Apartment Life Project
Report on Project ID # GCC-4 Series 2007
Apartment Life Project
In 2007, the Georgia-Cumberland Conference requested NAD funding for the first year of a five year project to intentionally reach people who live in apartments in the Atlanta Metro area.
With funding received last year from GCC ($10,000) Southern Union ($6,000) and NAD ($10,000) we have hired a part-time Global Evangelism pioneer who has been working to establish relations with people who live in apartments the Atlanta metropolitan area. Rustin Sweeney and his wife, Stacy (see accompanying photo) have accepted the role of Community Life Director to establish multiple Apartment churches in the Atlanta area.
Here are some endeavors Rustin has been involved in since starting this new position:
- Prayerfully visited over 60 low income apartment communities basing criteria on the “good soil principles” from Organic Greenhouse and personal sense of God’s call
- Prayerfully moved my family into an urban apartment setting on the south side of Atlanta making initial contact with current residents and laying the ground work for future meetings
- Started a house church in my previous apartment and have continued to meet weekly for the past 11 months, sharing meals, providing transportation, and sharing life
- Researched house church, intentional community, and urban leadership principles through a number of different media outlets
- Attended community building workshops detailing how to engage others in intentional community
- Researched urban garden principles for a community garden project to initiate contact with urban families
- Researched camping/backpacking initiative to reach out to urban youth
- Weekly team building leadership meetings with the Good News Atlanta Team
- Attended Organic Greenhouse workshops
- Met with leaders of the Devos Urban Leadership Initiative to further ties within the urban ministry community and increase urban leadership skills
- Shared the community life vision with area churches
- Met several times with leaders from Robert Lupton’s organization, Family Consultation Services (a Christian based ministry in Atlanta which centers on reaching people for Christ) to explore ministry in urban settings.
Thank you,
William F. Levin
Director for Church Planting, Global Evangelism, and Good News Atlanta
Georgia Cumberland Conference of SDA