“Faith-Based Collaboration:
Transforming Congregations and
Communities
How Christians in social work can help
bridge the community – congregational gap.
NACSW Audio Conference
September 30, 2002
William L. Raymond, MSW
FaithWorks Consulting Service, LLC
184 E. 26th Street
Holland, MI 49423
616.394.9212
braymond@macatawa.org
www.faithworksconsulting.com
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The following workshop is designed to help Christians in social work think through an expanded
role in community and congregational based settings. Over the years social work has seemingly
emphasized an individual or family based clinical perspective, in isolation from a broader
community and systemic perspective. It is the contention of the presenter of this workshop that
these emphases need not exist in isolation from, or competition with, one another. The following
information is in an “expanded outline” form and will form the basis of discussion and
interaction for the audio conference. The information is presented, not as a last word or the
definitive word, but as fuel for discussion and sharing of perspectives. I believe that the
information presented here needs to be taken into consideration as we continue to discern what it
means to be Christians in social work and what it means to live out faith and practice in
communities, agencies and churches.
Session I
Congregational Readiness
Partnership Issues between Human
Service Organizations and Congregations
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“When lawyers settle all the disputes, when teachers do all the teaching, when doctors do all the
curing, then people lose their capacity to do these things and the result is an ever enlarging cycle
of dependency and need. The professions can even contribute to the problems they are seeking
to resolve.”
Edgar Cahn, Time Dollars
While the majority of employees of social service agencies intend no malice, the poverty
industry, by its very nature, is geared toward self-perpetuation and the continued custodianship
of its clients rather than toward their self-sufficiency and independence.”
Robert Woodson, The Triumphs of Joseph
“Current social work theory encourages an underestimation of capacity and exaggerates
incapacity. It relies heavily on the “myth of intimacy” – the relationship between the
professional and the client – and thereby reduces attention to environmental causes of stress and
communal sources of strength.”
Harry Specht and Mark Courtney,
Unfaithful Angels: How Social Work Has
Abandoned its Mission
“The community . . . may be displaced by the intervention of human service professionals acting
as an alternative method of problem solving. Human service professionals with special
expertise, techniques and technology push out the problem solving knowledge and action of
friend, neighbor, citizen and association. As the power of profession and service system ascends,
the legitimacy, authority and capacity of citizens and community descend. The citizen retreats.
The client advances.”
John McKnight,
The Careless Society
“The professionalization of problems which remove people from the natural setting may provide
temporary relief, but it also depletes a community of experience and resources for dealing with . .
. problems in the future. In bypassing existing helping structures (or failing to create them with
the people) we may systematically lower the adaptive capacity of many human populations and
weaken those indigenous resources which in times of crises may be the only ones available and
cooperative."
O. Ramirez, as quoted by Paulette Moore Hines in
Carter & McGoldrick, The Changing Family Life
Cycle
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Mary Pipher – Observations on Therapy and Mistakes Therapists Make
1. “Therapy has pathologized ordinary human experience and taught that suffering needs
to be analyzed.”
“The intense emotions we all feel – anxiety, anger, despair – all have been labeled
pathological and ‘treated” by therapists. This pathologizing of ordinary behavior makes it
impossible for families to survive a therapists scrutiny. Overt fighting is harmful, while
covert fighting is passive/aggressive. Either the parents handled conflict out of sight of their
children so that the children had no model for handling conflicts, or the parents fought in
front of their children and traumatized them. Either parents are too present or too absent, too
distant or too intrusive, too controlling or too relaxed. It’s lose/lose for parents and all
children can feel victimized. The game was rigged so that there were no right answers.
2. We have focused on weakness rather than resilience or strength.
“The focus on weakness is widespread in our culture. Victims and victimizers attract
attention. Their stories are the ones we hear. The heroes with daily courage tend to receive
less attention than violent villains. Therapists follow in both a cultural and professional
tradition when we focus on pathology. Therapists have generated much more writing on
mental illness and victimization than on mental health and strength.
3. We have encouraged narcissism and checked basic morality at the doors of our offices.
We have confused ethical and mental health issues, empathy and accountability.
“Therapy’s non-blaming language has its uses, but it has also produced a sort of moral mush.
. . Without standards of conduct we are all simply pursuing our own hedonistic agenda. . .
Therapy can be a kind of ‘lay confession’. ‘I’ll tell you my screwups if you’ll absolve me of
guilt and let me keep on doing what I want.’ . . . We are a polarized society. The ‘right’
focuses on accountability while the ‘left’ focuses on empathy. Both sides are right. A
society without accountability is a dangerous place. A society without empathy is fascist. A
healthy society must say to its members ‘We empathize with your troubles, but you must
behave properly.’ A decent society teaches both empathy and accountability. On both
counts we are all in this together.”
4. “We have focused on individual ‘salvation’ rather than collective well-being.”
