A Blue Print: Planning
For Church Growth

Prepared by Alan L. Joplin







CONTENTS


Conceptual Outlook

To Get To The Future You-Need To Know Where You Are Now

Transforming The Local Church

Twenty Questions For Transformation/Revitalization
Twenty Questions For Transformation/Reframing
Twenty Questions For Transformation/Restructuring
Twenty Questions For Transformation/Renewal

Programming Concept

Interactive Communities of MinistryA Vision for Transforming Communities
Introduction

Interactive Communities of Ministry Scriptural Foundations 

A Combination of Community Formation and Congregation Assessment

Description of " Interactive Community of Ministry"

What do " Interactive Communities of Ministry" provide that is not currently provided?

Mapping Into The Future Know The Present/Church And Environment
Envision The Future

To Begin Again - Leading A Church Through Change

Conceptual Outlook<


Get to the future you need to know where you are now!

A church seeking to fulfill its vision for ministry needs to have an honest and realistic assessment of its situation. It may use some of the same methods for ministry as another church, but how that ministry unfolds and when to begin new ministries will vary because each is beginning at its own unique place.

Sometimes people do not see the need to move toward a new future because they do not see anything wrong with the current situation. Statistics are good, money is coming in, why is there any reason to change.

Other times people do not have a realistic assessment of what there situation is really like. Like the person who doesn't exercise or eat right, as long a they feel good they will not do anything to change their lifestyle, until they have a heart attack or some other serious health problem.

People make up churches, so churches often do not see themselves for what they really are-dying, over weight or malnourished dinosaurs. They may see the need to make some chances - i.e new members or cutting back on some committees, but unless there is a recognition that the environment about them is changing and seek to change the way they do ministry they are going to die.

Ways to get a picture of your church.

• Do some basic demographic studies of your congregation. Age profiles, worship attendance over the past ten years. Compare your church's average age with that of the community you serve. Compare the percentage of your church in each generation with those in your community. Are you older or younger than your community.
  
  
• Have your leadership read. Help your leadership see that the environment is changing and new situation call for new strategies. Bill Easum' Dancing with Dinosaurs. Loren Meads "The Once and Future Church". People need to understand the reason for change or be given some information to help they see that if they do not change they will die. Even with information some people will not change.
  
  
• Seek to have God help you and your leaders to see yourself as you really are.
  
  
• Meet with a small group of members seeking to be intentional about understanding what your church is like and what it could be if it fulfilled God's vision for it. Study the book of Acts; compare the church in Acts with your church.

How does your church measure up?

You can not reach your vision if you do not fully understand your current situation. Knowing where you are beginning can avoid some detours and dead ends along the way. Doing an honest evaluation of the church- a health check- can avoid the impending disease, disaster, or death down the road.

Transforming the Local Church

Transformation of a local church requires a holistic process; planning, visioning, and restructuring and this may not be enough. Too often a church writes a mission statement and continues in the same direction; or a church reorganizes and yet the way it does ministry remains the same. As the local expression of the body of Christ, the local church's system must be transformed; the environment surrounding the church is a part of that system and must be engaged as well. The mind, body (internal and external), spirit, and surrounding environment are interdependent and needed to be treated as a whole.

Francis Goullart and James Kelly in their book "Transforming the Organization" maintain that an organization is like a living organism and must be treated holistically. The mind, body, and spirit of the organization are interdependent and all the parts need to be a part of the transformation process. They suggest four interdependent parts of the transformation process: Reframing, Restructuring, Revitalization, and Renewal.

The body needs to have a new orientation or mind reframing; it must be able to envision the future to which God is calling. The internal structure needs to reflect the values and vision. New life, comes to the body as it engages its environment in mission. Their study, sharing, and mutual ministry must renew the individuals within the body and the corporate body.


TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION/REVITALIZATION

• How well do we know our community/mission field?


• What are the pressing needs in our area?


• When have we talked to people in the community? Leaders?


• Have we done a demographic study?


• What are the changes happening in our community?


• Why do we want new members? For meeting the budget; committees; survival? Are we seeking to bring the gospel to bear upon their needs?


• Are we mostly concerned with maintenance or mission?


• Are the new ministries for others or us?


• Are we spending more time on others than ourselves?


• Are we expecting people to come to us?


• Are our new ministries based on our strengths?


• Do we listen to new members?


• Do we listen?


• Do we know our mission field? Boundaries, limitations.


• Do we know whom we want and can reach?


• Do we have a passion for reaching out? For sharing Jesus Christ?


• How well do we communicate within and without the church?


• What is our church known for on the community grapevine?


• Are we communicating to control and coordinate or to share the needed information?


• Do we have computers in the office? Are we on line?

Transformation can begin within any part, but is interdependent and simultaneous with the other three but at varying speeds. A new vision can begin the transformation, but a renewed individual or group can initiate the process as well. A restructured system must reflect and support the vision. A sustained vision will take time. A new ministry may be up and running in a few months.


Reframing: Romans 12 speaks of the individual Christian being transformed by the renewing of her/his mind. Paradigm is a well-worn word today. But it speaks an important truth. How we view the world, the church, and what we envision will affect how we do ministry and determine the results we get.   Fertile soil is needed before a vision can grow. An initial task in reframing is creating an environment for transformation.  Pastors can work with key church leaders who are open or able to be open to change.  Spend time in study and prayer; give them books to read; discuss the implications for your church with them.


TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION/REFRAMING

1. Am I in ministry out of a sense of call or for a profession?


2. Am I clear about my own vision?


3. Where is our church on the organizational cycle?What is the culture of the church; traditions; the unwritten rules


4. Am I teaching and preaching about Gods calling for this church?


5. Am I restless? Is there a vision burning within me?


6. What am I willing to risk; lose?


7. Who are the leaders who could capture the vision? Is there one, two? Have I identified them? Talk with them. Invited them to join me in study, prayer?


8. What am I reading? What do I need to learn?


9. What retooling do I need?


10. Am I an equipper for ministry?


11. Do I share the vision at least once a week? Do you have as passion to see it fulfilled?


12. Are success stories becoming the legends of our church?


13. Am I or is our church willing to bring a consultant in?


14. What are we studying? Is it about mission and ministry for the future?


15. Do you have a vision statement; mission statement; values?


16. Are they just statements or the driving force of your church? Is there ownership of the vision? Do people know it?


17. Do you have a steering or vision team?


18. What barriers need to be broken down?


19. What must we do today to cause the future to be what God wants it to be?


20. What is or are the leverage point(s)?
21.     Are you committed to the long haul?
Preach and Teach about the changing culture and the need for the church to be equipped for ministry in the 21st Century. Take groups of people to workshops, which deal with transformation. Have several members visit churches, which are on the cutting edge of ministry. Develop a relationship with a growing church; see if they are willing to develop a mentor relationship.
Vision is essential for the effective church in the 21st Century. Each local church needs to be clear about what kind of church God is calling them to become. A vision is a clear mental image of a preferred future which comes from an understanding of the church, the community, and discerning where God is leading. Vision gives direction and purposes to church; it provides the focus and energy for ministry.
A compelling vision will…Energize passion for ministry…Move us out of safety to risk adventure …Unite the hearts of people and pull us toward ministry that transforms our communities
God never gave a vision to a committee, but a vision that remains with one person is only a lingering idea. A vision must be developed and shared. If it begins with the pastor, she/he must find ways to share and articulate that vision. It may begin by working with some key leaders and then forming a vision team to develop the details of the vision. While not everyone will own the vision, the people of the church need to be involved in the process.
A vision without a plan is only a dream, but a plan without vision is drudgery. All goals and plans need to flow from the vision. A church needs to discern the strategic areas to address in order to fulfill its vision.  An important part of reframing is to begin telling the success stories - big or little. Let them become the legends' of the transformation process.
Restructuring: A vision, which is not supported by internal and external support, is like a person without a skeleton or muscle. A church may have a vision for developing lay ministry and then have such a bureaucracy that new ministries are 'old' before they can ever begin.
Restructuring how ministry and mission occur relates to reframing.  There is a need for a new understanding of the role of the pastor and laity. Pastors need to become equippers and mid- wives. The role of the pastor is to equip the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4). Laity need to be in ministry and not simply on committees. The operational organization needs to reflect the values and the vision of the church.

TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION/RESTRUCTURING

1. What are our rules and regulations? Written; unwritten.


2. Does our church act its size?  Are we a medium or large church with a small church syndrome?


3. What are the barriers or boundaries for our church?


4. Who gives permission for ministry to have?


5. Who or what are the blocks to ministry happening?


6. What are our Sacred Cows?


7. Are we organized for decision-making or disciple making? Are we committed or committed?


8. What is expected of laity?  What is expected of the pastor?


9. Is `every member a minister' a slogan or a driving value or vision?


10. When was the last time the organizational structure strategically changed?


11. Is our structure mainly reflective of our vision or our denominational affiliation or polity?


12. Do we use a nominating process or spiritual gift discovery?


13. Do we ask people to serve on committees or invite and equip them to use their gifts?


14. Is our leadership style and organization right for our church size?


15. Do our facilities support our vision?Are our facilities and the environment consistent with our values?Where is the 80% factor at work?


16. Do we have enough land?


17. Do we have the necessary staff to support the vision?Are we paying staff to do ministry or equip for ministry?


18. What are we doing to teach biblical stewardship?


19. Do we have a spiritual gift discovery and equipping process?


20. Your budget reflects and supports the vision and core ministries?Who controls the budget process?

An organizational structure needs to support this kind of ministry and the vision of the church. Reorganizing for downsizing is not the answer. It needs to be permission giving allowing those in ministry to make the decisions. Those decisions need to be accountable to the vision of the church. Management needs to be minimized and mission maximized.


Facilities need to support the ministry and vision of the church. A church, which seeks to be inclusive and has a building that is not handicap accessible, is not faithful to its vision. A cold, dark, traditional, sanctuary can affect a goal for worship to be contemporary and experiential. Overlooking the 80% rule can limit growth.


The stewardship of resources under girds or undermines the vision.  Members need to discover their spiritual gifts and be free to use them.  Many churches struggle with meeting financial needs. A church needs to not only teach the giving of financial resources, but also understand why and how people give. How budgets are developed and who makes the decisions can affect the way ministry does or does not happen.


Revitalization is achieved through the creation of new ministries, which impact the needs of others. There is a South African word  'Ubuntu' which means "I can see myself only through your eyes." We can only see ourselves as the church when we see through the eyes of the people in our mission area. How well do you know the people? What are their needs, hopes, desires, and life concerns? We need to reach out not so we can add new members, but to offer them something of value for their lives.


Each local church needs to know its mission area and target whom they can best reach and minister.   New ministries are best based on the strengths of a local church. What are the core ministries you have to offer? If a core ministry is with children, begin there. Adding one exciting ministry of outreach can be the spark of revitalization.


Communication is also key to sharing the good news of revitalization.  How well does your church communicate within and outside the church? What are the formal and informal means of communication? Is it quantity or quality? The church of the 21st Century will also have to be high tech. how are computers, web sites, E-mail, and other means of communication being used?


Ultimately a local church is about the renewal of persons.  Transformation can begin when a person is renewed by some spiritual experience. I know one pastor who was renewed when he went on a trip to Africa. It changed his life and has since changed his church.  


Renewal means personal growth. Persons discover their spiritual gifts and use those gifts in ministry. One church asks its members "What is the burning bushing your life? What is God calling you to do?"


TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATION/RENEWAL

• Are we encouraging persons on their spiritual journey?


• Are we seeking faithful members or disciples?


• Do our leaders have a sense of calling?


• Do our members make connection with the church's vision?Is the vision helping them in their walk with Christ?


• Are members experiencing spiritual renewal and transformation?


• Are people in our church desirous of learning?


• Are people using their spiritual gifts?


• Are persons carrying their ministry into the world?


• Are leaders acting as midwives?


• Do we have spiritual redwoods?


• Do we need to retool our leadership?


• Is there a sense that the Spirit is alive and well in our church?


• Are we seeking to keep the doors open or to be in mission?


• Are we willing to lose our life; to give ourselves away?


• Are we seeking to preserve or to risk?


• 
  
  Do people feel free to do ministry any time and any place?


• Hat alliances do we have?

20.     

Are we as a church open to learning? Are we a learning organism?
Has transformation affected the way people work together? Is it encouraging a team concept? Are there alliances between groups that have a common concern and passion? Transformation may begin with one area of a church life. But it ultimately needs to impact the church's vision, use of resources, organization, facilities, mission, and the renewal of its people for it to last.




Programming Concepts

Interactive Community of MinistryA Vision for Transforming Communities
Introduction
Simply redefining programs will not by itself address the important issues of growth and development.  When you reflected on new questions, a new way to conceptualize Church can begen to emerge.
Vision
Interactive Community of Ministry provides a new way of being in community with one another out of which new ministries to communities can be created. 
Mission
Interactive Community of Ministry will encourage the development of clergy and lay community, which focuses its strengths, gifts, and passions to a geographic community of their choice. This model affirms that when people are personally transformed through the development of their own faith, while being in community, they can produce ministry aimed at transforming people, businesses, school systems and other organizations in their neighborhoods.
Interactive Community of Ministry: Scriptural Foundations 
The New Testament church emphasized giftedness, spirit power, and a focus on gathering together as one body. Ultimately, the gathered body gave witness to the spirit's presence by being engaged missionally with other people.

• “In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."  Luke 3:11 


• “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.”  I Corinthians 12: 12 


• “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.”  Philippians 2:14,15 


• “On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  Rev 22:2

The values that support the process are:

1.  God gifts all people for ministry.


2.  All people have capacity to organize themselves into Christian community.


3. God’s spirit empowers all people, made alive in community, to produce ministry.

 A Combination of Community Formation and Congregation Assessment
 A critical component of community formation and transformation is an awareness of God’s grace through individual gifts for ministry.  As the ministry plan for each Interactive Community of Ministry takes shape, each congregation will have the opportunity to participate in an assessment process.
Description of "Interactive Communities of Ministry (ICM)"
A      Interactive Communities of Ministry (ICM) is a team-building effort that focuses on:

• The development of faith community by congregations who choose to be in relationship with one another.


• The emergent plan for ministry aimed at targeted groups represented by the congregations who choose to be in relationship with one another. The ministry aimed at a targeted community flows out of, and is created by clergy and lay people who are united and connected together around a common vision for their community. 

