PERANAN KELOMPOK SEL TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN GEREJA HOME COMMUNITY CHURCH (HCC) DI JEMAAT PALU

Gereja menginginkan kerohanian jemaat mengalami pertumbuhan namun kenyataanya jumlah keanggotaan semakin berkurang. Di Home Community Church (HCC) Palu, kelompok kecil melakukan proses pemuridan dengan menuntun pada keserupaan akan Kristus dan melatih orang untuk menjadi penjala manusia. Melalui kelompok sel (Komsel) diharapkan pertumbuhan jemaat semakin berdampak positif terhadap persekutuan dan pertumbuhan gereja. Subyek yang diteliti berjumlah 144 anggota Komsel dari jumlah populasi 212 anggota. Metode yang di gunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kuantitatif dengan kuesioner berskala likert sebagai instrument penelitian. Dalam penelitian ini peranan Kelompok Sel sangatlah berpengaruh pada jumlah jemaat HCC Palu dan memberikan manfaat dalam program pelayanan gereja baik itu dalam pelayanan, penginjilan, pengajaran maupun persekutuan.

Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption among New Zealand children aged 8-12 years: a cross sectional study of sources and associates/correlates of consumption

Background The benefit of reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is widely accepted, but updated and in-depth data on New Zealand (NZ) children’s SSB consumption is lacking. The aims of this study were to describe beverage consumption, focusing on SSBs in primary school age children living in Auckland; to examine the association of selected socio-demographic, home, community and school factors and children’s beverage knowledge/attitudes with regards to beverage consumption; to explore the relationship between SSBs consumption and adiposity in children. Methods A cross-sectional, Auckland-wide survey of 578 school age children (8-12 years) was conducted using questionnaires to collect data on beverage consumption, beverage knowledge/attitudes, and selected socio-demographic and home, community, school factors. Body fat percentage (BF%) was assessed using bioelectrical impedance (BIA). Results Ninety-six percent of children consumed ≥1 serving of SSBs a week; with ≥5 servings reported by 62% of children. Of all SSBs assessed, consumption of ≥1 serving of sugar sweetened milk-based beverages (85%, mainly milk drinks made from powder) was most prevalent, followed by fruit juice (46%) and sugar-containing carbonated drinks (39%, mainly soft/fizzy drinks). Among unsweetened beverages, plain water was reported to be consumed < 2 times a day by 22% of children, and plain milk < 1 serving a day by 53%. Higher consumption of SSBs was associated with socio-economic disadvantage, non-NZ European ethnicities (Māori, Pacific, Asian, others), availability of SSBs in the home, frequent takeaway/convenience shop visits, children’s incorrect perception of adequate SSBs consumption frequency, and higher BF% (females only). School health policy and encouragement of children to consume un-sweetened beverages was not associated with SSBs consumption. Conclusions The consumption of SSBs is prevalent in NZ school age children, with higher consumption rates observed among those from socially disadvantaged areas. This high consumption is associated with higher BF% in females. Multi-contextual interventions to decrease SSBs should target children, and their families/environment, particularly those from socially disadvantaged areas.

Reconstructing unseen transmission events to infer dengue dynamics from viral sequences

For most pathogens, transmission is driven by interactions between the behaviours of infectious individuals, the behaviours of the wider population, the local environment, and immunity. Phylogeographic approaches are currently unable to disentangle the relative effects of these competing factors. We develop a spatiotemporally structured phylogenetic framework that addresses these limitations by considering individual transmission events, reconstructed across spatial scales. We apply it to geocoded dengue virus sequences from Thailand (N = 726 over 18 years). We find infected individuals spend 96% of their time in their home community compared to 76% for the susceptible population (mainly children) and 42% for adults. Dynamic pockets of local immunity make transmission more likely in places with high heterotypic immunity and less likely where high homotypic immunity exists. Age-dependent mixing of individuals and vector distributions are not important in determining spread. This approach provides previously unknown insights into one of the most complex disease systems known and will be applicable to other pathogens.

The socioeconomic concentration of intensive production interest: Lessons from the tiny home community

Since the middle of the 1970s, the cost of higher education, childcare, healthcare, and housing have all risen relative to median earnings, threatening the balance sheets of many middle-income households. A large number of these households have maintained their lifestyles and aspirations by taking on debt, leaving them highly leveraged and living paycheck to paycheck. Whether voluntarily or forced, many have responded to these economic pressures by reducing spending where they can, in ways large and small. Seeking “financial freedom,” one “large” response has been attempts to reduce the costs of housing, typically the largest regular expense that households face. People have done this in a variety of ways, including moving into tiny homes, the focus of this paper. Due to the association between homeownership and middle-class achievement norms, a move into an unconventional tiny home on wheels requires use of an alternative cultural vocabulary to support positive identity construction, meaning-making, and sociability, as well as claims for class status and distinction. In this paper, I draw on an original study of the tiny home community to exhibit and analyze that symbolic vocabulary. I find that an emphasis on the biography of production is at the center of a coherent system of meaning that helps tiny home enthusiasts negotiate their middling position in rental and housing markets, as well as in the larger stratification system. I close by discussing the implications of these findings for scholarly understanding of “alternative” consumption behaviors, including so-called “ethical” or “conscientious” consumption, and preferences for craft, artisanal, and local production. To foreshadow my central argument, I believe that “simple affluence” arguments are incomplete, and that these behaviors are instead concentrated among those with high levels of education but low or modest earnings.