“Therapy has contributed to the cultural shift from collective political action to individual
mental health. We’ve encouraged self-analysis at the expense of social change. We have
treated morality as a personal and pragmatic matter, not as a community concern. We have
abdicated responsibility to speak to the moral & social issues of our time. Our focus has
been too narrow. We need to know how client’s lives affect other lives and the world at
large. . . Lives are meaningful and satisfying when they involve commitment, justice,
truthfulness and community.
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5. “We’ve suggested that therapy is more important than real life.”
“Even at our best we can inadvertently ‘inflict help’ on others. (Sometimes) we have led
people to believe that only trained professionals can offer support and guidance. That’s not
true. Much of the best guidance comes from spouses, family, friends and co-workers. Life is
first. Clients may learn to trust in their relationships with therapists. But therapists should be
transition relationships for them. After us they can trust other people and make some friends
or reconnect with family. At best a therapist is a consultant who helps people process life
thoroughly. In terms of priorities for loyalty and attachment, therapists should come after
family, friends and co-workers. We care about them, but we are hired help.”
From Mary Pipher, The Shelter of Each Other, pages 113 – 130.
Observations on A New Practice and the New Practitioners
“The staff in successful programs take on an extended role in the lives of the children and
families they work with. They think beyond professional services and help families to
strengthen bonds with neighbors, churches, and other natural networks of support. They respond
to the needs of families at places and times that make sense to the family – often at home, at
school, or in neighborhood centers and at odd hours – rather than offering help only in places
that may be convenient for agency staff but are far removed geographically and psychologically
from those who use them.”
“In view of the growing interest in mentoring and other supports and services provided
by non- professionals, it is striking how many of the characteristics of effective professional
practice also apply to the involvement of volunteers. Extensive and systematic studies have
now shown effective mentors and volunteers are not free-lancers who bypass all the structural
impediments that have made it difficult to provide effective services in formal systems. Quite
the contrary, they too are dependent on supportive structures to be effective. “You can’t turn
volunteers and kids loose and hope for the best,” says Marjorie Wilkes of New York Mentoring.
“It’s plain unrealistic to assume mentoring is easy or that you can do it on the cheap.” The
strongest conclusion of a synthesis of seven years of research on mentoring was that effective
mentoring requires program structures that support mentors in their efforts to build trust and
develop positive relationships with youth. “Most volunteers and youth cannot be simply
matched and then left to their own devices.” Programs must provide the infrastructure –
including screening, training, and ongoing supervision – to foster the development of effective
relationships.”
“In talking with researchers and practitioners about the importance of relationships, I
have concluded that I have been observing the evolution of a new form of professional
practice, often at odds with more conventional ways of working.”
The new practice has emerged, more pragmatically than ideologically, from many
disciplinary origins, often in opposition to professional traditions. The touchstones of the new
practice are new professional skills, new professional norms, new power relationships, and a new
mindset about what it means to be a professional. Far from ‘coddling’ their clients, which
worries conservative politicians, the new professional aims, quite consciously, to strengthen the
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ability of clients, students, young people and families to make the journey toward independence
and to take greater control over their own and their children’s lives. To this end, practitioners
elicit client strengths and assets rather than pathology.”
The family support movement has been one impetus behind the development of a new
relationship between helper and helped, encouraging transactions that become a “problemsolving exchange between mutually respecting persons.”
“These are obviously tricky waters. The balance between being supportive and being
challenging, between providing security and new worlds to master, between building on family
strengths without forgetting that family pathology also requires a competent response, is hard to
achieve and maintain. So it is not surprising that many effective programs report that to achieve
this balance, they pay careful attention in recruitment to personal characteristics and relevant life
experience as well as formal education.
The new practitioner, then, especially in working with populations that have been
disconnected from the supports traditionally provided by families and neighbors, is able to help
reduce dependency and strengthen families by adopting a new, empowering and collaborative
mode of professional practice.
From Lisbeth Schorr, Common Purpose – Families and Neighborhoods to Rebuild America. Doubleday, 1997.
Pages 12 – 15.
.
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Prevalence of Selected Potential Barriers to Employment for Women
Receiving Welfare and Not Receiving Welfare in 1991.
Current
Non
Welfare
Recipients
Potential Barrier to Employment
Recipients %
%
17.06
6.87
Medical Problems of the Household head
Not seeking work because of own medical problems
10.41
2.20
Medical condition limits the kind or amount of
6.65
4.67
work individual can do.
Children’s Medical Problems
Presence of child with chronic condition
20.70
10.88
24.20
11.38
Mental Health Problems
Is depressed 5 – 7 days per week
13.19
4.26
Is depressed 3 – 5 days per week
11.05
7.14
36.92
29.64
Alcohol and drug use
Is concerned about being an alcoholic or has had
recent problems at work or school because of
4.88
4.84
drinking
Some physical indication of problem drinking
19.98
9.46
(shakes, loss of memory, drinking in the morning).