What do " Interactive Communities of Ministry " provide that is not currently provided?
Shared compassion: ICM is built on relationships. As relationships develop into an experience of community, ministry can then emerge. Compassion for ministry is the by-product of the relationships.Shared relationships: ICM is relationship-focused. It provides a context for people to form their own community, which then serves as a platform to launch ministry to the surrounding geographical community.Shared parish passion: ICM encourages regional-based ministry and asks us to lay aside our competitive desires for kingdom building.Shared oversight for ministry:  Every ICM will have an elder who will be responsible for an assessment of ministry effectiveness of the ICM.Shared concern for congregational effectiveness and community transformation:  We live in an era of doing ministry in anxious times. CTM provides a model for ministry that shares concerns that arise from congregations who are trying hard to respond to these times. Every ICM will have an leader who serves as a "first responder" for those concerns. By doing so, responses to concerns are more direct and pertinent to the situation and the communities impacted by those concerns.Shared resourcing for ministry in mission: Resources will be available to assess congregation strengths, community needs, and a plan for meeting that community needs. Those strengths, which every congregation has, can then be used to provide ministry to a common community. This will also result in the creation of ministry opportunities that allow people to use their gifts. 
To Begin Again - Leading a Church Through Change
 A New Day for the Church and Pastors. "Cease to dwell on days gone by and brood over past history, for I am doing a new thing in your midst; can you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:18.  "We have it in our power to begin the world all over again. A situation similar to the present hath not appeared since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand." Thomas Paine 1175.
Pastoral and Staff Leadership
A.      The Role of Leadership is changing
1.      It is about leadership and not administration. Managers do things right, leaders do the right things.
2.      It is not about power, position, accomplishment, but serving and developing other leaders.
3.      A leader helps people to know the environment and map the journey toward their destination.
"Leadership is about creating a domain in which we continually learn and become more capable of participating in our unfolding future. Leadership is about creating, day by day, a domain in which we and those around us continually deepen our understanding of reality and are able to participate in shaping the future . This is, and then, is the deeper territory of leadership-collectively ‘listening’ to what is to emerge in the world and having the courage to do what is required." Joseph Jaworski in Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership"
4.      Being a prophetic pastor means to help people understand what is happening in our world. Where is God at work? What happens if we fail to respond.
5.      Being a pastor is equipping people for the journey into the Future.
6.      Being a shepherd (king) is leading people toward the vision and calling. It is not about managing the fields.
B.      The Tasks of Leading (Adapted from John Kotter’s "Leading Change")
Making sure there is a solid foundation, you need to have in place the first four of these areas. They will be worked on at different levels at the same time, but ultimately they need to be accomplished in order to move on without a great conflict or problems.
1.      Create an environment of expectation and urgency. "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" "Repent the Kingdom is at hand"  Help people to understand the need for change. Teach, have them read books, visit growing churches.
2.      Develop a team to help carry forth the mission and vision. "And the twelve who Jesus called" Develop a team of people who can help you move toward the future. It needs to be a team effort, do not go it alone.
3.      Develop a Vision and Strategy. "And Jesus was tempted in the wilderness" Take time to develop a clear mission, vision, and values to guide your church.
4.      Communicate the Vision and Mission. "I have come to preach good news to the poor and release to the captives" The role of leadership is to articulate the vision and keep it before the people; if leadership does not do this, no one will. It needs to be done weekly. Spend time listening to people, allow them to refine the vision and develop ownership of it.
5.      Empowering People to Serve. "And he sent out the seventy, two by two" "Greater things you will do" Help people to discover their gifts. train them, equip them.
6.      Creating a Environment to Support and Sustain. "After me shall come the Holy Spirit"  Sometimes structure need to be changed to allow for an environment and system to facilitate ministry.
7.      Establish a New Way of Living Together.  " And they were in one accord"  When you work on the above, new way of living together forms. You make this new way of doing things, the norm. But you are always refining, learning, evaluating.
C.      The "Stuff" which makes for Leaders  (Adapted from "Leading Change" by John Kotter)
1.      A sense of call and mission. Moving ahead despite the limited road map.
2.      A PASSION for the mission.
3.      Openness to God’s leading
4.      Risk Taker
5.      Humble Self Reflection
6.      Solicits Information and Feedback
7.      Careful listening
8.      Openness to new ideas: Willing to learn from others and other disciplines,
9.      Endurance - You are in this for the long run.
D.      "Servant leaders serve the mission and those who are on the mission." Gene Wilkes



 
 

MAPPING INTO THE FUTURE KNOW
THE PRESENT/Church and Environment

A.      In an unstable world of random change, strategic planning is an oxymoron.
1.      By the time a plan is on paper, it is unlikely to be strategic (got any of them lying around gathering dust on a shelf somewhere?).
2.      The most productive periods can occur during those times when there is little or nor plan to follow.
B.      Strategic mappers are like Lewis and Clark or the Star Trek generation, wandering through an unknown wilderness, charting courses where no Protestant has been before.
1.      Contrary to our computer generated maps, their maps are simple and are added to and enhanced by those who come after them.
2.      Strategic Mapping is not . . .Long Range Planning , Forecasting the future; Brainstorming
C.      Strategic mapping is not a linear extrapolation of the past into the future.
1.      Strategic mappers care more about where they are going than where they are have been. Their focus is on the future and how present actions can actually be a partner in making the anticipated future a reality.
2.      The basic question strategic mappers ask is "what must we do today to cause the future to be what God wants it to be?"

1. Strategic Mappers know the lay of the land they are in and want to leave.

ENVISION THE FUTURE
A.      Anticipate the changes which effect the future-In a time of major change strategic mapping rather than strategic planning is the way to the future.
B.      Strategic mapping is learning to anticipate the random, changing needs of the next generation and developing ministries before the need arises.
C.      Strategic mapping is about breaking new ground and learning how to think and act differently
D.      Tools for Understanding the Future.  Reading ….Prayer and Discernment….Learning from those on the cutting edge….Workshops
TRAINING FOR THE FUTURE
Paradigm Pioneers- Joel Barker….Get Outside Your Borders….Break Rules of Past Success….Develop New Reading Habits….Be Ready for Failure….Listen, Listen, Listen
ESSENTIALS FOR TRAVELING INTO THE FUTURE
Strategic mapping is learning to identify the routes to the future and avoiding the detours and side roads that do not position us to be effective in the future. It is the ability to understand the clues to the future and place ourselves at the major intersections of the future instead of being stranded on some dead end trail.
Scripture:       Philippian Church: Vision, Gentiles, Worship, Lay Ministry- Equipping, Small Groups, Diversity, Social Justice, Prayer
Strategic mapping is done by teams of people who know they are lost in the wilderness.
1.      Strategic mappers must be able to suspend their judgement long enough to see the unthinkable.
2.      They must unlearn what has worked well for a long time. To do this, they must be able to separate themselves from what they know has and is working and ask, "what might work?"
3.      Teams work best because they can anticipate more multiple options. Humility, spiritual gifts, naivety, and curiosity are strategic mapping essentials for the members of these teams.
TRAVEL LIGHT
Core Ministries
1.      Core ministries are those essential ministries, like worship, that a church must provide to meet the basic needs of society. Often these ministries can not be started without letting go of some of the ministries from the past.
2.      Improving quality is essential only if the ministry is meeting needs. The same is true for restructuring. If a church is not anticipating future needs, it doesn't matter how much it restructures, it is merely buying time.
"RULES"- META RULES.  Often, strategic mappers find it necessary to break existing rules. When this is the case, it is essential for the team to agree upon the rules for breaking the rules. In The Twenty First Century Organization Beneveniste calls them "meta rules." Sample Meta Rules
1.      It is okay to change, break, or eliminate some rules.
2.      The fewer rules and policies we have the better.
3.      Err on the side of giving permission to innovative ministries.
4.      It is better to innovate, make mistakes, and ask for forgiveness than it is to safe-guard the status quo.
DETAILS-Don’t Get Bogged Down.  Strategic mapping avoids detailing the "how" of strategic planning.
1 .     The details about how to get to the future are best left as broad and as flexible as possible to allow for the various gifts among the congregation as well as the shifts that are occurring along the crack in history.
2.      Strategic mapping is more unstructured thought than carefully laid out plans. It is not a science. It is done as one travels. As Hamel and Prahalad said in Competing for the Future: "Getting to the future is a process of successive approximations."
TRAITS FOR THE JOURNEY
Intuition….Willingness to Risk…. Endurance
AIDS FOR THE JOURNEY
Strategic mappers ask the following questions.
A.      Is most of our time spent on the needs of the community instead of the needs of the congregation?
B.      Of the time we spend thinking about the needs of the community, how much of it is spent considering how ministry will be different ten years from now versus how to improve our present ministries?
C.      Of the time we spend thinking about the needs of the community, how much of it is spent in establishing alliances and networks that will help us be ready for future needs?
D.      Does our church do most ministries differently than most other churches in our denomination?
E.      What is impossible today that if it were possible would change the way we minister to people?
Seven mapping steps that can lead to the intersections of the future.
A.      Let go of the past and the present and suspend all judgement.
B.      Find a group of people like yourself who will admit that very little works like it used to.
C.      Establish the meta rules.
D.      Develop a set of clues to the future.
E.      Ask the right questions.
F.      Begin mapping your way to the future.
G.      Avoid allowing the process to become too detailed and drawn out.
Based on these seven steps, mapping shows that people are at the intersections to the future while they are learning how to...
A.      Reach people who have never been to church;
B.      Develop tithers out of people born after 1946;
C.      Develop small, relational groups that help people grow spiritually; develop worship in which the music celebrates the Gospel as much as the sermon;
D.      Stop trying to prop-up ministries that no longer meet the needs of people;
E.      Reach people of all ethnic backgrounds;
F.      Develop Lay Pastors;
G.      Form alliances
H.      Prepare to minister in a hostile world and develop new ways to plant churches;
I.      Understand and use electronic media, computers, etc
J.      Develop Spiritual Gifts
K.      Not see gender when we see a person.











































Incident Analysis Steps Worksheet



Step I:     Clearly and completely identify the current issues, problems, or questions.

