Where the Dewdrops Fall: Shalom International Ministry and the Cultivation of a Twenty-First-Century Missionary Movement

Abstract

In our roles as lead pastor (Gad Mpoyo) and worshiping member/lay preacher (Jennifer L. Aycock), we have conducted a case study of Shalom International Ministry, a New Worshiping Community in the Presbyterian Church USA. The present and future religious vitality of the United States may be more clearly assessed through measures of participation, leadership, and ownership of congregational and community life by African immigrants and refugees aged twelve to twenty-seven. As African immigrant young adults’ spirituality and personal capacities are cultivated within the life of the church, it empowers them to contribute to American religious life in potentially transformative ways.