Assessment of the involvement of local churches in sustainable community development : Tembisa community

The study applied qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and literature study, using Richard Osmer's four tasks of theoretical interpretation. The study confirmed that local churches' involvement in sustainable community development is critical and beneficial in bringing the desired transformation within local communities. However, the study's findings revealed that local churches' contribution to sustainable community development is limited. Collected data were analysed thematically. The themes that emerged from the data resulted in crafting a pragmatic strategy that churches can consider for utilisation to enhance their involvement in sustainable community development. Informed by suggestions from field data, which were subjected to theoretical interpretation using academic concepts, this pragmatic strategy is an open-ended guideline that local churches could use to set the vision, mission and objectives of local churches' involvement in sustainable community development. It further guides the principles, institutional arrangements, and systems required for local churches to operate in a manner that effectively and efficiently impacts sustainable development within local communities. Ultimately, this study interprets the empirical evidence and simultaneously determines biblical community development models.