Step II:      List all the facts/information pertinent to each of the above.

Step III:     List the critical problem, issue, or question demanding immediate attention.

Step IV:     List the alternative courses of action and the advantages and disadvantages of each.


Alternative A:

Alternative B:

Alternative C:

Step V:     Draw conclusions, make recommendations/decisions (justify your position).

Step VI:     What is the fundamental management problem, issue, or question underlying the current problem?

Scripture shows us that Jesus aligned with the least, the last. He held the privileged to account for how they treated the poor. James reflected this Jesus ethic when he warned profiteers how God hears how they do harm. “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”(James 5:4). "From Jeremiah's 'Woe to him... who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages,' to Timothy's admonition that the rich 'are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous,' to the Prophet Muhammad's 'When you hire, compensate the workers and treat them fairly,' our holy writings are rich in guidance for behavior toward workers."

As he entered public life, Jesus chose in his debut message to recall the Torah’s jubilee ethic of fair distribution of wealth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”(Luke 4:18-19) Who are the oppressed in today’s workplace? Who are the working poor who deserve good news? Who are the ones enriched by the work of others, the blind ones who need recovery of sight to see the damage done by allegiance to greed over dignity for the working man? Standing on scripture, Christian denominations as a whole have joined with the call of unionists for justice.

Policy statements on organized labor provides excerpts from several Christian denominations’ proclamations in support of workers’ rights to form labor unions and bargain collectively with management. These positions remain constant. A flyer called “What Faith Groups Say About the Right to Organize” gives current labor statements from a range of religious faiths and denominations.

Excerpts below exemplify the position of many church bodies.

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME) "Free collective bargaining has proved its values in our free society whenever the parties engaged in collective bargaining have acted in good faith to reach equitable and moral solutions of problems dealing with wages and working conditions. We do not support the opinion voiced in some quarrels that strikes should be made illegal. To declare strikes illegal would be to deprive workers of their right to collective action and, even more seriously, would place in the hands of government the power to force workers to remain on the job." (Discipline of the CME Church, 1982)

Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) "[The ELCA] commits itself to advocacy with corporations, businesses, congregations, and church-related institutions to protect the rights of workers, support the collective bargaining process, and protect the right to strike." (Resolution of the ELCA Church-wide Assembly, 1991)

National Council of Churches (Representing 33 million Protestants) Whereas, the churches, in the statement of 'The Social Ideals' have stood for 'The right of employees and employers alike to organize for collective bargaining'. Resolved: that the National Council record its conviction that not only has labor a right to organize, but also that it is socially desirable that is do so because of the need for collective action in the maintenance of standards of living.

Baptist Churches We recognize the right of labor to organize and to engage in collective bargaining to the end that labor may have a fair and living wage, such as will provide and culture.@ (SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.)We reaffirm the right of labor to organize into unions or to affiliate with national labor bodies. @ (NORTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.)

Catholic Church In the first place, employers and workmen may themselves effect much in the matter which we treat-(saving the workers from being ground down with excessive labor). The most important of all are workmen's associations...but it is greatly desired that they should multiply and become more effective. (LEO XIII).What is to be thought of the action of those Catholic industrialists who even to this day have shown themselves hostile to a labor movement that we ourselves recommended. @ (PIUS XI.) Labor can have no effective voice as long as it is unorganized. To protect its rights it must be free to bargain collectively through its own chosen representatives.

Church of the Brethren Laborers are always to be regarded as persons and never as a commodity. Industry was made for man, and not man for industry. Employees as well as employers have the right to organize themselves into a union for wage negotiations and collective bargaining @ (BRETHREN SERVICE COMMISSION, CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN.)

Congregational Christian Churches We stand for the replacement of the autocratic organization of industry by one of collective effort of organized workers and organized employers.

The Disciples of Christ Resolved by the International Convention of the Disciples of Christ: That It is our conviction that workers should have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist in forming labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and to engage in such activities as are within the limits of Constitutional rights for the purpose of bargaining with employers and other mutual aid protection.

Evangelical and Reformed Church In order that the Christian principles of respect for personality, establishment of brotherhood, and obedience in the revealed will of God may find more adequate expression in the economic order, we commit our selves to work for the recognition of the right of employers and workers to organize for collective bargaining, as a step toward the democratic control of industry for the good of society.

Jewish Synagogue The same rights of organization which rest with employers rest also with those whom they employ. Modern life has permitted wealth to consolidate itself through organization into corporations. Workers have the same inalienable right to organize according to their own plan for their common good and to bargain collectively with their employers through such honorable manes as they may choose @ (CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS.)We believe that the denial of the right of workers to organize and to form group associations so that they may treat as economic equals with their employers is tantamount to a curtailment of human freedom. For that reason, we favor the unionization of all who labor.

Methodist Church We stand for the right of employees and employers alike to organize for collective bargaining and social action; protection of both in the exercise of their right; the obligation of both to work for the public good.@ (THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST CHURCH.) Collective bargaining, in its mature phase, is democracy applied to industrial relations. It is representative government and reasoned compromise taking the place of authoritarian rule by force in the economic sphere. In its highest form it is the Christian ideal of brotherhood translated into the machinery of daily life @ (GENERAL BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF THE METHODIST CHURCH.)

Presbyterian Church Labor unions Have been instrumental in achieving a higher standard of living and in improving working conditions. They have helped to obtain safety and health measures against occupational risk; to achieve a larger degree of protection against child labor; to relieve the disabled, the sick, the unemployed; and to gain a more equitable share in the value of what they produce @ (BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U.S.A.)The right of labor to organize and to bargain collectively with employers is clearly an inalienable right in a democracy, and has so been recognized by our government @ (SYNOD OF TENNESSEE, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF U.S.)

ROMAN CATHOLIC Among the basic rights of the human person must be counted the right of freely founding labor unions. These unions should be truly able to represent the workers and to contribute to the proper arrangement of economic life. Another such right is that of taking part freely in the activity of these unions without fear of reprisal." — Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Second Vatican Council, 1965

The Protestant Episcopal Church We recognize the right of labor to organize and to engage in collective bargaining to the end that labor may have a fair and living wage, such as will provide not only for the necessities of life, but for recreation, pleasure, and culture.

Lutheran Church We are convinced that the organization of labor is essential to the well being of the working people. It is based upon a sense of the inestimable value of the individual man @ Lutheran Church In America. It is the right of every man to organize with his fellow workers for collective bargaining through representatives of his own free choice. It is the duty of both management and labor to accept and support conciliations and arbitration in industrial disputes.

American Baptist "We reaffirm our position that workers have the right to organize by a free and democratic vote of the workers involved. This right of organization carries the responsibility of union leadership to protect the rights of workers, to guarantee each member an equal voice in the operation of its organization, and to produce just output labors for income received." — American Baptist Churches Resolution, 1981

Christian Reform Church of American "Church membership and membership in a labor union are compatible as long as the union does not warrant or champion sin in its regular activities. Church members should discontinue membership in any unions whose common practices are clearly in conflict with the principles of the Word of God. Christian conscience cannot condone membership in a union if it continues in sinful practices in spite of protests against them."