Has used or currently uses cocaine or crack
8.70
7.29
extensively (more than 100’s times)
Has used or currently uses marijuana extensively
15.67
14.54
64.49
22.23
Low Basic Skills
Extremely low basic skills (bottom decile)
33.05
7.6
th
th
Very low basic skills (10 – 25 percentile)
31.44
14.63
Presence of any barriers to employment
Severe barriers, excluding low skills
31.54
16.86
Severe barriers, including extremely low basic skills
53.70
22.55
Moderate or severe barriers, excluding low skills
65.88
45.29
Moderate or severe barriers, including very low
89.10
55.86
basic skills
Sample size
517
4014
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Range of Estimates in the Literature of Potential
Barriers to Employment Among TANF Recipients
Low
High
Barrier to Employment
Estimate % Estimate %
Serious Disability
6.1
13.6
Any health limitation
16.6
28.5
Mental health problems
2.0
28.4
Child with some level of
11.1
21.1
disability
Excessive or frequent drug or
4.9
37.0
alcohol abuse
Domestic violence
6.1
80.0
Child welfare involvement
3.2
20.0
Homelessness of housing
9.3
48.0
instability
Low skills (grade school
10.0
30.0
education)
From “Personal and Family Challenges to the Successful Transition from Welfare to Work”, by
Krista Olsen and LaDonna Pavetti. The Urban Institute, May 17, 1996. Prepared for the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the Administration for Children and
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Critical Issues Facing Faith-Based Organizations
as Providers of Community Services
Philanthropic Particularism
The tendency to "focus on particular subgroups" to the exclusion of others". There
has been a tendency for the congregations to focus on what are perceived to be
"safe" groups. There has also been a tendency to focus on internal issues and
groups to the exclusion or neglect of external groups.
Philanthropic Paternalism
The tendency for those running voluntary associations (in this case churches) to be
relatively well off and thus not sufficiently sensitive to or knowledgeable about
those in need" (Monsma, When Sacred and Secular Mix, p. 22).
Philanthropic Amateurism
"The tendency for necessary professional skills and perspectives to be undercut or
watered down by the pet nostrums of nonprofessionals". Monsma, p. 22)
Philanthropic Insufficiency
"The central failing of the voluntary system as a provider of collective goods has
been its inability to generate resources on a scale that is both adequate enough and
reliable enough to cope with the human service problems of an advanced industrial
society". (Salamon, Partners in Public Service, 1995, p. 45).
From Lester Salamon: Partners in Public Service
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Characteristics of Missional Churches
From Church Growth/Health to Missional Churches
We have observed a watershed occur in the last few years. Much of the effort of the church
growth and church health movements was focused on how to get people into the church and help
them stay there. Now a new movement, perhaps called the missional church, is forming that
helps disperse people back out of the church - this time equipped to make significant changes in
their communities. On the backside of the watershed is a renewed purpose and mission for the
church that completes rather than contradicts the accomplishments that preceded it.
Missional Church – The Overflow of an Equipping Church
The aforementioned watershed shift of purpose is precisely what we at LTN are committed to in
our next phase of growth. From the beginning of LTN, we conducted research in churches where
they were using equipping systems that prepared people inside the church with the clear purpose
to propel people outside the church. The "resource churches" that we are building our programs
and models around are "missional churches." They not only talk about but demonstrate a track
record of discipleship on the streets. They measure their success not in numbers of attendees, not
in numbers of people who are committed to various church programs, but in how their efforts are
making a difference in the crime rate of their community, in the economic divide of their city,
and in the understanding of the world that the compassion of Christ is real in both meeting
immediate and eternal needs.
From Leadership Network, e-quipper, #9, January 2001
Characteristics of Missional Churches
Crossing traditional boundaries. Effective missional churches pursue partnerships that cross
traditional boundaries – such as denominations, ethnicity, geography, and socio-economics.
These churches tend to see themselves as part of the larger expression of God’s presence in the
community, city and world
Gauging success by transformed lives. Effective missional churches regularly evaluate their
own effectiveness based on the transformation of people’s lives and the community. They’re
constantly asking the question, “What difference does it make and why are we here?” and “How
do we measure our effectiveness in the church body, the community and the world?”
Impacting the culture for the Kingdom. Effective missional churches find creative ways to
embrace the culture in which they exist. They don’t sell out to culture, but rather seek to
understand it so they can engage it and impact it for the Kingdom. It’s a mindset that says, “My
church is more than just my local congregation; it has a broader purpose and role within the
culture.”
Planting new churches and training church leaders. Effective missional churches adopt an
intentional strategy of starting new churches and training leaders. Missional churches are
involved in planting new churches and mentoring “learner” churches in creative ways.”
From Leadership Network, Next, volume 6, 2nd Quarter 2000. www.leadnet.org
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Characteristics of Apostolic Churches/Christians
1. Credibility. Authentic, apostolic Christians are credible. They have congruence between
their professed faith and their practiced faith. They are genuine and honest about being
“sinners saved by grace.” They can identify with others with a realness that says they can be
trusted. “I shall not believe in the Redeemer of these Christians until they show me they are
redeemed.” (Nietzsche)
2. “Effective Christian apostles believe in the possibilities of people.” Depravity may be
total, but it’s not absolute. God has overcome sin through Jesus Christ and what we see
today in people doesn’t represent who and what they can become in Christ. To me, this is a
point of connection with the emphasis on the “strength-based, solution focused” approach in
the human service arena. It also is reflected in the “asset-based” approach to community
development and community organizing.
