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We Shall Overcome: Promoting an
Agenda for Integrating Spirituality and
Community Practice
a
Anthony J. Hill PhD & Linda Plitt Donaldson PhD
a
a
National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University
of America, Washington, DC
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Promoting an Agenda for Integrating Spirituality and Community Practice, Journal of Religion &
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Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work:
Social Thought, 31:67–84, 2012
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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DOI: 10.1080/15426432.2012.647887
We Shall Overcome: Promoting an Agenda
for Integrating Spirituality and Community
Practice
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ANTHONY J. HILL, PhD and LINDA PLITT DONALDSON, PhD
National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America,
Washington, DC
Spirituality and social work practice are interwoven. The literature is robust with evidence for the importance of spirituality in
direct practice. Although there is acknowledgement of the importance for spirituality in community practice, there is a paucity of
research investigating how community practitioners incorporate
spirituality into their work. This article explores the historical role
of spirituality and community practice in the social work profession, provides an overview of the literature identifying the extent
to which it addresses the integration of spirituality and social work
community practice, and suggests implications for future research,
practice and education.
KEYWORDS community practice, spirituality, macropractice
Community practice and spirituality are at the vortex of the social work profession. Community practice defines the earliest manifestation of the profession, represented by the Settlement House Movement, Charity Organization
Societies (COS), and the racial and ethnic mutual aid societies that emerged
to respond to the unmet needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups at
the turn of the 20th century (Weil & Gamble, 1995). Judeo–Christian values formed the basis for all of these movements, and many communities
in which social workers practice today have a strong faith orientation or
religious affiliation. Despite this strong historical and contemporary linkage
Received July 4, 2011; accepted October 14, 2011.
Address correspondence to Anthony J. Hill, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, National
Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Avenue,
NE, Washington, DC 20064. E-mail: hillaj@cua.edu
67
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
between spirituality and community practice, very little is written on how
community practitioners use spirituality in community practice.
The integration of spirituality and social work practice is an area of
growing interest. Spirituality is important to social work as it can influence
work with micro-, mezzo-, and macro-systems. Cheon and Canda (2010)
note, “spirituality orients individuals and communities’ most significant concerns, primary motivations, developmental goals, moral standards, ideas
about well-being and justice, and ways of making connection between self,
other people, the larger world, and the universe” (p. 122). The purpose of
this article is to assess the social work literature on the extent to which it
addresses the integration of spirituality and community practice. The guiding
question for this project is: What does the social work literature say about
how community practitioners use spirituality in their work?
Community practice includes a wide range of activities designed to
engage and organize people toward a collective purpose. Gamble and Weil
(2010) define community practice as:
Multiple methods of empowerment-based interventions to strengthen
participation in democratic processes, to assist groups and communities
in advocating for their needs and organizing for social [and economic]
justice, and to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of [public
and private] systems. (p. 77)
They identify eight overlapping models of community practice: Neighborhood and Community Organizing, Organizing Functional Communities,
Social Economic and Sustainable Development, Inclusive Program
Development, Social Planning, Coalitions, Political and Social Action, and
Movements for Progressive Change. All models have in common four processes that are present to a greater or lesser degree: organizing, planning,
development, and change.
For the purpose of this paper, spirituality refers to one’s sense of “meaning, purpose, and connection with self, others, the universe, and ultimate
reality, however one understands it, which may or may not be expressed
through religious forms or institutions” (Sheridan, 2004, p. 10). This conceptualization encompasses broader spiritual practices that may or may not
be associated with a particular religion or faith-perspective. The current
authors use the term spirituality broadly to include concepts associated with
spirituality, religion, and faith.
The authors first discuss the historical role of spirituality and community practice in the social work profession. Then, they provide an overview
of the literature to assess the extent to which it addresses the integration of spirituality and social work community practice, with a particular
lens for discovering how community practitioners use spirituality in their
work. Subsequently, the authors discuss their findings and conclude with
implications for research, practice, and education.