Episcopal Church "We reaffirm the right and desirability of workers in the United States to organize and form unions. ...We decry the growing wage of anti-unionism mounting in the nation today which asks people to forget the struggles that led to this form of negotiation as a just way to settle differences." — Urban Bishops Coalition of the Episcopal Church, 1982

ISLAM "When you hire, compensate the workers and treat them fairly." — Prophet Mohammed. The Holy Qur'an

JUDAISM "Jewish leaders, along with our Catholic and Protestant counterparts, have always supported the labor movement and the rights of employees to form unions for the purpose of engaging in collective bargaining and attaining fairness in the workplace." — Preamble to Workplace Fairness Resolution, Annual Convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1993

Seventh-Day Adventist A Seventh-Day Adventist cannot either join or support a labor union because: 1) His allegiance to Christ forbids it. 2) The Scriptures do not permit it. 3) The Law of God rejects it. 4) The Spirit of Prophecy counsels against it. 5) The law of service does not harmonize with it. 6) It is contrary to baptismal vows. 7) The Seventh- Day Adventist Church clearly exhorts otherwise." — Seventh-Day Adventists and Labor Unions by W. Melvin Adams

Similar statements that urge members to learn more about labor unions and support workers’ rights to organize and bargain with management. Most of these denominations have educational materials to help members of congregations understand how scripture calls us to support dignity for all working people. The National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice serves as a clearinghouse for information, resources, and liturgical materials that help religious communities become more knowledgeable about worker concerns and to engage in pro-labor action.

The Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions. This is a specific application of the more general right to associate. . . No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. The Church firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing.

Modern unions grew up from the struggle of the workers - workers in general but especially the industrial workers - to protect their just rights vis-a-vis the entrepreneurs and the owners of the means of production. The experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies.

In order to achieve social justice there is a need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers. This solidarity must be present whenever it is called for by the social degrading of the subject of work, by exploitation of the workers, and by the growing areas of poverty. The church is firmly committed to this cause for she considers it her mission, her service, a proof of her fidelity to Christ, so that she can truly be the "church of the poor." And the poor appear under various forms as a result of the violation of the dignity of human work: either because the opportunities for human work are limited, or because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and her or her family.

Migrant agricultural workers today are particularly in need of the protection, including the right to organize and bargain collectively. U.S. labor law reform is needed to meet these problems as well as to provide more timely and effective remedies for unfair labor practices. For much of America's history, labor unions have enjoyed support from religious leaders and their followers. But those ties are showing signs of unraveling, as unions embrace the radical Left and oppose the priorities of church leaders. Every major faith tradition embraced by working families includes in its teachings the call for fair treatment of working people.

