Psychology Faculty Publications
How College Students View the Church's Responsibility for the Homeless 1.5 Years After a College Poverty Immersion Experience
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2016
Journal Title
Social Work & Christianity
ISSN
0737-5778
Volume
43
Issue
4
First Page
68
Last Page
84
Abstract
This qualitative study examines residual shifts of student perceptions of Christian and church responses to the homeless 1.5 years after involvement in a weekend poverty immersion experience. Three overall results were evident from the common themes that emerged from student interviews. First, participants reported believing that, generally, the church is ignorant regarding the needs of the poor and impoverished people around them. Second, students generally did not believe that the church was doing enough in order to combat poverty and/or homelessness, mentioning that the church’s outreach ministries are often ineffective. Third, students reported believing that the church is responsible to care for the poor and that Christians as a whole should be more involved than they are presently. Overall, we found students to have reported maintaining a relatively consistent and stable perspective regarding Christian approaches to poverty since the time they completed an urban ministry course.
Keywords
Poverty immersion, qualitative research, student learning, homeless, Christianity
Recommended Citation
Firmin, Michael W.; Markham, Ruth L.; Stultz, Kurt J.; Johnson, Heidi J.; and Garland, Elizabeth, "How College Students View the Church's Responsibility for the Homeless 1.5 Years After a College Poverty Immersion Experience" (2016). Psychology Faculty Publications. 197.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/psychology_publications/197
