Why Churches must Engage with their Neighbourhoods

My posts over the last few days add up to an analysis of what I see as fundamentally wrong with community development in England.  To summarise:

1. There is a tendency for community projects to be dominated by unaccountable people, community organisations in general have problems with accountability;
2. The roles of volunteers and activists are confused, so that workers in communities tend to look on local activists as volunteers for their organisations' agendas;
3. At the same time the role of development work and activist are also confused, which means that activism is sometimes presented as development work;
4. These confusions are bolstered by the use of large-scale funding to divide communities and erode social capital;
5. this leads to even the basic needs for social capital such as unstructured meeting spaces to be overlooked.

Why should churches take an interest in community development or organising?  It is still the case that churches are the organisations with long-term commitment to our neighbourhoods.  They often have premises that can be made available as meeting spaces and they can also meet the spiritual needs of local people.

From an ecumenical perspective development work or organising is an opportunity for churches together to engage with the issues that effect the people around them.  It is an arena for effective and accessible mission for any church member.

A Methodist Church publication a few years ago Time to Talk of God encouraged church members to learn how to enter into conversations about God.  But almost any conversation can open new horizons for those who take part.  This is a practical way for churches to participate in the action of God in the world, to break away from the internal dialogues and engage with new ideas in the world outside the church.

Over the next few days I will pick up some themes from Linthicum's book Building a People of Power; these themes address the basic things churches must do together in their neighbourhoods.  They all open up the possibility of conversations that will broaden and deepen the churches' mission and their ecumenical commitment.