This Presentation examines the past, present, and future role of the Black Church as participant and catalyst for human development, economic empowerment and community revitalization in African American communities. The presentation will 1) explore the historical foundation of the Church's economic development mission; 2) examine current economic and social conditions that motivate the Church's involvement in local economic development; 3) describe a conceptual framework
within which to categorize and develop faith-based economic development endeavors; 4) investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Church involvement in community development; 5) highlight successful models of Church-initiated development.
"Economic cooperation among Negroes must begin with the Church group." W. E. B. Du Bois 1907 The black church is the single most important institution in the black community. Beginning in the late eighteenth century and continuing to the present, it has been the oldest and most independent African American organization. Its importance is so great that some scholars say that the black church is the black community, with each having no identity apart from the other. Even if some would deny this claim, no informed person can deny the centrality of the black church in the black community. Therefore black liberation is, at least in part, dependent upon the attitude and role that the church assumes in relation to it. James Cone “For My People” "The impact of the Black church on the spiritual, social, economic, educational and political interests that structure life in America - including the mainline White churches themselves - can scarcely be overlooked in any realistic appraisal of our common religious experience," writes C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, whose book, The Black Church in the African American Experience, examines the historic growth, development and influence of the Black church. “With rare exceptions, the black church's pastoral vision does not speak to the experience of intense alienation of the colonized in the urban metropolitan centers in the country.” Reverend Alan L. Joplin, Conference on Black Theology, Davenport, Iowa 2000 Introduction
Economics, by definition, is “the art of managing a household.” It comes from the same root as “ecumenical,” and connotes “God’s plan or system for the government of the world,” and “a special divine dispensation suited to the needs of a nation or period.” Economics, then, should be a suitable, even a central concern of the Christian church. In the Bible, Jesus talks continually about money and the proper allocation of resources. We find examples both of socialism and capitalism all through the scriptures (for example, Luke 15:11 [parable of the prodigal son] and Luke 16:1 [parable of the unjust steward]). For Christians, economics should be shaped by an equitable way to create and share resources in community. The early Jews tried to correct economic imbalances through the Jubilee year, the fiftieth year, which called for hereditary properties to be restored to their original owners, for slaves to be emancipated, and for the rights of the poor to harvest the fields (Leviticus 25; Exodus 21:2-11). It may not be farfetched to regard the riots as a negative expression of Jubilee.
The Black Church is the principal social structure in Black communities across the nation. It’s a nerve center for many people, and a bastion of hope for many more. It has only begun to touch the surface of its potential to serve the interests of its people by leading a resurgent economic development of Black communities. The Black Church is a multi-million dollar operation.
The Black Church
Most churchgoers are not interested in arguments about the existence of God or the nature of God. They are interested in what God has done and can do to help with their particular concerns and problems. African Americans expect the preacher to reassure them of God’s power, not to question or doubt it. They expect the pastor to help them cope with joblessness, poverty and discrimination by transforming their despair into hope. The Black church needs to provide the content and method for changing the social, economic and political obstacles for blacks. The black church needs a practical theology that can help liberate it from social, political and economic oppression. The black church has a moral obligation to free its people from the despair and powerlessness that grip their bodies and souls. What are some of the issues in the Black church that keeps us powerless.
Miseducation, poor self-esteem and the failure of black Christians to understand and appreciate their own history and culture in black churches. This is evident not only in the absence of black icons but also in the rejection by many black church goers.
Sexism against black women should also be addressed. Women in black churches outnumber men by more than four to one; yet in positions of authority and responsibility the ratio is reversed. Though women are gradually entering ministry, many men and women still resist and fear that development. The black church must deal with the double bondage of black women in church and society. The black church must eliminate exclusionist language, attitudes or practices, however benign or unintended, in order to benefit fully from the talents of women.
Improving the economic conditions of African American will also hasten their freedom. Too many blacks survive from paycheck to paycheck while simultaneously trying to keep up with the Joneses. Most black churches are independent and financially solvent. But the individuals who constitute the church and community are often plagued by poverty and hampered by discrimination, underemployment and racism. Economically secure blacks within the church have a moral obligation to use their success to enhance the wider black community.
Every black churchgoer, especially the economically secure, should understand that tithing or some larger form of proportionate giving significantly affects the liberation of African American. A tithing church will be able to influence public policy issues such as housing for the poor and equal-employment opportunities. It would not have to spend time and energy raising money to meet the ordinary demands of ministry and mission. It can actually do ministry by using its financial resources to develop ways to stem the tide of drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, divorce and family violence.
Black churches need to pool their financial resources by withdrawing funds from institutions that do not address the development needs of the black community. In our society, money talks. African Americans should assume control of their hard-earned money and invest it in financial institutions that will challenge traditional models of risk management. Thus they will begin the process of nurturing our neglected communities back to health. The fiscal integrity of the black church and community depend on biblical ethical principles such as working together, loving one another and caring for the poor. In order for the black community to become a viable place for external investment, blacks will first have to invest in themselves. The church must invest in black youth and in the black community before society will invest in the black community.
Black congregation should assess the needs of its constituents within a certain radius of the church. This will enable the pastor and staff better to understand their ministry context and to address specific community needs. For example, some neighbors need to learn how to read, while others may need better access to medical care. Still others may simply need to know that there are people nearby who care about their families and are willing to offer a helping hand.
Practicing Christianity has for African-Americans meant turning the other cheek, walking in humility, and enduring cruel and debasing treatment. During three centuries of slavery, African Americans learned how to sublimate their anger; they increased their chances for survival by tolerating the oppressors. This constitutes real faith in the promise of God i.e., faith as action. Blacks still sing, "There is a Bright Side Somewhere" and "Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain," and all understand and identify with these words of suffering and hope, jubilation and reflection. Black should use the language of the masses to make plain the feelings, hopes, dreams, experiences and practices of African Americans. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for socially and economically successful black Christians to ignore a call to remember there history. This lack of solidarity with the masses obscures the struggle for freedom and unnecessarily dichotomizes the black church and community. An African American approach to theology has little practical value apart from the black church because liberation cannot be achieved without the church. James Cone, in his very compassionate book “For My People”, says that "black liberation is, in part, dependent upon the attitude and role that the church assumes in relation to it." Although black preachers and theologians may disagree on the relation of black theology to the church, the time for antagonism between preachers and theologians has passed. It is now time for unity and action -- time to practice what we teach and preach.
Church “Political” Leadership
If the current political and structural economic trends persist (and there is little reason to assume they will not), we are looking at a future blood bath of violence that will make our present nightmare look pleasant. This crisis poses moral and political questions for a generation of new black church leadership. Perhaps the most important question is, how does the black community directly challenge and mobilize its established leadership, its premier sovereign institution-the black church?
Some things are fairly clear and rarely said publicly, and now must be stated with complete candor. Much of established black church leadership in the United States stands before the world tainted with the blood of millions of black women and children whose pain and suffering have been ignored (one acknowledges the exceptions). In many cities it is easier for a homeless black teen-age girl to find sanctuary in a crack house or a bar on a Friday night than it is for her to find refuge behind the locked doors of many established black churches. Few political developments so empirically demonstrated the depth of the moral and intellectual crisis of the nation's black political and religious leadership. Such a development was predictable for at least five reasons.
the ascendance of black America's premier crypto-fascist was largely a function of the political collapse of the liberal-to-center ideological consensus of the established black leadership infrastructure. This infrastructure includes black elected officials as well as the managerial and protest factions of the church-based declining civil rights industry.
a strategically and politically incoherent "pragmatic-integrationist" intelligentsia, with no sustained pedagogical relationship to our most alienated black social classes in the inner city, contributed to this growing leadership vacuum. They have produced few powerful new ideas in the areas of politics or policy, and no organizing programs.
the leadership of the black churches-of, which there are at least 65,000 nationally, serving an estimated 23 million, blacks-are in a state of political and spiritual crisis. They too are disconnected from growing numbers of our youth in general and young urban black males in particular. They exhibit little awareness of how they might collectively reverse the deepening spiritual and cultural decay of our inner-city neighborhoods. Fewer still comprehend the historical roots or the empirical dimensions of the nihilism now engulfing a generation of young people drowning in their own blood. They are, for the most part, simply conducting business as usual.
With rare exceptions, the black church's pastoral vision does not speak to the experience of intense alienation of the colonized in the urban metropolitan centers in the country. Its images, symbols, and metaphors do not emanate from a dispassionate understanding of the cold political logic of market society.
Well-known macroeconomic and structural forces have radically transformed our inner-city neighborhoods, marginalizing increasing numbers of young, black males. Many of these factors were of course driven by the escalating Republican policy wars against the poor over the last 15 years.
Leadership vacuums produce leadership opportunities.
It is here, in the areas of social policy planning and advocacy, that a unique and historic opportunity exists for a new generation of black church leadership to establish a more vital presence in the larger national church policy debates currently raging. There is an interesting irony here. For the last 15 years of the Republican counter-revolution, the domestic policy wars have been directed against the urban black poor. The logic is very simple, with the persistent poverty of the black and brown serving a variety of crucial ideological functions.
Conservative policy elites (Republican or Democratic) perceive, correctly, that poor blacks are a politically disposable population. In fact, the suffering, nihilism, and decay associated with the tragic circumstances of the urban poor can-and, in the view of conservatives, should-be exploited to ensure continued political dominance. Congregational Leadership
Within the community, congregations are often the primary, if not only, local institution with a grassroots constituency. As such they "bring to the table" legitimacy within the community, they have been part of its past, usually associated as a stabilizing factor. The futures of church and neighborhood are intrinsically related to each other. Church leaders have long known to be true, that the likelihood that congregations are growing is correlated with the growth of its community.