Spirituality and Community Practice
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HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY PRACTICE AND
SPIRITUALITY
The social work profession is rooted in the community practice that developed at the turn of the century and flourished through the Progressive Era.
Mary E. Richmond, most identified with the COS movement, developed the
scientific casework method in social work. Casework focused on direct service to individuals and families. However, Richmond also acknowledged the
importance of considering individuals and families in the context of their
environments. This was demonstrated by her assertion that the skilled social
worker assesses the presenting problem by employing a “sympathetic study
of the individual in his [sic] social environment” (Richmond, 1917/1964,
p. 32). This approach enables the social worker to develop treatment plans
that are specific to clients and their unique social environments (Richmond,
1922).
Although its initial focus was on the moral development and uplift of
poor people (Axinn & Stern, 2008), the COS Movement did not ignore the
influences of the environment on poverty as a target of change. The COS
Movement took a prominent role in methodically studying environmental
causes of poverty and advocating for social reform and emergency relief programs (Axinn & Stern, 2008). By employing community practice methods,
including community service planning, lobbying, coalition building, resource
development for human services, and human services systems development and coordination, the COS Movement was able to change systems
to improve the conditions of impoverished individuals and families (Axinn
& Stern, 2008; Weil & Gamble, 1995). Another important achievement of the
COS Movement was the development of a broad national network of Health
and Welfare Planning Councils that had an integral role in social service planning in urban areas in the United States. The Health and Welfare Planning
Councils were concerned with social program planning and resource development and allocation (Weil & Gamble, 1995). They are the forerunners of
the federated giving plans found in many U.S. communities, such as the
United Way.
While the COS Movement endeavored to prevent pauperism, the
Settlement House Movement began by focusing primarily on socializing
immigrants to the United States, and helping migrants make smooth transitions from rural communities to large urban centers. The Settlement House
Movement started in the United States in 1889 when Jane Addams and her
friend, Ellen Gates Starr, opened Hull-House in an impoverished area in
the South Side of Chicago. The area was mostly populated with European
immigrants. The stated purpose of Hull-House was “to provide a center for
higher civic and social life, to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions of the
industrial districts of Chicago” (Addams, 1910, p. 89). Settlement workers
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
used their experience of working with families in need to inform a platform for social change that they pursued vigorously. The reform activities
of the Settlement House Movement firmly planted the social work profession as a discipline committed to social change rooted in the experience
of people in communities. The primary interventions were social group
work, community organization, and social planning (Barker, 2003). For
example, Jane Addams lobbied landlords and law-makers to help improve
housing conditions, developed surveys and promoted neighborhood-based
research to determine family and community needs, and helped to organize labor unions to fight for labor reform (Axinn & Stern, 2008; Brieland,
1990).
Spirituality had a prominent presence in both the COS and the
Settlement House Movements. The first Charity Organization Society in the
United States was established in Buffalo in the 1870s by an Episcopal clergyman, the Reverend S. H. Gurteen. He was previously associated with the
Charity Organization Society in London, and established the Buffalo COS
to prevent abuse of charity. From the pulpit, Rev. Gurteen gave a series of
sermons addressing pauperism and charity. The sermons were published in
pamphlet form under the title Phases of Charity (Watson, 1922). Gurteen’s
congregation, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, reestablished the Guild for the
purpose of aiding and advising not only members of the church, but anyone
deemed deserving after investigation (Watson, 1922, p. 180). The efforts of
the congregation of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church laid the foundation for the
launching of the Buffalo Charity Organization Society.
COS casework consisted of:
Organizing the social forces or resources of a community, including the
latent powers in the individual or family to be helped, in such a fashion
that a permanent cure or solution of the difficulty may be effected if
humanly possible. (Waston, 1922, p. 136)
The resources of religious institutions were a significant social force in
a community that could be leveraged for COS purposes. For example,
the neighborhood forces considered the influence of clergymen, Sundayschool teachers, and church on the individual and the private charity forces
included the influence of church denomination to which the family belonged
on the individual (Watson, 1922).
