CASUALTIES OF WAR: THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF INNER –CITY VIOLENCE ON CHURCH & COMMUNITY by RHONDA Y. BRITTON B.B.A., Bernard M. Baruch College, CUNY, 1986 M.C.I.S., Rutgers University, 1997 M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2002 Submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Acadia University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University Spring Convocation 2013 © by RHONDA Y. BRITTON 2013 This thesis by RHONDA Y. BRITTON was defended successfully in any oral examination on 8 April 2013. The examining committee for the thesis was: Dr. Anna Robbins, Chair Dr. Howard Ramos, External Reader Dr. William Brackney, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Heather Kitchin, Internal Reader This thesis is accepted in its present form by Acadia Divinity College as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree Doctor of Ministry. ii I, RHONDA Y. BRITTON, hereby grant permission to the Head Librarian at Acadia University to provide copies of this thesis, on request, on a non-profit basis. __Rhonda Y. Britton_____________________ AUTHOR ___Dr. William Brackney__________________ SUPERVISOR ___8 April 2013__________________________ DATE iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………..v Acknowledgments……………………………………….. ………………vi 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….……..1 2 BIBLICAL and THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION………………………...7 3 THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT: HALIFAX NORTH END ……………. 42 4 CASE METHOD and CASE ..……………………………………………76 5 MINISTRY STRATEGIES………….……………………………………..99 6 CONCLUSION …………..………………………..……………………. 115 APPENDIX………………….……………………………………….……128 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………….132 LIST OF TABLES and FIGURES Figure 1 “Context of Study” Table 1 “Demographic Indicators of Study Area” Table 2 “HRM 2011 4th Quarter/Year End Statistics” Figure 1.1 “Gottingen Street Commercial Trends 1950-2000” Figure 1.2 “Gottingen Street Social Agencies vs. Vacancies 1950-2000” iv ABSTRACT This work is an exploration of street violence in an inner city community, particularly as it relates to African Nova Scotians in North Central Halifax. The researcher’s aim is to gain an understanding of the determinants of violent behavior so that strategies may be employed to address the determinants and thus reduce the violence. The discussion centers on the particular case of a young man who was both a perpetrator and victim of violence. Ethnographical methodology is used as the means of gathering the case information. The researcher enters into the life and circumstances of the case subject to extract and analyze information, drawing conclusions that may help in the development of ministry approaches to inner city violence. The work begins with an auto-biography of the researcher and how she came to be interested in this work and then moves to the theological basis of concern and why finding methods to address violence should be a priority of the church. The researcher shares the background of the area of study from a historical perspective, specifically focusing on the deep-rootedness of societal dysfunction, including systemic racism, and with that knowledge presents a case as a typology of the casualties of the war that is claiming the lives of those that are marginalized in the city. The case is presented as a microcosm, examined through an analytical and theological lens, to draw conclusions about the state of the inner city and its challenges. Strategies are then suggested to help other churches facing similar challenges. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the grace of God and the encouragement of so many people. I am grateful to my beloved friend and brother in Christ, Dr. Bruce McCormack, who first urged me to undertake doctoral studies after completing the Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS). He convinced me that I should do more. As I contemplated various topics of study, I shared the idea of exploring inner city violence and thank Dr. Peter Paris, professor emeritus of PTS, Nova Scotia native, and friend, who helped me discern the shape the work would take. I thoroughly enjoyed the Theological Foundations course that was my re-introduction into the academy and am thankful to Dr. William Brackney who made the class so engaging I asked him to be my thesis supervisor. Without his wisdom, his patience and his guidance the work would have been much more difficult to complete. I thank Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard for her keen insight and direction as my internal reader. I also acknowledge the tremendous and informative work of the “Racism, Violence and Health (RVH) Project” that examined the stories and experience of African Canadian community members in Halifax, Toronto, and Calgary to study the impact of violence – including the violence of racism – on their health and well being. Dr. Bernard was the team leader of the