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Metanoia
Metanoia is the urban ministry begun by the Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina to combat urban poverty in the
Chicora/Cherokee community of North Charleston. Metanoia is still supported by SC/CBF
through our State Missions Offering but is governed by its own board of
local citizens.
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Some of the Young Leaders
at Metanoia. |
Metanoia's two
primary programs are:
Young
Leaders Program:
The overwhelming
consensus of residents was that kids in the neighborhood needed more
opportunities for safe and positive environments after school. In
cooperation with the neighborhood elementary school and St. Matthew Baptist
Church, Metanoia began the Young Leaders Program in the Fall of 2003. The
program is now operating with 33 students, from the first to the fifth
grades. Chicora Elementary selects students who show leadership potential in
areas such as academics or social interaction. The Young Leaders Program
offers homework help, exposes children to a wide variety of career
possibilities, and gives them a daily meal through the national “Kids Café”
program. It also works to nurture students’ faith through a daily "Imani
Circle" (Imani means faith in Swahilli) where children sing songs, pray, and
say their Young Leaders Pledge.
Housing Initiative: In July of 2004 the
Metanoia Board of Directors identified boosting home ownership as its number
one new priority. The home ownership rate in the community is less than 25%
(experts say a healthy community must have a minimum of 60%
homeowners). Thanks to several important partnerships that were begun at the
end of 2004, Metanoia’s Homeownership Initiative is moving ahead in three
areas: preparing home buyers (by offering classes on home ownership and
credit counseling), new home construction, and rehabiliation of older homes.
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SC/CBF State Missions
Belgium
Allendale
Metanoia
Internationals
If you would like information about how your
church can help with Metanoia, please contact:
Beverly Greer
Missions Coordinator
CBF of South Carolina
beverly@cbfofsc.org
Email
Evelyn Oliveira or Bill Stanfield directly.
Go to the Metanoia
website. You will be leaving the CBF of SC site.
Metanoia background
In April of 2002,
SC/CBF began the “Charleston Poverty Initiative” by hiring Urban Ministers
Evelyn Oliveira and Bill Stanfield and giving them a year to listen to
community residents about where and how they might serve with those in the
identified areas. Within six months the couple had chosen to work with the
Chicora/Cherokee neighborhood and bought a home in that community. They
also joined St. Matthew Baptist Church in Chicora/Cherokee. |
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