Alternative Title

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and Globally

Abstract

Embracing Entrepreneurship

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and Globally

Embracing Entrepreneurship

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Perkins School of Theology Southern Methodist University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry by

Name of Student

Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Name of Student: Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Date: 03/31/2021

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and globally

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..3

CHAPTER ONE: Child homelessness in Zambia and Sub- Southern Sahara Africa

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………………………12

CHAPTER TWO: Biblical witness and Christian innovation in various stages of church history

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………………………….36

CHAPTER THREE: Embracing Heart Homes as a response to a call within a call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………………………………………………………………………………....67

CHAPTER FOUR: Embracing Heart Homes as a Model Christian Social Innovation through Social Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……...87

CHAPTER FIVE: Ending Child Homeless Through Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …………………100

CHAPTER SIX: Child Homelessness an Urban Problem Needing Urban Pastoral Care Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………….116

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……….120

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….126 – 128

NOTES………………………………………………………………………………….129

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I give all glory and honor to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for this milestone.

This dissertation is dedicated to my late father John Isaiah Moses Nyendwa for imparting in me the wisdom of ubuntu and for all unforgettable teachings of compassion that has shaped my life and ministry. And my family especially all my Children for the practical hard work in the creation of Embracing Heart Homes. Nelly, thank you for your financial, moral, and IT support.

Rahjhern Nyendwa, my brother for supervising the projects, especially finding the land which is currently home of Embracing Heart Homes.

Great appreciation for my husband, Cuthbert Sengebwila for ensuring that the land was secured through the acquisition of title deeds.

My appreciation goes to my friend Mrs. Agnes Virginia Sondashi for financial control and accountability and her invaluable voluntary services to Embracing Heart Homes.

I give my special thanks to my professors: My advisors, Dr. Robert Hunt, Dr. Harold Recinos, my reader Dr. Hugo Magallanes, my director of program, Dr. James Lee for believing me in, praying for me and their overwhelming support.

My gratitude goes to Dr. Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi who believed in me and encouraged me to take up the challenge.

My appreciation goes to all my cohort in the Doctor of Ministry class of 2021, thank you colleagues for your support and for answering and clarifying issues whenever I was in doubt.

All Perkins School of Theology Administration Staff

ABSTRACT

This dissertation identifies the real problem causing homelessness of children in Zambia. The research reveals that the problem of homelessness has been caused by lack of sustainable communities necessary to address and alleviate problems of homelessness and poverty. Secondly, it proposes how this problem can be tackled holistically by appealing to the biblical witness of the Holy Scriptures and learning from the ministry of the historical all-embracing Jesus Christ who sympathized with the poor. It discusses and articulates the methodology that can lead to actualization of the proposed sustainable communities.

I have studied and engaged church history in order to explore Christian social innovation and social entrepreneurship. The goal is to show how both are necessary in order to create lasting and sustainable change. The study of works of charity in church history has revealed how Christian social Innovation through entrepreneurship is a contributing factor to a better world today. The study of Macrina and her Cappadocian brothers; Catherine of Siena; Hildegard; Bernard of Clairvaux; the life of monks and monasteries; Dorothy Day and Mother Theresa, is inspiring. I gleaned a lot of wisdom from their sacred vocations which are very impactful to my call.

Embracing Heart Homes is used as a model which not only alleviates homelessness but also creates sustainability after homelessness has been addressed. Embracing Heart Homes aims at empowerment of those it helps so that they live self-sustained lives. Sustainable communities produce self-sustaining individuals and destroys the spirit of dependence or alms seeking. This is the ultimate goal of Embracing Heart Home as per ubuntu proverb/teaching; “Teach a child how to fish and he or she will eat fish their entire life. Give a child a fish, he or she will eat it and will keep coming back for more.” The aim is to teach them how to fish so that they will be self-sustained for life. This will be attained by teaching them survival skills such as tailoring, knitting, weaving, gardening, carpentry, brick making, building/construction, art: music, painting, and sculpturing/carving.

This dissertation shares in details the vision and blueprint of Embracing Heart Home with the aim of proving the ubuntu teaching that states that; “it takes the entire village to raise a child.” But who will raise the child if the entire village structure is destroyed? Hence this dissertation begins with the why? It studies why child homelessness exists in the first place. And ends with the how? That is offering a sustainable solution and a model to be emulated by others trying to end child homelessness in their various geographical settings while my geographical setting is Zambia in Central Africa.

Degree Date

Spring 5-15-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

D.Min.

Department

Ministry

Advisor

Dr. James Lee

Second Advisor

Dr. Robert Hunt

Third Advisor

Dr. Harold Recinos

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Hugo Magallanes

Subject Area

Anthropology, Architecture, Art, Ecology, Economics, Public Policy, Religion, Social Work, Theology/Religious Education, Urban Planning

Number of Pages

129

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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