The Settlement House Movement also had spiritual underpinnings.
Carson (1990) notes, “in the 1880s Protestant theologians began to push
their churches to grapple in new ways with urban problems by accepting
the concept of human brotherhood under Christ as a mandate” (p. 10). Jane
Addams was not a Protestant, nor did she publicly acknowledge being a
member of any denomination. However, she was heavily influenced by her
father and his “Quaker testimonies of equality and community,” as a young
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Spirituality and Community Practice
71
child (Klosterman & Stratton, 2006, p. 6). Undoubtedly, she answered the
call of those Protestant theologians to find new ways of looking at urban
problems. In 1892, Jane Addams delivered a lecture, at the summer session of the School of Applied Ethics in Plymouth, MA, on the motives of
Hull-House settlement workers. Addams (1910) commented on the spiritual
motivation at the center of the Settlement House Movement, “seeking for
the Christ which lieth in each man” (p. 124). This underscores the goal of
the Settlement House Movement to reduce distance between social classes
by recognizing the strength and value of each individual. The Settlement
House Movement represented communities of shared values and ideas. The
settlement workers helped to build mutual and peer support and reciprocity
by using strengths of each family member to help each other and provide
mutual support through direct involvement (Murdach, 2007). For Addams,
the Settlement House Movement embraced Judeo–Christian values, including those in need have a right to help, and society has a responsibility to
assist those in need.
The Settlement House Movement primarily focused on European immigrants and largely ignored the plight of African Americans (Berman-Rossi
& Miller, 1994). African American social work pioneers developed parallel
systems of care to address the needs of African Americans (Carlton-LaNey,
1999; Martin & Martin, 1995). Similar to the Settlement House Movement,
spirituality served as a cornerstone of these systems of care, as well. African
American social work pioneers integrated spirituality and social work to
assist the Black church with racial uplift, to help African Americans realize their talents and strengths that were given by God, and to fulfill a
social debt (Martin & Martin, 2002). African American social work pioneers
maintained that they had the responsibility or social debt to help uplift
the race; this destiny was given by God (Carlton-LaNey, 1999; McCluskey,
1999). For example, Sarah Collins Fernandis is credited with starting the
first Black settlement house in the United States in October, 1902 in the
District of Columbia (Curah, 2001). The Colored Social Settlement was considered an overwhelming success. The achievements included teaching the
community the virtue of thrift through a stamp saving program, teaching
domestic and technical skills for men and women, establishing a public
library, providing day and evening child care services, and establishing the
first playground open to African American children. Additionally, the settlement house lobbied for compulsory school attendance legislation and better
housing conditions for poor African Americans (Curah, 2001). Embracing
the responsibility to fulfill a social debt to the Black community, Fernandis
maintained that it was her duty to empower African Americans with the goal
of improving their standard of living (Curah, 2001).
The Black church played a central role in addressing the needs of
African Americans. According to Martin and Martin (2002), the Black church
was a source of social support and therapy, as well as a refuge for social
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
activities. Historically, the Black church was the leading Black care-giving
institution. Black faith-based groups engaged in community practice to
address the unmet needs of African Americans. The Black church was
responsible for establishing the first self-help societies in African American
communities. For example, Richard Allen and Absalom James, two freed
African Americans in Philadelphia, founded the Free African Society to
address needs in the African American community in 1787. Allen was associated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church and James was aligned
with the African Protestant Episcopal Church (Hill, 1997). Additionally, the
early Black churches established a bevy of institutions including homes for
the elderly, banks and other financial institutions, and low-income housing for African Americans. Moreover, Sabbath schools were the foundation
for elementary and normal schools for free African Americans, and Black
churches were responsible for creating many historical Black colleges and
universities, including Wilberforce (Wilberforce, OH), Morris Brown (Atlanta,
GA), Morgan State University (Baltimore, MD) and Meharry Medical School
(Nashville, TN; Hill, 1997).
