Understanding faith-based community service
Abstract
This effective practice shares a portrait of faith-based organizations and communities, excerpted with permission from the National Crime Prevention Council's 2002 report, "Changing Communities through Faith in Action, " from its Center in Faith and Service. The report comes from a symposium held in Boston, Massachusetts, in April 2002, when service providers, faith-based organizations, funders, city, state and federal officials, and the academic community met to discuss the impact of faith-based initiatives.Issue
With the Charitable Choice provisions of the 1996 welfare reform law, followed by President George W. Bush's creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2001, faith-based organizations have taken the spotlight in the service community. Understanding who they are and how they function can be helpful, both theoretically and practically.Action
Policy makers, funding agencies and others, who are new to working with faith-based organizations, can benefit from understanding some of their characteristics. According to the report, "Changing Communities through Faith in Action," published by the National Crime Prevention Council's Center in Faith and Service, (2002) faith-based organizations and communities share the following characteristics:- They are committed to community. However diverse their ideologies, they see meaning as being caught up with the creation of community.
- They exist primarily in areas of poverty, both urban and rural. Or at least they are intimately connected to the poor in their work. They also tend to be themselves financially poor and committed to some form of voluntary simplicity in their lifestyle.
- They may exist within or draw on the resources of existing parishes, synagogues, or mosques, but are usually separate from official religious structures.
- They are small and volunteer based. Some consist of but a single leader and a number of volunteers engaged in a specific type of ministry. Their small size allows them to be flexible, creative, and responsive.
- They are personal and are motivated by a desire to serve. Theirs is a lived theology of embrace and presence. The common bond is a shared humanity, not adherence to doctrine. Service is not seen as charity, but rather as a self-gift for the building up of the community.
- They are spiritually radical. This is not a political label. It means rather that they pursue an authentic spiritual practice by reconnecting with what they see as the live spiritual roots that are often buried within the dead wood of inherited religious structures.
- They are committed to spiritual growth. This is not narcissism. In reaching out to others, they are themselves open to being transformed. At-risk youth, single mothers, and homeless people are seen to have something important to give. Transformation comes as much to the caregiver as to those who are cared for.
- Their commitment to compassionate service extends to both victims and victimizers in the cycle of violence. It may be tender or tough, but the hard work of forgiveness and transformation is central to their mission of community building.
- They are prophetic. Even those groups with an emphasis on personal responsibility and salvation also speak the language of justice. That is, they stand in some degree of tension with, and sometimes in direct opposition to, the values of the surrounding culture. Commitment to community is itself a prophetic gesture in a society as highly individualistic and mobile as ours.
- They pray and they act. The language and form of both may vary from group to group, but both are central and at times nearly indistinguishable. Even the simplest act is seen to carry ultimate significance in either advancing or obstructing the drama of personal and social healing.
- They are less concerned with spreading religion than with bringing people together. The goal is often stated in terms of transforming society by creating communities where pain is lessened or stopped and persons are empowered to grow into their full capacity as responsive human beings.
- They are ready to do the hard work of attending to at-risk youth and the poor. While some newly emerging communities may not accept public funds as a matter of principle, many will. On the whole, they are open to working with other groups as well as with the public and private entities in their mission to build community.
Context
In April 2002, 28 clergy and lay religious leaders, senior public policy makers, and funders from a variety of public and private agencies met in Boston, Massachusetts. Convened by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) through a grant from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation, the symposium was called "Massachusetts Faith in Action: Informing the National Debate." The objective was to study the specific contributions of various faith communities in the work of remedying social ills, and how these experiences might help policy makers to effectively address concerns about the public funding of faith groups.
Since the "Charitable Choice" provisions of the 1996 welfare reform law, and with President George W. Bush's creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in January 2001, public funding of faith-based organizations has become a national issue. The Corporation for National and Community Service has taken on an active role in providing support for the work of faith groups. In particular, AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps *VISTA members are providing organizational capacity-building support for small neighborhood and faith-based groups addressing poverty. AmeriCorps *VISTA members are able to develop institutional capacity by addressing organizational needs such as fundraising, grant writing, management and volunteer development and supervision. AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members and volunteers are able to provide direct service in grassroots and faith-based organizations. Some of their activities include feeding the homeless, visiting the elderly, mentoring, tutoring, and running after-school programs.
Working closely with the Corporation for National and Community Service is the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). Since the 1980s, NCPC has built preventative strategies around the creation of partnerships among various local public and private agencies and organizations. In 2002, NCPC's work with faith-based organizations became a major focus, culminating in its Center for Faith and Service. The Center supports and encourages faith-based organizations and service providers, informs policy makers and funders of the significance of these organizations' contributions, and teaches policy makers and funders how to partner with faith-based providers.
Outcome
Churches and religious communities have always played an active role in American civic life and they have fostered self-reflection, social justice and compassionate service.At the Boston Symposium, funders and policy makers agreed that working with faith organizations has brought them more deeply into the heart of neighborhood communities, thereby increasing program effectiveness.Posted On
December 11, 2002For More Information