129 apiece if tuition is paid by May 28. Registration for those classes after May 28 is $139. Each three-day class will cost $99 (payment received by May 28) and $109 (after May 28). A deposit of $45 will reserve a space in the class. A limited number of rooms are available at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center (www.maryjoseph.org) with housing/meals totaling $145 for three-day classes and $185 for four-day classes.

Deposit checks are to be earmarked to Center for Community Development. Checks and registration slips are to be mailed to Delgado in care of CHET, 6113 Clara Street, Bell Gardens, CA, 90201. Class curriculum, faculty and scholarship information can be obtained by calling the Compassion and Justice Ministries at 773-878-8200, extension 5008, or emailing its director, Max Lopez-Cepero, at MALopezcepero@covenantbenevolence.org.

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