One of the most salient cultural strengths of African Americans is a
strong religious commitment. In The Helping Tradition in the Black Family
and Community, Martin and Martin (1985) explore the historical development of the self-help tradition in African American families and communities.
Religious consciousness is a key concept of their work. It is defined as
“deliberate attempts by blacks to live according to those religious beliefs
that call for acts of charity and brotherliness and neighborliness toward one
another as a means of coming closer to God and of carrying out God’s will”
(Martin & Martin, 1985, p. 5). The Black church evolved from this religious
consciousness and became a primary vehicle for Black care-giving to the
community.
Spirituality occupied a prominent role in the COS and Settlement
House Movements, as well as in the parallel systems of care created by
African American social work pioneers. The significance of spirituality
to the social work profession has been solidified in the Educational
Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) for the Council on Social
Work Education (CSWE), the accrediting body for social work education
programs. Educational Policy 2.1.–Apply knowledge of human behavior
and the social environment recognizes the role of spirituality in human
development across the life span. The policy mandates, “social workers
apply theories and knowledge from the liberal arts to understand biological,
social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development” (CSWE, 2008,
p. 6). Educational Policy 2.1.4–Engage diversity and difference in practice
underscores how “diversity characterizes and shapes the human experience
and is critical to the formation of identify” and that the “dimensions of diversity” include a myriad of factors, including religion (CSWE, 2008, p. 4–5).
Understanding and appreciating human diversity requires acknowledging
Spirituality and Community Practice
73
the presence and influence of spirituality on individuals and communities.
Given the historical significance of community practice and the growing
importance of spirituality in social work practice, the authors are interested
in examining the current state of the literature on the integration of
spirituality in contemporary community practice.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
In the past 10 to 15 years, there has been an explosion of literature on
spirituality and social work. Banjeree and Canda (2009) note that more than
700 publications exist on spirituality and social work practice. Many of these
articles give evidence for the importance of spirituality in the resiliency and
healing of a range of populations. For example, several studies have found
that spirituality can buffer the effects of depression in older adults (Han
& Richardson, 2010; Yoon, 2006). Moberg (2005) reports that spirituality is
linked to life satisfaction and well-being in older adults, and serves as an
important coping mechanism for dealing with issues of death and dying.
In their review of the literature of spirituality and youth, Kvarfordt and
Sheridan (2007) find that religious affiliation has several positive effects
on youth, including delaying sexual activity, avoiding substance abuse,
supporting educational achievement, and generally promoting their overall
well-being and development. Spirituality has also been identified as important for coping with stressors associated with poverty and homelessness
(Banerjee & Canda, 2009; Donaldson, Ahearn, Fullerton, Gifford, & Flynn,
2009; Greef & Fillis, 2009), and it has been linked to successful addiction
treatment outcomes (Stewart, 2008).
Recognizing the protective factor that spirituality has on individuals and
groups, researchers have begun to study how social workers use spirituality
in their practice. However, with few exceptions, the majority of literature
related to the integration of spirituality and social work practice focuses on
clinical practice with individuals, families, and groups, to the near-exclusion
of community practice. For example, the first study using multivariate analysis to examine the integration of spirituality and social work practice sampled
204 clinicians on their use of spiritually derived interventions (Sheridan,
2004); community practitioners were not included in this study. In addition,
in their oft-cited text, Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice (Canda &
Furman, 1999, 2010), the authors admit that they chose to focus their text
on micro-level practice. However, they do acknowledge the importance of
“spiritually and community-involved practice” (1999, p. 308), and include a
list of “spiritually oriented helping activities” (p. 291) for practice in organizations and communities. Although this list has been expanded in the
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
second edition of the text (2010), their book remains targeted primarily to
clinicians.