congregations have an institutional stake in quality of life and indeed, viability of the neighborhoods and communities in which they reside.
Congregations are further attractive to community organizations because of their ongoing work of producing social capital. Central to their institutional purpose is the building of consensus through the reinforcement of values and worldview.
Congregations are the only institutions in communities in which volunteers participate for the purpose of individual and collective systems of meaning-making.
congregations can be in their interpretation of transformation, there is necessarily an ethos of transcendence, connecting members to that which is outside of themselves. Members therefore participate regularly in affirming that they are part of a larger purpose and reality.
congregations of all faiths reinforce the value of public participation and service. In message and program, most congregations encourage some form of engagement with the public.
An important element of social capital which religious communities also bring to community organizing is the experience of democratic participation which is present in all but the most autocratic congregations. Even those people who are among the politically disenfranchised in the broader culture can organize power bases within the smallest congregations and bring enormous passion to conflicts within their churches. Those who are without voice in the body politic find voice in the micro-democracies inherent in many congregations. It is critical in community organizing to mobilize those for whom the memory of democratic participation is not extinguished. This can be done in the following ways:
shared leadership as opposed to clerical leadership
coalitional (rather than parochial) parameter of focus, issues are citywide
grassroots empowerment (rather than accessing power)
power structures are challenged and change is sought (rather than accommodation)
Conclusion “theological reflection must be related to the practical imperatives of social policy formation and execution”
The Church in the Urban Crisis is trumpeted as the land of equal opportunity. It leads the poor person to react in one of two ways: “Something is wrong with me”; or “Somebody is doing this to me deliberately.” The systematic stripping of the poor’s inability to compete begins at birth with an inadequate health care system, and continues with a poor educational system based on property taxes. This results in a lack of preparedness for good jobs and is accentuated by race and cultural discrimination. The churches in the city responded to the crisis in some predictable ways and in some unprecedented ways. Providing relief for victims of cataclysms has historically been the church’s role. The church’s relation to the poor has been tied up with the church’s identity over the years. The churches, however, appear now to have added another issue to their responsibilities to the poor: economic development. Some would consider this a transgression into the political realm and inappropriate for religious organizations, but churches are becoming more aware that economics is a fit subject of the church’s mission. After all, to be poor is largely an economic condition. Among the root causes of injustice and materialistic greed, is the widespread lack of economic opportunity that has led to a growing disparity between the rich and the poor. We are in a new millennium, new and creative visions are being called forth from the black church. In addition to policy advocacy, black church leadership must advance a new vision for the resurrection of black civil society. They must sponsor the establishment of accountable community-based economic development projects, including land trusts, cooperatives, community development corporations and finance institutions, and micro-enterprise projects, that go beyond "market and state" visions of revenue generation.
The black church must now seize the time
What does a radically reformed vision mean programmatically? First, theological preparation of black church leadership must include a thorough understanding of the impact of public policy on the daily lives of their communities. They need to understand the necessity of careful study and advocacy to impact social policy outcomes. A new generation of black church leadership must develop strategic alliances to advocate more effectively for policies that benefit the black poor. Black denominationally affiliated theological centers must integrate into their curriculum every aspect of the policy process-from policy formation to implementation. This is mandatory if the black church is to avoid intellectual and political obsolescence in the 21st century.
Black Staticitic
Each day:
• 1,118 black teen-agers are victims of violent crime, • 1,451 black children are arrested, and • 907 teen-age girls get pregnant.
A generation of black males is drowning in their own blood in the prison camps we euphemistically call "inner cities." And things are likely to get much worse.
Some 40 years after the beginning of the civil rights movement, younger black Americans are growing up unqualified for gainful employment even as slaves. The result is a state of civil war, with children in violent revolt against the failed secular and religious leadership of the black community.
Consider the dimensions of this failure.
• a black boy has a 1-in-3,700 chance of getting a Ph.D. in mathematics, engineering, or the physical sciences; • a 1-in-766 chance of becoming a lawyer; • a 1-in-395 chance of becoming a physician; • a 1-in-195 chance of becoming a teacher.
But his chances are
• 1-in-2 of never attending college, even if he graduates from high school; • 1-in-9 of using cocaine; • 1-in-12 of having gonorrhea; and • 1-in-20 of being imprisoned while in his 20s. Only the details are different for his sister.
According to James A. Fox, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, from 1990 to 1993 (the last year for which detailed national data are available) the overall rate of murder in the United States remained virtually unchanged. For this same period, the rate of killing at the hands of adults, ages 23 and over, actually declined 10 percent; however, for young adults, ages 18-24, the rate rose 14 percent, and for teen-agers it jumped a terrifying 26 percent.
Currently there are 39 million children in this country under the age of 10-more young children than we've had for decades. Millions of them live in poverty. Most do not have full-time parental supervision at home to shape their development and behavior. And these children will not remain young and impressionable for long. By the year 2005, the number of teens ages 14-17 will increase by 14 percent, with an even larger increase among black teens (17 percent) and among brown teens (30 percent).
If homicide among teen-agers continues to increase at the rate at which it has for the past 10 years, a huge increase in this cohort will create an unprecedented epidemic in violent crime.This Presentation examines the past, present, and future role of the Black Church as participant and catalyst for human development, economic empowerment and community revitalization in African American communities. The presentation will 1) explore the historical foundation of the Church's economic development mission; 2) examine current economic and social conditions that motivate the Church's involvement in local economic development; 3) describe a conceptual framework
within which to categorize and develop faith-based economic development endeavors; 4) investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Church involvement in community development; 5) highlight successful models of Church-initiated development.
"Economic cooperation among Negroes must begin with the Church group." W. E. B. Du Bois 1907 The black church is the single most important institution in the black community. Beginning in the late eighteenth century and continuing to the present, it has been the oldest and most independent African American organization. Its importance is so great that some scholars say that the black church is the black community, with each having no identity apart from the other. Even if some would deny this claim, no informed person can deny the centrality of the black church in the black community. Therefore black liberation is, at least in part, dependent upon the attitude and role that the church assumes in relation to it. James Cone “For My People” "The impact of the Black church on the spiritual, social, economic, educational and political interests that structure life in America - including the mainline White churches themselves - can scarcely be overlooked in any realistic appraisal of our common religious experience," writes C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, whose book, The Black Church in the African American Experience, examines the historic growth, development and influence of the Black church. “With rare exceptions, the black church's pastoral vision does not speak to the experience of intense alienation of the colonized in the urban metropolitan centers in the country.” Reverend Alan L. Joplin, Conference on Black Theology, Davenport, Iowa 2000 Introduction
Economics, by definition, is “the art of managing a household.” It comes from the same root as “ecumenical,” and connotes “God’s plan or system for the government of the world,” and “a special divine dispensation suited to the needs of a nation or period.” Economics, then, should be a suitable, even a central concern of the Christian church. In the Bible, Jesus talks continually about money and the proper allocation of resources. We find examples both of socialism and capitalism all through the scriptures (for example, Luke 15:11 [parable of the prodigal son] and Luke 16:1 [parable of the unjust steward]). For Christians, economics should be shaped by an equitable way to create and share resources in community. The early Jews tried to correct economic imbalances through the Jubilee year, the fiftieth year, which called for hereditary properties to be restored to their original owners, for slaves to be emancipated, and for the rights of the poor to harvest the fields (Leviticus 25; Exodus 21:2-11). It may not be farfetched to regard the riots as a negative expression of Jubilee.
The Black Church is the principal social structure in Black communities across the nation. It’s a nerve center for many people, and a bastion of hope for many more. It has only begun to touch the surface of its potential to serve the interests of its people by leading a resurgent economic development of Black communities. The Black Church is a multi-million dollar operation.
The Black Church
Most churchgoers are not interested in arguments about the existence of God or the nature of God. They are interested in what God has done and can do to help with their particular concerns and problems. African Americans expect the preacher to reassure them of God’s power, not to question or doubt it. They expect the pastor to help them cope with joblessness, poverty and discrimination by transforming their despair into hope. The Black church needs to provide the content and method for changing the social, economic and political obstacles for blacks. The black church needs a practical theology that can help liberate it from social, political and economic oppression. The black church has a moral obligation to free its people from the despair and powerlessness that grip their bodies and souls. What are some of the issues in the Black church that keeps us powerless.
Miseducation, poor self-esteem and the failure of black Christians to understand and appreciate their own history and culture in black churches. This is evident not only in the absence of black icons but also in the rejection by many black church goers.
Sexism against black women should also be addressed. Women in black churches outnumber men by more than four to one; yet in positions of authority and responsibility the ratio is reversed. Though women are gradually entering ministry, many men and women still resist and fear that development. The black church must deal with the double bondage of black women in church and society. The black church must eliminate exclusionist language, attitudes or practices, however benign or unintended, in order to benefit fully from the talents of women.
Improving the economic conditions of African American will also hasten their freedom. Too many blacks survive from paycheck to paycheck while simultaneously trying to keep up with the Joneses. Most black churches are independent and financially solvent. But the individuals who constitute the church and community are often plagued by poverty and hampered by discrimination, underemployment and racism. Economically secure blacks within the church have a moral obligation to use their success to enhance the wider black community.
Every black churchgoer, especially the economically secure, should understand that tithing or some larger form of proportionate giving significantly affects the liberation of African American. A tithing church will be able to influence public policy issues such as housing for the poor and equal-employment opportunities. It would not have to spend time and energy raising money to meet the ordinary demands of ministry and mission. It can actually do ministry by using its financial resources to develop ways to stem the tide of drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, divorce and family violence.
Black churches need to pool their financial resources by withdrawing funds from institutions that do not address the development needs of the black community. In our society, money talks. African Americans should assume control of their hard-earned money and invest it in financial institutions that will challenge traditional models of risk management. Thus they will begin the process of nurturing our neglected communities back to health. The fiscal integrity of the black church and community depend on biblical ethical principles such as working together, loving one another and caring for the poor. In order for the black community to become a viable place for external investment, blacks will first have to invest in themselves. The church must invest in black youth and in the black community before society will invest in the black community.
