GUIDELINES FOR GLAMA RESOURCE CENTER COORDINATORS

Prepared by Clifton L. Holland, President of IDEA Ministries

GENERAL INFORMATION

The GLAMA Research and Information Network, coordinated by Phil Elkins of Paraclete Mission Group in Altadena with technical assistance from Cliff Holland and Alan Young of IDEA Ministries, is a cooperative venture with a variety of Christian service agencies and educational institutions in Southern California.

Our purpose is to provide reliable and up-to-date information about the "harvest force" (defined as the Protestant Movement for our purposes) and the "harvest field" (defined as population segments that need to be evangelized and discipled for the Kingdom of God) in faithfulness to the Great Commission. Our current database on ethnic and religious diversity in the Greater Los Angeles Metro Area (GLAMA) needs to be updated continuously, especially the information on "unreached people groups" or those groups that are under-evangelized due to their resistance to the Gospel.

There are other groups that require special attention by missiologists and service providers: these are marginalized segments of society--the poor, the orphan, the widow, the prisoner, the foreigner/stranger in our midst, etc.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF RESOURCE CENTER COORDINATORS:

1. Learn how to use the IDEA CHURCH DIRECTORY SOFTWARE (ICDS) for maintaining the GLAMA database of religious groups and for producing reports using the Clarion Report Writer Utility.

2. Learn how to use the ATLAS GIS software and the various databases for creating and displaying maps on GLAMA in general and for each region, ethnic and religious group.

3. Develop a basic proficiency in the use of the ICDS and AtlasGIS programs in order to mentor others in their use.

4. Correct, update and maintain the database of information on your denominational, region or ethnic group.

5. Work with other resource center coordinators/researchers in a united effort to interview unclassified religious groups in GLAMA and to help classify them using Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions (5th edition, 1996) and other research tools.

6. Develop a basic proficiency in the use of e-mail and Internet services in order to share information with others or get new information of interest to you and your clients.

Revised 12/30/96