Community Organizing and National Denominations
What happened?
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) launched a denomination-wide effort to unite Congregation Based Community Organizing (CBCO) with the work of their Bishops and synods. Through this collaboration, the ELCA hopes to improve its effectiveness in bringing about real change both at the community and national level. Community grassroots organizers often lack the organization and resources of national denominational structures, but at the same time they have the local energy and responsiveness that can be elusive for national structures. By connecting the people to the resources and organization, the ELCA hopes to produce a powerful force that can act as a real agent of social change.
What methods did faith leaders use?
In the early 1990s, the ELCA met with members of national organizing networks to learn more about the principles of CBCO. Using the new knowledge gained from this meeting, they brought together clergy and laity who had been organizing in their congregations for many years with seminary presidents, a number of Bishops and members of the national ELCA staff for a conference to discuss the value of CBCO and whether the ELCA should deepen their involvement with it. From this conference, they developed a six-point strategic plan on the integration of CBCO throughout the denomination. A team was formed to work on the initiative and a new position was created in the churchwide staff.
Building on these efforts, in 2002 the ELCA convened the bishops from each of their 65 synods to outline the plan for increased involvement with CBCO and for integration of those community organizations with the larger national denominational organizations. The conference brought the bishops together with trainers from each of the four major CBCO networks (DART, Gamaliel, Industrial Areas Foundation, and PICO) who instructed the bishops in the principles and methods of grassroots organizing. The ultimate goal of this effort is to change the culture of the church so that community organizing is an integral part of every congregation of the ELCA. A key step in implementing this vision has been providing training for pastors and seminarians in the methods and goals of community organizing.
What was their message?
“I am absolutely convinced now is the time for those of us in this room together to LEAD this church. No, don't get me wrong. I know this is Christ's church not ours, but I also know God calls, equips, empowers leaders for Christ's church and YOU and I HAVE BEEN CALLED TO LEAD.” Thus spoke Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA in an address to the bishops on the plan for working with CBCOs. He went on to invoke the prophetic Biblical voices of Amos and Jesus who called for action from people of faith. The general message from the ELCA is one of hope and empowerment, and of the duty of people of faith to come together to work for the common good. According to Rev. Terry Boggs http://www.elca.org/organizing/about/01-05-15-boggs.html , “We have a God-given identity…And we have God-given purpose…to care for… to tend…to be stewards of… what God has first created.”
What challenges were faced?
In working with such a diverse group of institutions, organizers and congregations, the ELCA had to help the different groups overcome their differences and come together to work towards common goals. Within the denominational structure, the biggest challenge was trying to move long established bureaucracies in a new direction. Seminaries for example, have been somewhat resistant to changing their curriculum to incorporate training in CBCO principles and practices. Although many seminaries now have short January-term classes and summer school sessions around this topic, they have yet to commit to ensuring that every seminarian is educated in CBCO. However, the ELCA continues to make this a priority and seminaries are beginning to move toward real curricular changes.
Working with organizers also presented challenges. To partner with all four major networks involved with CBCO, the ELCA had to address the competition between these groups and convince them that they would be a stronger, more effective voice if they worked together toward common goals. In addition, some faith leaders took issue with collaborating with organizers. For these leaders, the word “organizing” itself had negative connotations, implying something aberrant, something creating destructive tension in the world. The ELCA worked hard to change this perception and to show that organizing created a healthy, necessary tension that had the potential to bring about positive change. Church leaders collaborated with Interfaith Funders to develop a body of research highlighting the positive effects of organizing, and changed the title CBCO to “Leadership Development for Public Life,” a more accurate depiction of the program’s goals.
How can you use this example?
Congregations in many denominations have been organizing in their communities for decades, but commitment has been elusive at anything higher than a local level. Both national and local organizations have an important role to play in working for a just society; by working together with CBCO groups and sharing their diverse resources, faith communities can substantially increase the impact of their public witness. Some other faith groups have already begun to develop similar strategies. The Presbyterian Church has signed a joint statement with the ELCA concerning plans to get more involved nationally with local community organizing. Jewish Funds for Justice has begun a “Just Congregations” campaign focused on engaging Jewish communities in organizing, and the Unitarian Universalist Association has been working to catalogue all of their member congregations that are involved in organizing. There is still plenty of room for both individual denominations and larger interfaith organizations to engage in this important work.
Key Links
http://www.wfn.org/2000/11/msg00023.html
http://www.elca.org/organizing/about/