To conduct a literature review specifically focused on the integration
of spirituality and community practice, the authors reviewed textbooks
on spirituality and social work and used two search engines, (ProQuest)
Periodical Abstracts and Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost), to find
relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. The authors conducted searches
with several combinations of key terms, including social work, community
practice, community, community organizing, faith-based programming,
spirituality, religion, community development, faith, community programs,
community involvement, community practitioner, and social worker. The
combined searches yielded well over 1,000 sources. Duplications, book
reviews, and articles older than 1990 were excluded from consideration.
The authors reviewed the abstracts for relevancy to the topic of this paper.
Additionally, abstracts that clearly focused primarily on direct service
interventions were then excluded. The final sample was 254 articles.
The majority of these articles addressed how a faith-based direct service or intervention was developed as a response to an unmet community
need or problem. Many of these interventions were developed under the
auspices of a congregation, and the literature documents the importance of
congregations for community organizing and development initiatives.
Cnaan, Boddie, and Yancey (2005) point out that congregations are the
most common type of mediating institution found in American communities,
and approximately half of the adult population is members of these congregations. Consequently, congregations are sources for organizing community
power; building social capital; accessing community space and materials;
and leveraging dollars, skills, ideas, and energy (from church members) to
design and implement community programs or to organize for social justice.
The literature also reflects that congregations often serve on the front line of
social issues that emerge in a community. Whether it is domestic violence,
addiction, or isolation of older adults, congregations are often the first to
recognize that a community response is needed to an emergent problem.
Furthermore, Wolfer and Huyser (2008) identified that congregations
and faith-inspired individuals offer examples of radical Christian innovations in social welfare, where Biblical narratives and Christian principles
provide the foundation for community interventions. Their special issue
offers inspirational descriptions of international intercongregational relationships (Cosgrove, 2008), communal practices such as the Catholic Worker
Movement (Deines, 2008) and L’Arche communities, and economic empowerment projects driven by Christian principles of social justice (Mask &
Borger, 2008; Wolfer & del Pilar, 2008).
Few articles or books address how community practitioners use spirituality in their work. Canda and Furman (2010) list a number of spiritually
oriented helping activities that could be applied to various levels of social
Spirituality and Community Practice
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TABLE 1 Examples of Spiritually Oriented Helping Activities for Community Practicea
Advocacy for spiritual sensitivity in health and social service policy
Art, music, dance, poetry, theater
Cooperation with clergy, religious communities, and spiritual groups
Cooperation with traditional healers
Developing a spiritual diversity innovation planning group
Developing and using multicultural teams
Developing mutually beneficial human-nature relationships
Developing or collaborating in rituals and ceremonies
Dialoging and cooperating across spiritual perspectives
Exploring community patterns of meaning and ritual
Exploring community’s definition of spirituality and religion
Exploring sacred stories, symbols, and teachings
Forgiveness
International networking
Lobbying and social activism by religious/spiritual groups
Promoting ecojustice and opposing environmental racism
Measuring community religiosity and spirituality
Meditation and prayer
Mindfulness
Nature retreats
Reading scripture and inspirational materials
Reflecting on sacred and inspirational texts
Singing (hymns/songs of liberation or social justice)
Truth and reconciliation commissions and peace building activities
Use of sacred space (e.g., nature, places with history/meaning for participants)
a
Adapted from Canda, E. R., & Furman, L. D. (2010). Spiritual diversity in social work practice:
The heart of helping (2nd ed., pp. 360–361). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
work practice. Table 1 identifies potential techniques adapted from this list
that have the most relevance for community practice.
Sackreiter and Armstrong (2010) describe an educational intervention
aimed at further solidifying a church’s reflection and action to address
homelessness in their local community. Faith-infused educational materials represent one mechanism practitioners can use to spiritually ground and
nurture individuals and groups for social action. Tyler (2009) writes about
the specific role of interfaith-dialogue and sacred space in the peace building work of the International Centre for Reconciliation. For example, one of
the conversations related to peace building in the Middle East was held at
Bethany, the site of Lazarus’ resurrection (John 11:17–44). Citing these talks
in this sacred space provided a hopeful metaphor for the role of faith, reconciliation, and forgiveness in bringing about new life. Recognizing the faith
leaders as one of the first places women go to seek advice in situations of
family violence, Snow, Jones and Fowler (2009) offer a detailed description
of a faith-infused training program for faith and lay leaders.