3. “Effective apostles study, analyze and even research the population and culture they
are asked to reach." There is identification with, and an understanding of, those whom we
wish to work with and minister to. We need to learn how to ‘exegete the context’ and
understanding the culture of families struggling with poverty, welfare and homelessness. We
need to understand the needs, strengths, values, life-styles, felt-needs, barriers and doubts.
4. “Effective apostolic communicators identify with the people they are called to reach.
Expressing the incarnational model, they come to understand what life looks like and feels
like within the experience of the target population.” This is not ‘ministry from a distance’.
What if the Christian church looked seriously at people and families in poverty as an
“unreached people group”? Far too many Christians have no conceptual or personal
understanding of poverty and families struggling with poverty.
5. “Because people are more than ‘souls with ears’, effective apostolic congregations are
not involved in (verbal) witness alone. They are involved, perhaps even more, in ministries
to a range of human needs.” Think of the possibilities here for Christians in social work to
share expertise and help churches go deeper into community ministry. More and more
churches are moving in this direction, but in many cases the ministry does not involve anyone
with a social work background.
6. “Effective apostolic communicators are characterized by a remarkable persistence in
pursuing their apostolic vision.” There is effective leadership. They prevail and achieve
their goals by determination, endurance and ‘courageous patience’. There is a ‘long
obedience in the same direction’.
From George G. Hunter III, How to Reach Secular People, pages 118 – 133.
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The Celtic Way of Evangelism/Ministry – “Itinerant Monasteries”
Strategic Preparation for Ministry – Depth, Compassion and Power
 Emphasized common life together – community, work, meals, worship, study, prayer
 Small group support – mutual accountability
 Time with a “soul-friend” for encouragement, support and nurture
 Voluntary periods of solitude – time alone with God – reflection, meditation, prayer, etc
 Emphasis on reaching out to the surrounding community – not just an internal focus but how
to include others – extension and compassion
 Strong focus on leadership development and forming new traveling monastic (church
planting) teams – exponential growth and replication. Emphasized “learning by doing”.
Commitment to Hospitality
 Intentional inclusion of people in the life of the community
 Nurtured relationships
 Ministry of engagement and “ministry of conversation”
 Emphasized meeting people where they were at in life
Imaginative Prayer and a commitment to creativity
 Prayer as a “poetic art form”
 Prayer without ceasing – imagination
 Strong emphasis on visual imagery
 Strong appreciation for art, music and creativity – integrated into community life
 Strong appreciation for nature – Celtic style had an impact on St. Francis and the
Benedictines.
Commitment to Team Ministry
 Emphasized community ministry over personal ministry
 Relational and personal yet with peer and group support
 Identified with people – sought to understand the “pre-christian” person
 Worked at establishing friendships and “loving their neighbor”
 Further emphasis on ministry of listening and conversation
Emphasized the guest’s experience of Christian community and how the community
responded to their needs
 Emphasized “belonging before believing”
 Emphasized that faith was more “caught than taught”. Being versus doing.
 Emphasis on acceptance of the person and loving them into the Kingdom
 Focused on being “impressed by the possibilities of the ordinary”
 Built on discernment and understanding of culture – looked for connecting points of
understanding and engaging the culture of the “tribal” community (this has tremendous
implications for our “post-modern” or “post-christendom” era).
This information is from the book The Celtic Way of Evangelism, by George G. Hunter III. © 1999, Abingdon
Press, Nashville, TN.
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Session II
“Faith-Based” Consultation and Family Support
Beyond Charity and Into the Community
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INTERMEDIARY CONSULTING ORGANIZATION
Equip, train and support local congregations for effective community outreach
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS
Refer
Families
Churches
Refer families;
Request
information/help
Families &
Individuals
Request
assistance
assistance
INTERMEDIARY
ROLE
PROFESSIONAL/
EXPERIENCED
STAFF/VOLUNTEERS
screen/assess;
make referrals; support
congregation; consult &
equip along the charity –
service – development
– justice continuum
Values – network,
partner, connect,
collaborate, servant
leadership, build
community capacity
Local
Congregations
Equipped &
Mobilized
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Hosting Options for an “Intermediary” Process
Option
Congregationally Based
Single congregation involved
in working with families from
a defined area or referral
source.
Neighborhood/Parish Based
Neighboring congregations/
groups form a partnership to
work with families in their
neighborhood.
Agency Based
Public or Private Agency
Recruitment of congregational
volunteers to work with
agency clients
Intermediary Consulting
Organization
Specialized organization
developed to intentionally
consult with congregations.
Congregational ministry
development focus. Church
centered cooperative and
coordinated effort. Church
and community capacity
building focus.