Black congregation should assess the needs of its constituents within a certain radius of the church. This will enable the pastor and staff better to understand their ministry context and to address specific community needs. For example, some neighbors need to learn how to read, while others may need better access to medical care. Still others may simply need to know that there are people nearby who care about their families and are willing to offer a helping hand.
Practicing Christianity has for African-Americans meant turning the other cheek, walking in humility, and enduring cruel and debasing treatment. During three centuries of slavery, African Americans learned how to sublimate their anger; they increased their chances for survival by tolerating the oppressors. This constitutes real faith in the promise of God i.e., faith as action. Blacks still sing, "There is a Bright Side Somewhere" and "Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain," and all understand and identify with these words of suffering and hope, jubilation and reflection. Black should use the language of the masses to make plain the feelings, hopes, dreams, experiences and practices of African Americans. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for socially and economically successful black Christians to ignore a call to remember there history. This lack of solidarity with the masses obscures the struggle for freedom and unnecessarily dichotomizes the black church and community. An African American approach to theology has little practical value apart from the black church because liberation cannot be achieved without the church. James Cone, in his very compassionate book “For My People”, says that "black liberation is, in part, dependent upon the attitude and role that the church assumes in relation to it." Although black preachers and theologians may disagree on the relation of black theology to the church, the time for antagonism between preachers and theologians has passed. It is now time for unity and action -- time to practice what we teach and preach.
Church “Political” Leadership
If the current political and structural economic trends persist (and there is little reason to assume they will not), we are looking at a future blood bath of violence that will make our present nightmare look pleasant. This crisis poses moral and political questions for a generation of new black church leadership. Perhaps the most important question is, how does the black community directly challenge and mobilize its established leadership, its premier sovereign institution-the black church?
Some things are fairly clear and rarely said publicly, and now must be stated with complete candor. Much of established black church leadership in the United States stands before the world tainted with the blood of millions of black women and children whose pain and suffering have been ignored (one acknowledges the exceptions). In many cities it is easier for a homeless black teen-age girl to find sanctuary in a crack house or a bar on a Friday night than it is for her to find refuge behind the locked doors of many established black churches. Few political developments so empirically demonstrated the depth of the moral and intellectual crisis of the nation's black political and religious leadership. Such a development was predictable for at least five reasons.
the ascendance of black America's premier crypto-fascist was largely a function of the political collapse of the liberal-to-center ideological consensus of the established black leadership infrastructure. This infrastructure includes black elected officials as well as the managerial and protest factions of the church-based declining civil rights industry.
a strategically and politically incoherent "pragmatic-integrationist" intelligentsia, with no sustained pedagogical relationship to our most alienated black social classes in the inner city, contributed to this growing leadership vacuum. They have produced few powerful new ideas in the areas of politics or policy, and no organizing programs.
the leadership of the black churches-of, which there are at least 65,000 nationally, serving an estimated 23 million, blacks-are in a state of political and spiritual crisis. They too are disconnected from growing numbers of our youth in general and young urban black males in particular. They exhibit little awareness of how they might collectively reverse the deepening spiritual and cultural decay of our inner-city neighborhoods. Fewer still comprehend the historical roots or the empirical dimensions of the nihilism now engulfing a generation of young people drowning in their own blood. They are, for the most part, simply conducting business as usual.
With rare exceptions, the black church's pastoral vision does not speak to the experience of intense alienation of the colonized in the urban metropolitan centers in the country. Its images, symbols, and metaphors do not emanate from a dispassionate understanding of the cold political logic of market society.
Well-known macroeconomic and structural forces have radically transformed our inner-city neighborhoods, marginalizing increasing numbers of young, black males. Many of these factors were of course driven by the escalating Republican policy wars against the poor over the last 15 years.
Leadership vacuums produce leadership opportunities.
It is here, in the areas of social policy planning and advocacy, that a unique and historic opportunity exists for a new generation of black church leadership to establish a more vital presence in the larger national church policy debates currently raging. There is an interesting irony here. For the last 15 years of the Republican counter-revolution, the domestic policy wars have been directed against the urban black poor. The logic is very simple, with the persistent poverty of the black and brown serving a variety of crucial ideological functions.
Conservative policy elites (Republican or Democratic) perceive, correctly, that poor blacks are a politically disposable population. In fact, the suffering, nihilism, and decay associated with the tragic circumstances of the urban poor can-and, in the view of conservatives, should-be exploited to ensure continued political dominance. Congregational Leadership
Within the community, congregations are often the primary, if not only, local institution with a grassroots constituency. As such they "bring to the table" legitimacy within the community, they have been part of its past, usually associated as a stabilizing factor. The futures of church and neighborhood are intrinsically related to each other. Church leaders have long known to be true, that the likelihood that congregations are growing is correlated with the growth of its community.
congregations have an institutional stake in quality of life and indeed, viability of the neighborhoods and communities in which they reside.
Congregations are further attractive to community organizations because of their ongoing work of producing social capital. Central to their institutional purpose is the building of consensus through the reinforcement of values and worldview.
Congregations are the only institutions in communities in which volunteers participate for the purpose of individual and collective systems of meaning-making.
congregations can be in their interpretation of transformation, there is necessarily an ethos of transcendence, connecting members to that which is outside of themselves. Members therefore participate regularly in affirming that they are part of a larger purpose and reality.
congregations of all faiths reinforce the value of public participation and service. In message and program, most congregations encourage some form of engagement with the public.
An important element of social capital which religious communities also bring to community organizing is the experience of democratic participation which is present in all but the most autocratic congregations. Even those people who are among the politically disenfranchised in the broader culture can organize power bases within the smallest congregations and bring enormous passion to conflicts within their churches. Those who are without voice in the body politic find voice in the micro-democracies inherent in many congregations. It is critical in community organizing to mobilize those for whom the memory of democratic participation is not extinguished. This can be done in the following ways:
shared leadership as opposed to clerical leadership
coalitional (rather than parochial) parameter of focus, issues are citywide
grassroots empowerment (rather than accessing power)
power structures are challenged and change is sought (rather than accommodation)
Conclusion “theological reflection must be related to the practical imperatives of social policy formation and execution”
The Church in the Urban Crisis is trumpeted as the land of equal opportunity. It leads the poor person to react in one of two ways: “Something is wrong with me”; or “Somebody is doing this to me deliberately.” The systematic stripping of the poor’s inability to compete begins at birth with an inadequate health care system, and continues with a poor educational system based on property taxes. This results in a lack of preparedness for good jobs and is accentuated by race and cultural discrimination. The churches in the city responded to the crisis in some predictable ways and in some unprecedented ways. Providing relief for victims of cataclysms has historically been the church’s role. The church’s relation to the poor has been tied up with the church’s identity over the years. The churches, however, appear now to have added another issue to their responsibilities to the poor: economic development. Some would consider this a transgression into the political realm and inappropriate for religious organizations, but churches are becoming more aware that economics is a fit subject of the church’s mission. After all, to be poor is largely an economic condition. Among the root causes of injustice and materialistic greed, is the widespread lack of economic opportunity that has led to a growing disparity between the rich and the poor. We are in a new millennium, new and creative visions are being called forth from the black church. In addition to policy advocacy, black church leadership must advance a new vision for the resurrection of black civil society. They must sponsor the establishment of accountable community-based economic development projects, including land trusts, cooperatives, community development corporations and finance institutions, and micro-enterprise projects, that go beyond "market and state" visions of revenue generation.
The black church must now seize the time
What does a radically reformed vision mean programmatically? First, theological preparation of black church leadership must include a thorough understanding of the impact of public policy on the daily lives of their communities. They need to understand the necessity of careful study and advocacy to impact social policy outcomes. A new generation of black church leadership must develop strategic alliances to advocate more effectively for policies that benefit the black poor. Black denominationally affiliated theological centers must integrate into their curriculum every aspect of the policy process-from policy formation to implementation. This is mandatory if the black church is to avoid intellectual and political obsolescence in the 21st century.
Black Staticitic
Each day:
• 1,118 black teen-agers are victims of violent crime, • 1,451 black children are arrested, and • 907 teen-age girls get pregnant.
A generation of black males is drowning in their own blood in the prison camps we euphemistically call "inner cities." And things are likely to get much worse.
Some 40 years after the beginning of the civil rights movement, younger black Americans are growing up unqualified for gainful employment even as slaves. The result is a state of civil war, with children in violent revolt against the failed secular and religious leadership of the black community.
Consider the dimensions of this failure.
• a black boy has a 1-in-3,700 chance of getting a Ph.D. in mathematics, engineering, or the physical sciences; • a 1-in-766 chance of becoming a lawyer; • a 1-in-395 chance of becoming a physician; • a 1-in-195 chance of becoming a teacher.
But his chances are
• 1-in-2 of never attending college, even if he graduates from high school; • 1-in-9 of using cocaine; • 1-in-12 of having gonorrhea; and • 1-in-20 of being imprisoned while in his 20s. Only the details are different for his sister.
According to James A. Fox, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, from 1990 to 1993 (the last year for which detailed national data are available) the overall rate of murder in the United States remained virtually unchanged. For this same period, the rate of killing at the hands of adults, ages 23 and over, actually declined 10 percent; however, for young adults, ages 18-24, the rate rose 14 percent, and for teen-agers it jumped a terrifying 26 percent.
Currently there are 39 million children in this country under the age of 10-more young children than we've had for decades. Millions of them live in poverty. Most do not have full-time parental supervision at home to shape their development and behavior. And these children will not remain young and impressionable for long. By the year 2005, the number of teens ages 14-17 will increase by 14 percent, with an even larger increase among black teens (17 percent) and among brown teens (30 percent).
If homicide among teen-agers continues to increase at the rate at which it has for the past 10 years, a huge increase in this cohort will create an unprecedented epidemic in violent crime.