project, which provided a wealth of resource material for my work. vi I have been blessed with several supportive colleagues in ministry and some truly wonderful friends. I am grateful to them all, but especially to Dr. Leslie and the late Sharon Oliver, and Rev. Jennifer and Mr. Mark Riley for opening their homes to me and providing me with creature comforts whenever I stayed in Wolfville. I also thank my dear friend, Rev. Cheryle Hanna for giving me a place to go to get some work done when I desperately needed it. I am so very thankful to my family. My cousin, Rev. Stanley Hawkins, cared for Cornwallis Street while I took a few weeks to focus on my writing. My mother, Alice Britton, my aunts, Myra Anderson, Alveta Smith, Rev. Delano McIntosh, and Wilma Rogers, and my cousin, Shana Faison have laughed, cried, and prayed with me as I navigated life while engaged in this work. My son, Joseph, inspires me to never give up on saving our young men from the streets. He also gives great hugs. Family, I love you so very much. Lastly, I thank Dr. Andrew McRae, who never gave up insisting I undertake this degree at Acadia, his wife, Jean, who makes the most fantastic cookies, my colleagues in the African United Baptist Association and its Licensing Committee, for encouragement and financial support, and my Cornwallis Street Baptist Church family, who have prayed for and with me through this project. Thank you, all, and may God richly bless you. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION About The Researcher Leah Fitchue, President of Payne Theological Seminary (Wilberforce, OH) believes that the DNA of the Black church is protest. “If you are not involved in protest, you have missed your calling.”1 Shaped by a grandmother who lived through the Great Depression and a mother who raised me through the Civil Rights Era, I am a native of Florida and a daughter of the South’s protest-ant church—the church that railed against injustice and fought for the rights of people. My pastors and the pastors I knew in community marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. Our church members traveled to be a part of the historic 1963 March on Washington. Those were my beginnings. When I answered the call to ministry after a successful corporate career, it was no surprise that my ministry focus would be the empowerment of people by the aid of Holy Spirit. The call to ministry was undeniable, coming a second time after the first call in my teen years. I resigned from the corporate world and entered seminary for training, all the while being active in the church I then considered “home”. The neighborhood where that “home” church is located (Port Richmond, Staten Island, NY) was once a thriving area of retail shops and small businesses. During the 60s and 70s it was alive with commerce. By the time I arrived there in 1 Keynote address at the August 2012 reunion of the Association of Black Seminarians of Princeton Theological Seminary on its campus in Princeton, NJ. 1 1983 it had changed to empty storefronts and dilapidated buildings. Many of the long-time residents were still there, but the businesses and services to support them had moved out. In the late 1990’s the area became the destination for an influx of Mexican immigrants who began to settle there. These recent arrivals have opened some small businesses on Port Richmond Avenue, the main commercial street that runs the length of the area, but the area still has the feeling of blight and neglect. The church that was once a neighborhood church has since become a “commuter” church. It has made little attempt to minister effectively to the mainly Spanish-speaking population that now surrounds it. Instead it continues to draw its attendance from membership that has scattered to different parts of the Island and New Jersey. In that sense, it is no longer a community church. It is precisely that challenge of trying to discern how community churches and their ministries can be relevant to changing demographics that has motivated me since I accepted my call into ministry in 1997. My first solo charge was a small town church in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. I served there from 2002 - 2007. I came to my present pastorate at Cornwallis Street Baptist Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2007. It is an urban setting with far different challenges. City ministry and rural or town ministry are vastly different. The tasks appointed to each are similar in nature—the basic tasks of preaching and teaching, visitation and congregational care, community building and involvement. It is the content, degree and / or shape of the tasks that varies. This is simply because what is important to town folks is not important to city dwellers and vice-versa. 2 What is necessary for a vibrant church in town and a thriving church in the city is different—significantly so. Why This Work? The majority of Cornwallis Street Baptist Church members seek to be engaged in meaningful work and witness to the community.