Opportunities





Can be very mission driven
Congregation can control philosophy and
funding
Creates ministry opportunities for members
Can be developed relatively quickly
Simpler, focused approach






Coordinated effort
Broadens ownership and resources
Broadens diversity
Broader funding base
May create better access to outside resources
Creates an economy of scale












Collaborative Intermediary

A defined number of
organizations form an
intentional collaboration
(distinct from cooperative or
coordinated efforts). Can
include public or private
agencies and congregations.




Driven by mission of the agency
Administrative and program structure in place
Can be built on track record, if agency is well
established
Professional staff in place to administer and
oversee


Challenges
Limited in scope
Funding can be limited
Perspective may be limited
Lower diversity
Limits number of volunteers
May have limited program and administrative
capacity
May become turf oriented
May duplicate other ministries





More work to sustain
More relationships to manage
Increases potential for disagreement
Scope may still be limited or small
Sufficient funding can be a concern

May be perceived as pulling resources away
from congregations
Can become competitive and turf oriented
Scope that the agency wants may outstrip the
capacity of congregations
Reporting/evaluation requirements may be a
hindrance for congregations
Agency agenda may overshadow
congregational and volunteer perspective











Strong network element
Increased partnerships
Helps diverse congregations increase
involvement according to their own
philosophy and background
Demonstrates congregational unity
Blends professional and volunteer expertise
and perspectives
Broader base of support
Economy of scale
Can build on or incorporate the intermediary
process above
Emphasizes shared resources and
complementary strength
Powerful mechanism for change
Can leverage funding more effectively
Can decrease competition among
organizations
Built in process to deal with differences and
conflict











Different approach/paradigm. Nontraditional & can be hard to explain, at least
initially
Requires a sharing of turf
Can become spread too thin
Need to continually work on behalf of
partnering congregations and help them go
deeper into ministry
Need to focus on achieving results through
others
Need to avoid tendency to become another
direct service agency
Needs to be carefully developed
Complex and tricky to manage
Can be difficult to maintain
Requires strong commitment with trust and
communication
Requires commensurate levels of resource
allocation among collaborators
Don’t let one or two strong partners dominate
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The Role of Intermediaries in Welfare to Work and Other Community Partnerships
Why Intermediary Organizations are Needed
1. Government (and other NPO’s) often are interested in soliciting help from the faith
community, but are unfamiliar with the cultures and expectations of the various groups.
They lack experience in recruiting, mobilizing, training and supporting congregations. An
effective intermediary can help decrease competition among agencies for church resources.
2. The scope of need (i.e., the number of low-income families needing assistance) is too large
for any one congregation. To make a notable impact, many churches are needed.
3. Congregations may not be well equipped to screen and assess needy families. An
intermediary can more effectively coordinate faith-based efforts to serve families and guard
against fraud and exploitation of churches. Clearinghouse function.
4. Congregations often have the desire to help, but aren’t sure how to proceed. Training,
support and infrastructure are needed.
5. It is more efficient for government agencies to interact with one (or a few) central
organizations, rather than try to maintain contact with numerous individual churches.
6. A faith-based intermediary is often better positioned to win the churches’ trust than is a
government agency. Congregations can expect that the faith-based intermediary understands
and respects the churches religious mission and desire to minister out of its faith convictions.
7. An intermediary can also build trust with public and private agencies and help them extend
their mission by helping connect families and individuals to ongoing community support
systems. An intermediary can be an objective “third party” that helps interpret different
organizational cultures.
8. An intermediary can help churches understand the culture, values and policies of public and
private agencies. Build trust.
9. An intermediary can be a buffer between church and state – help church and state build
partnerships without becoming unduly entangled.
What Intermediaries Do
1. Assist government and other non-profit agencies in designing church-state partnership (or
other collaborative) initiatives to assist families.
2. Act as a supportive association for local churches – a professional support that enhances their
ministry.
3. Recruit and mobilize local churches to join the initiative. Marketing process.
4. Help churches complete “readiness assessments”, evaluate the level/type of community
ministry the church can do effectively and show congregations how to mature in their ability
to engage in a wider range of ministry – charity, service, development, justice.
5. Help church members learn to relate and communicate cross-culturally.
6. Engage in a “train the trainer” process for church based ministries. Equip churches for
deeper ministry and involvement.
 Teach volunteers/churches to become effective listeners and problems solvers
 Show volunteers/churches how to assist families in defining their goals
 Show volunteers/churches how to winsomely address families’ spiritual needs in a
natural and non-coercive manner.
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 Show churches how to build “mutually transformational” relationships and not treat
families as a “project”.
7. Screen and assess the needs of low-income families that volunteer for the initiative, and then
match these families with local congregations properly suited to assist them.
8. Provide ongoing support and advice to churches and volunteers participating in the initiative;
troubleshoot problems, offer advice on outreach policies.
9. Sometimes intermediaries coordinate gatherings of volunteers and congregations for
encouragement, support, fellowship, inservice training and sharing of experiences and
lessons learned.