However, in most articles, the ways in which community practitioners
incorporate spiritually into their work is noticeably absent. For example,
Shirley (2001) illustrates through cases studies how religious institutions,
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
working with an interfaith organization, were able to reform schools,
but the role of spirituality in these efforts is absent. Furthermore, Snyder
(2008) chronicles how a community-based organization used a faith-based
model to empower residents for school reform in Oakland, CA, yet the
author does not elaborate on how faith is infused into the model. In the
article The Business of Faith-Based Organizing: A Management Approach
to Community Change, Jones (2006) offers a framework for organizing for
community change, but does not elucidate how faith is incorporated into
the model. Harris and colleagues (2005) consider the contributions that
faith-based organizations can make to the provision of welfare and other
public services, but the role of spirituality is not considered.
Exploring the motivation of congregations to become involved in community organizing, Slessarev-Jamir (2004) interviews fifteen pastors whose
congregations are actively involved in community organizing. Although
social justice is mentioned by the respondents as a motive to get involved,
the role and influence of spirituality is not explored. In a mixed-methods
study, Botchwey (2007) considers the role of secular and religious organizations on local community development in North Philadelphia. The findings
suggest that congregations and faith-based organizations have a significant
community presence and provide a substantial level of service to individuals; however, the authors do not explore how community organizers use
spirituality in their work. Frederick (2003) provides a historical overview of
the role of the Black church in community development and discusses challenges and opportunities for faith-based community development; however,
the author does not address specific ways in which spirituality is used in the
community development process.
Similarly, the literature reflects that the role of spirituality is powerfully connected to community organizing and social movements (Snyder,
2008; Warren, 2001; Wood, 2002). The importance of faith-based values
in animating people around a common purpose (e.g., building the kingdom of God) gives powerful witness to the relevance of spirituality in
such efforts. People engaged in community organizing or social movements
share how “spiritual rejuvenation not only restore[s] energy and direction
for continuing international peace and justice work, it also deepen[s] their
grounding in compassion as a guide to action” (Canda & Furman, 1999).
However, the literature does not adequately reflect how community practitioners infuse spirituality or religious practices beyond such values serving
as the foundation for the work.
DISCUSSION
There is a preponderance of evidence pointing to the importance of
spirituality in social work practice. The literature is clear on the importance
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Spirituality and Community Practice
77
of spirituality in contributing to the well-being of a range of populations.
In addition, there are abundant examples of how clinicians use spirituality
in their practice with individuals and groups. Numerous articles demonstrate
the importance of congregations and other faith-based organizations in
community development and community organizing. Furthermore, the
practice wisdom of the authors, both community practitioners, speaks to the
importance of using spirituality in community practice. For example, one
author uses an exercise to help diverse community members recognize their
commonalities. Community members are put in groups and asked to make
a list of all the things that they have in common with each other. During the
report out to the larger group, participants nearly always include spirituality
on the list, thereby, demonstrating the importance of spirituality to the larger
community, regardless of their diverse backgrounds. The author invites the
group to consider incorporating spirituality into their work as a community.
More often than not, the groups agree to incorporate spirituality.
In one instance, a group agreed to begin each meeting with religious
rituals to highlight the religious diversity of the group. Other groups have
allowed for moments of silence for prayer or mediation at the beginning or
conclusion of their meetings. The author has observed that acknowledging
and celebrating multifaith perspectives helps to build group cohesion and
mutual respect. Despite the robust examples of positive client outcomes
when direct service practitioners incorporate spirituality in their practice, and
the many illustrations of successful faith-based programming, there is a gap
in the literature when considering how community practitioners incorporate
spirituality in their practice.
