CCDA PHILADELPHIA
While our short term goal was to plan and host the CCDA's 18th Annual National Conference in Philadelphia, our long-term goal is the formation of a coalition of diverse community development groups and organizations across our city and region that would continue to work together beyond September in partnership and cooperation.

Through various planning committees, volunteer corps, sponsorship opportunities, church outreach services and local workshops, we have involved the talents and networks of a broad spectrum of people interested in Christian community development.

WHAT IS THE CCDA?
The roots of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) stretch back to 1960 when John and Vera Mae Perkins relocated their family to the struggling community of Mendenhall, Mississippi to work with the people there. The Perkinses devoted thirty-five years to the loving principles of Christian community development in Mississippi and California, leaving behind ministries and churches that are now headed by indigenous Christian leaders.

In 1989, Dr. Perkins called together a group of Christian leaders from across America who were bonded by one significant commitment, expressing the love of Christ in America’s poor communities, not at arms length, but at the grassroots level. An association was formed, and CCDA held its first annual conference in Chicago in 1989.

PRAYER BLOG
Our prayer blog is dedicated to the prayer needs of the CCDA Philadelphia and the Christian community development effort in our city. Soli deo gloria: For the glory of God and the benefit of our communities. Click here to go to ccdaphillyprayer.blogspot.com.

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?
Christian community development is a biblical approach based on three key principles:

Relocation
When we live among the people we minister to, we become one with them. It is no longer we helping them, but rather us working together to solve the problems of our community.

Reconciliation
Being in relationship with our neighbor is the result of loving God (I John 4: 19-21). Our love for Christ should break down every racial, social, or economic barrier.

Redistribution
When the body of Christ is visibly present among the poor, and we are loving our neighbor the way we love ourselves, the result is redistribution—sharing our lives, skills, and resources in a way that enables people to become all that God intended them to be.

The above principals, in addition to the following, comprise the eight components of Christian community development:

• Leadership Development

• Listening to Community

• Church-Based

• Wholistic Approach

• Empowerment <more>