10. Convene congregations and organizations to deal with community or policy issues.
11. Act as a central contracting source to funnel resources to congregations and help smaller or
inexperienced congregations negotiate relationships with city/county/state governmental
agencies and private funding sources such as corporations and foundations.
12. Maintains records of assistance given to families and monitor progress made by families in
achieving their goals. Assure good reporting procedures to governmental or other funding
agency. Provide an ongoing evaluation component. Act as a central administrative support
for churches so they don’t have to get caught up in heavy administrative oversight.
13. An effective intermediary can act as a buffer between church and state – so that church and
state can partner together without becoming unduly entangled. Intermediary can also be a
buffer between church and church; denomination and denomination; church and agency; and
church and family.
14. Intermediary can help bridge the gap between churches and human service community.
Agencies and churches can unwittingly compete over how best to help. Also churches need
to learn from professional helping perspective and agencies need to learn and benefit from
church ministry/volunteer perspective.
15. Intermediaries can help churches be effective “mediating structures”
16. Intermediaries can help the church engage in the necessary leadership, structure, vision and
intentionality so that resources in the church are “unleashed” in effective programs. It can
help the church be salt and light and become a more open system.
17. An effective intermediary can help the church engage in visible unity – congregations
working together achieve a whole that is greater that the sum of the parts.
18. An effective intermediary truly consults, trains, equips and supports local congregations. It is
not there to do the direct service or to compete with human service agencies that provide
direct services. The intermediary helps churches extend the good things that agencies do and
pick up where an agency has to leave off.
17
Observations on Church Capacity and Readiness
“Faith-based” organizations are already providing extensive and crucial help to millions. It is
not realistic to expect America’s religious institutions to dramatically increase their social service
programs.”
Jim Castelli and John McCarthy in
Religion Sponsored Social Service
Providers: The Not-So-Independent Sector
“Politicians or anyone else who thinks that there were thousands of faith-based organizations
raring to go, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I don’t see that.”
Stanley Carlson-Thies, Center for Public Justice
As quoted by the NY Times, Oct 17, 2000
“Indiana invited nearly 10,000 churches and religious groups to workshops to explain the process
of applying for government money for social service programs. While about 1,000 people
attended the workshops, 75 groups applied for government money; of those 43 were awarded a
total of $3,422,000. The biggest response came from urban African-American congregations,
many of which have been serving the needy for years.
Report on FaithWorks of Indiana,
NY Times, Oct 17, 2000
“The role of the churches is and should be to do all in their power to see to it that the State
fulfills its responsibility for all its citizens . . . . Furthermore, government employees equipped
with social service skills are the appropriate people to administer our health and social welfare
programs and funds – not volunteers from among our congregations. It is outside our
responsibility and beyond our capability to do what you are suggesting.”
Group of Detroit area ministers in a
letter to Gov. John Engler of MI in 1996
"Charitable choice opens the door more than anything that I have seen in my lifetime to the
church being able to take over the state and turn this nation into a theocracy."
Charles Moore, a Methodist pastor
with the Texas Faith Network,
responding to Charitable Choice
“These remarks are dangerous because they avoid the primary responsibility of government –
and push it off on the guilty conscience of well-meaning citizens who, if they took the suggestion
seriously, might do untold harm to the recipients and in the process might cripple their parish
churches.”
Rev. Paul Moore, Episcopal Bishop of NY,
responding to a proposal by Mayor Koch to
have churches provide shelter to the homeless
18
Ministry Observations and Trends
“The church is the one society on earth that exists for those outside her, yet the record of the
average North American congregation does not seem to support this statement. Most churches
are havens of refuge rather than dynamic centers for transformative mission in society. . . Almost
all equipping books, programs, seminars, and materials concentrate on the gathered life of the
church.”
Paul Stevens and Phil Collins in
The Equipping Pastor
“The primary preoccupation of the church is not to be directed toward its own inner life but
toward people outside. The church is not founded for the benefit of its own members but as a
sign to those who live, act, and work outside the narrow limits of the church. The church today
has too often turned itself inside out. Its primary function seems to be maintaining the mass of
professed Christians within the church, servicing their needs. Missionary action, concern for
non-Christians, witness, sign-bearing, all get secondary consideration – if there is time, energy
and money left after all the services.”
Juan Luis Segundo,
as quoted by Gregory Pierce in
Activism That Makes Sense
“Outreach and evangelism in the future will occur primarily through ‘lay’ ministry or ‘living out
the Gospel’ to a culture and people who are looking for authentic & tangible demonstrations of
the Gospel message.”
“Increasingly, missional churches are beginning to try and measure the impact of their existence
and effectiveness in ways other than number of members and dollars in the budget and to address
the question of transformed lives and communities.”
“There will be an increasing number of partnerships between governments and faith-based
organizations in an effort to transform communities in need.”
Linda Childress, in message to
Leadership Network conference participants
“Increasingly, nonprofit social sector institutions will become the agent of government. "What is
the best role for government in community building? To pay the bills. Anything beyond that is to
be resisted. Governments find it very difficult to work with non-governmental organizations
unless they are exceedingly big. Working with the government is a source of money for specific
tasks, but you pay a heavy price. Know what you are going to accomplish. Don't start out with
what the government wants to accomplish. The great temptation in any nonprofit today is to
subordinate mission to getting money."