There are a number of possible explanations for the absence of literature on the integration of spirituality and community practice. First,
community practice is an integrated method that requires work with systems
at all levels. Community practitioners typically use microskills in working
with individuals and groups for macro-systems change. For example, a community practitioner may build skills and capacities of individual residents
and/or facilitate and support their group process for the planning of community or social change. In doing so, the community practitioner might use
a combination of spiritually derived interventions designed to tap into the
individual spirituality of members present, or to spiritually unify members
engaged in collective action. It may be difficult or confusing for some people to think of these spiritually derived interventions as tools for community
practice because they seem inherently micro- or mezzo-oriented.
Furthermore, despite its growing acceptance in clinical practice,
(Cascio, 1998; Canda & Furman, 1999, 2010; Sheridan, 2004), the role of
spirituality in social work practice remains controversial. Central to the
controversy are legitimate concerns about the imposition of agency and
worker values, beliefs, and practices on vulnerable people. In addition,
some forms of community practice are associated with a long history
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
of imposing beliefs and practices on vulnerable communities. Examples
include the colonization of various African countries and the suppression
of Native American or First Nations spirituality (and their forced conversion
to Christianity) during the birth and growth of the United States. Moreover,
although spirituality is typically experienced through relationships between
human beings, it is still largely viewed as a private matter. Even within
denominations, spirituality is uniquely experienced and expressed based
on diverse cultural, family, gender, and individual preferences. Because
community practitioners are typically working with a group of individuals
that represent the range of human diversity, applying particular spiritual
practices as part of a community intervention, beyond a general expression
of shared values, may be viewed as a minefield versus a wellspring for
building community solidarity. In addition, community practitioners are
faced with the reality that some community members may not believe
in the presence of a deity or participate in religious or faith-based practices. Reconciling differences among believers and nonbelievers engaged
together in community change may be a disincentive for community
practitioners to try to incorporate spirituality into their work to ensure
that no single member is alienated or devalued in the community change
process.
IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH, PRACTICE, AND EDUCATION
The literature reflects a clear and crucial role for faith-based organizations in
community practice, and the importance of faith-values in grounding, animating, and sustaining collective action toward a shared purpose. However,
the literature does not empirically examine how community practitioners use
spirituality in their practice, and few articles offer concrete and specific ideas
for integrating spirituality in the day-to-day work of community practitioners. Consequently, a research agenda examining the link between spirituality
and community practice would begin with a baseline study, surveying community practitioners on attitudes and behaviors related to the integration
and use of spiritually derived interventions in their work. Researchers can
help practitioners think about spiritually derived methods in terms of community practice by focusing on the ultimate target of change. If spiritually
derived methods are used with individuals and groups to bolster, renew,
and engage in community change efforts, they should be discussed as a
community practice technique.
Ethnographic and other qualitative research methods are also necessary
to understand the depth and richness of the ways in which community
practitioners integrate spirituality in their work. Wood’s (2002) ethnographic
research on faith-based community organizing provides concrete and vivid
examples of the integration of faith in community organizing; one model
Spirituality and Community Practice
79
of community practice. Although some of the sociological literature offers
rich descriptions on how groups integrate spirituality into their work, such
studies do not appear to exist in the social work literature. Other important
research questions to be addressed are:
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How does the spirituality of community practitioners inspire, sustain, and
shape their work?
What are the attitudes and behaviors of community practitioners who
come from a nonfaith background or from a different faith tradition
from the community they serve toward using spiritually derived interventions? How do they feel about leveraging spirituality as a resource in the
communities they serve?
What is the role of agency context in the use of spirituality in community
practice? Does a faith-based or secular context change how practitioners
use spirituality derived interventions?
What limitations does spirituality bring to community practice?
Are there some communities that appear more receptive to spiritually derived interventions than others (international versus domestic,
denominational differences, racial or ethnic differences)?
