For me, ministry is to end poverty. At the church I serve I launched new ministries to exemplify the economy of God. I co-wrote the biblical and theological rationale for a national strategy for the church to recast itself as an “economic being.” I explored the theory and praxis of God’s economy through my Doctor of Ministry. I developed the first impact investment policy for a UCC financial ministry. Currently, I am co-leading the launch of a Fellowship program which will engage participants in theological reflection and business development as they create faith-inspired social enterprises.

These are among many global initiatives launched recently to transform the economy in the image of God. And yet one pattern remains: an expanding global economy creating an unprecedented level of concentrated wealth in the midst of pervasive poverty. In the richest country in history, half the population is poor or low income.

As Malcolm Gladwell writes, we who have taken up this cause must push toward the ‘tipping point’ “…that magic moment when an idea...crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” This project is proposed to hasten us across the threshold into God’s economy. The goal of this project is to publish a resource designed to equip the church with tools to transform neighborhoods throughout North America into local settings of God’s economy.

Toward this end, I will pursue the following research strategies:

• Survey biblical, theological, and social science resources for a conceptual framework for God's economy

•Survey models of innovative ministries, social enterprises, and investment strategies that may be replicated by others;

•Inventory asset mapping and other assessment tools that help church leaders to identify high impact, low cost initiatives tailored to specific neighborhood needs and local church capacities;

•Create web-based metrics, training, support and reporting resources to learn, apply, track and share best practices.