Peter Drucker in
“Converting Geography into Community” address
to Leadership Network workshop participants
19
Operating Assumptions for FCS Process and Intermediary Organizations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Primary emphasis is on equipping local churches to engage in ministry with families
dealing with poverty, welfare, homelessness, et.al. Church has much to offer but also has
much to learn. Need to overcome fear, isolation, ignorance, turf orientation. Much
potential but often a “closed system.
Experiential learning through transformational activity is the key. Beyond dialogue to
action.
Based on public and private partnership – not a privatization effort. Collaboration.
Blends professional and volunteer skills and gifts.
Church and state can partner effectively via a process of “connected autonomy”.
Church/Faith-based involvement needs vision, leadership, planning, structure and
intentionality. Need to be serious about resource development. Churches don’t
spontaneously organize.
Process is systemic and developmental in nature. Church readiness. Charity, Service,
Development, Justice continuum. Advocacy component.
Mutually transformational relationships at all levels – church/state; church/family;
church/agencies. Based on a reconciliation model – barriers broken. Overcome turf
issues.
Based on coordination and collaboration – not church replacing legitimate role of public
or private human services. What is in it for everyone? Families, state, & church.
A locally owned and operated “intermediary consulting organization” is key in helping
human service community and individual churches work together. Value added
approach. Focus is specifically on mobilizing, training, equipping and supporting faith
community. Provides an ongoing mobilization process for congregations.
Sporadic, isolated and episodic outreach by churches, however well intentioned, is not
sufficient to address issues. Churches need to coordinate and collaborate more.
Tendency is for both churches and agencies to be turf oriented and competitive (can be
intentional or unintentional).
Non-duplicative and non-competitive process. Builds on what is already in a community.
Asset and strength based at all levels – systemic, organizational and personal.
The process needs to go beyond welfare reform or welfare to work – to a focus on
poverty, wealth and community capacity building and health. Beyond entry-level jobs to
sustainable individual, community and economic development.
Process cuts across variety of interconnected issues – welfare, poverty, homelessness,
domestic violence, community development, affordable housing, youth and family, abuse
and neglect.
Process transcends political, denominational, theological, racial differences. Good
ministry plus good social policy.
Most agencies have to stop serving family or individual at some point. Church can pick
up where agencies leave off. Community, church and family capacity building.
Development focus.
Need to integrate expertise from a variety of perspectives – policy, ministry, case
management/human services, family systems, community development.
20
Family Profiles – What Would You Do?
Welfare to Work Referrals to Local Churches
“Andrea” is a young mother with two children and a third on the way in the spring. She is
working hard to meet welfare to work requirements but lacks social skills due to her background.
She has no family in the area and no support. She requests support and help in problem solving
regarding employment and housing issues. She is currently looking for work. She is separated
from her husband and is also dealing with how her husband might be involved with the family in
the future. They are in immediate need of housing as they can only stay where they are at
temporarily.
“Mary” is the mother of a one-year-old and is expecting baby number two in October. She is
currently in the Work First program but may soon have a job at a local retail store next week.
She has some budgeting concerns and some longstanding transportation problems. She and her
boyfriend share one car. “Mary” has no family support right now but would like one. I
(caseworker) am impressed with her commitment to continue going to AA after being clean for
more than one year.
“Carol” is a single mom with one child, age 2 and another on the way in October. She is
employed at a local retail chain and will work full-time for two more weeks. After that her hours
will go down to 30 per week. She currently lives with her parents and would really like to get
her own place. She states that her parents party all the time and that before her 2-year-old was
born that she partied also. Since becoming pregnant a second time she has not partied at all. She
states that she’s afraid that she’ll be tempted and have a harder time avoiding partying with her
parents after her baby is born. Both parents drink and party 3 – 4 times per week. She wants to
get her GED and plans on taking classes as soon as there is an opening. She is also working on
getting her driver’s license, but she needs to study harder because she took the test last week and
failed because she didn’t study. She seems to be motivated to make changes at this time and is
following through on things she is supposed to be doing.
Community/Church-Based Situations
Gladys comes to the local food pantry late on a Friday afternoon. She has fled an abusive
relationship and has moved to town from out of state because she has some relatives here. She
doesn’t have much money or other resources. She is staying with the relatives temporarily, but
they do not have much money either and Gladys would like to help out with food, especially
since she has her two children with her. Her relative told her to sign up for welfare and food
stamps, but she is reluctant because she doesn’t know how long she’ll be here. In addition she’s
never been on welfare before and the thought of going on it bothers her.
Ruth is back at your church for the fourth month in a row looking for emergency assistance. She
recently lost her job and had been attending the “Skills for Living” group while she searched for
a new job. Those plans have been put on hold as she has moved in with her elderly mother to
care for her. In addition she is taking care of her sister’s children while her sister is at work. Her
sister and her children also live with Ruth and her mother. Usually upbeat, she laments “If only I
21
hadn’t lost my job.” She also mentions the fact that the kids don’t have enough clothes with
which to start school in a few weeks. The toddler is still in diapers and her sister has run up a
large phone bill.