Is there a spiritual nature to communities formed outside the sponsorship of congregations or religious institutions? Does a form of spirituality
emerge within a community from a shared sense of purpose or meaning
for its work together? If so, how do we know it is there, how do we tap
into that spiritual energy to further advance the group’s work, and what
does that mean for social workers engaged in community practice?
The historical significance of community practice to the social work profession and the growing interest in spirituality and social work practice call for
more research in this area.
Given the importance of congregations in communities, it is clear that
one of the practice implications in working with communities is that practitioners should consider faith-based organizations as crucial partners in
coalition-building, community organizing, or community/program development initiatives. In writing about how religions institutions and individuals
within religious communities have responded to community mental health
needs throughout much of recorded history, Haugh (2011) states “For thousands of years, priests, witch doctors, oracles, shamans, ministers, and so on
have helped people with problems in living” (p. 20). Similarly, researchers
have highlighted the roles of the Black church in addressing an array of mental health and community needs, including the development of church-based
programs and service delivery systems, models for linking churches and formal service agencies, programs to feed the unemployed, and free health
clinics (Taylor, Ellison, Chatters, Levin & Lincoln, 2000). Faith communities
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A. J. Hill and L. P. Donaldson
have historically responded to community needs and can be strong allies for
community practitioners.
As researchers continue to examine the integration of spirituality and community practice, evidence-based spiritually derived practice
methods will emerge. Evidenced-based practice integrates well-researched
interventions, practitioner expertise, client culture and preferences, and
ethics to inform service delivery. Numerous resources for evidence-based
social work practice exist (Powers, Bowen & Bowen, 2011; Stout & Hayes,
2005; Usher & Wildfire, 2003), yet much of it focuses on direct services
with individuals versus communities. Greater understanding of how community practitioners integrate spirituality into their practice may begin to
close this knowledge gap. As spiritually derived models of community practice develop, it will be important to develop frameworks for organizational
practice to evaluate an agency’s preparedness to implement these spiritually
derived models over time.
As the scholarship on evidenced-based spiritually derived practice
models grows, standards and competencies for integrating spirituality into
community practice will emerge. The NASW Code of Ethics (2008) states that
social work practitioners have an ethical responsibility to enrich their professional expertise in their areas of competence. Best practices will ensue
with the emergence of new knowledge about the integration of spirituality
and community practice. These best practices will be used to help establish
core competences and standards for integrating spiritually derived methods
into community practice that will inform future CSWE Educational Policy
and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) development.
CSWE already recognizes the spiritual dimension of the human person as a source of both human development and oppression (EPAS, 2008).
Therefore, social work education needs to better incorporate empirical, conceptual, and practical content in its courses to build competence in spiritually
derived practice with emerging practitioners. Such content could be integrated into community practice and/or group courses, or discrete courses
on social work and spirituality.
Educators should draw on the existing conceptual literature to help students unpack the meaning of terms like spirituality and religion. Grounded
in these conceptual understandings, educators should help students develop
awareness about their attitudes and behaviors toward religion and spirituality and what that means for their future professional practice. Students
should be made aware of the empirical evidence showing the benefits of
religion and spirituality to human development and community empowerment, while also examining the ways in which religion and spirituality have
oppressed populations and communities of people. A strong conceptual and
empirical grounding in religion and spirituality will help students grapple
with the many ethical considerations associated with integrating spirituality
and community practice. For example, ethical issues may arise based on: the
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Spirituality and Community Practice
81
competence of the professional in using spiritually derived interventions or
in resolving ethical conflicts; value conflicts between the professional and
community members or among community members themselves based on
spiritual/religious differences; and conflicts related to the use and selection
of particular spiritual practices and language when working with spiritually
diverse communities. Finally, social work educators should teach particular spiritually derived interventions to build competence and confidence in
using such methods among these emerging practitioners. Core to these practice methods are group processing skills that help communities develop their
own rituals, language, symbols, songs, stories, and so on, that have meaning
for and are sacred to them. Fostering the development of a meaningful community narrative could be a powerful unifying force leveraged for positive
change.
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