Monica and Andrew are young parents of a six-month-old baby who have been coming to the
church food pantry for several months. They are not married, but are living together. Andrew is
in and out of the picture and works only occasionally. He parties often and doesn’t provide
much support to Monica and the baby. Monica dropped out of school after her junior year and
her friends have slowly drifted away since the birth of the baby. She has worked at various jobs
in the past but has had difficulty holding a job because of tardiness and transportation problems.
She has requested food twice already this month, but just can’t seem to make ends meet. Pantry
staff and volunteers have made some suggestions to her about some steps she could take, but she
doesn’t seem to follow through.
Linda* is a 40-year-old single mother with three kids. She is divorced from her husband, who
was abusive to her and the children. For many years she lived with her mother, who has a
history of relying on agencies and churches for emergency and financial assistance. In addition,
Linda’s mother is very controlling and viewed Linda as a problem child who was a “slow
learner” and couldn’t take care of herself.
Linda has been involved in a family support relationship with your church for over a year but at
times doesn’t seem to make much progress. Just when you think she is on the verge of moving
forward, another setback occurs or she doesn’t follow through with what she was supposed to do,
yet there have been some positive gains. She was able to move out of her mother’s home and
move into her own apartment a year ago. She was paying her mother $300 in rent, but now has a
Section 8 eligible apartment and only pays $90 per month in rent. She began working at a good
job, but injured her back and now is not able to work. She also received a car through a local car
ministry. Linda’s main source of income is from a worker’s compensation claim from the injury
at her work. She makes $700 per month from this source. She says she also receives $30 a
month in food stamps but that she never sees the money because it goes toward paying down
what she owes in restitution for welfare fraud. This sounds suspicious to the volunteers working
with her but they haven’t been able to verify the information. She also has some child support
money from her ex-husband, but this in intermittent.
The volunteers know that Linda needs help and support, but find it frustrating when she doesn’t
cooperate with seemingly simple and straightforward steps to help herself. They want to stay
involved, especially for the sake of the children, but are very frustrated with Linda. In addition
they suspect she is lying about situations in her life because they are aware of things she has told
some volunteers that are different from what she has told others. There are also discrepancies
between information she gives about her food stamp income and information received through
the local welfare office. In addition, volunteers have set up appointments to talk with her in
more detail, but she cancels or simply doesn’t show up. She also will leave meetings early or not
bring the proper information, e.g., financial records to budget counseling sessions. To add to the
burden and complexity, her 10-year-old daughter confided to one of the volunteers that “I don’t
want to grow up to be like my mother.”
22
Other issues that Linda faces include being a recovering alcoholic. Her biological father was
also an alcoholic. She has medical problems and is taking medication for her back pain,
depression/anxiety and diabetes.
Linda has been referred to counseling but has not followed through. Protective Services has also
been involved and has recommended counseling for the children, but she has not followed
through on this either. Protective Services became involved due to the children not attending
school on a consistent basis. Because of the inconsistent attendance, two of the children are
struggling academically.
Questions
How can agencies, social workers, government and church work together to assist families in
these types of situations? There is a wide range of issues in the situations listed that provide fuel
for discussion. Not all families will have this range of issues, but there are many families with
some combination of the issues listed here who seem to fall between the cracks. What does it
mean to help these families move out of welfare, beyond poverty and into a more stable sense of
healthy interdependence and community connection? Reflect on the following questions and
discuss tentative steps to help some of these families.
1. What are some of your initial reactions and responses to each of these situations? What
stands out for you in each scenario? Do these situations sound familiar?
2. What do you think are the critical issues in each situation?
3. Identify some strengths for each of the families listed in the above situations.
4. Which of the above situations would you find easier to deal with and which would you find
the most challenging? Why?
5. What might be some hidden or unspoken barriers in each of the situations? What “clinical”
issues come to mind?
6. How would you engage each of the above families in a deeper assessment/helping process?
7. What could or should be the role of government based services?
8. What could or should be the role of a private non-profit agency or a social worker?
9. What could or should be the role of the church?
10. What is the role or interplay of charity – service – development – advocacy – justice in this
situation?
11. Other comments or observations.
23
Session III
Consulting with Congregations –
Building Capacity for Strategic Ministry
24
Traditional Church – Community Organization Relationship
“Disjointed – Competitive”
Church
Church
Parachurch
Ministries
Private
Agencies
Youth
Prison
Family
Public Policy
Missions
Basic Needs
Counseling
Health
Elderly
Youth
Special Needs
Church
Education
Mentoring
Literacy
ESL
Adult Ed
Church
Civic
Institutions
Police
Neighborhood
Associations
Community
Development
Health Care
Church
Public
Human
Services
Welfare
Mental Health
Corrections
Protective
Services
25
Volunteer Involvement Risk/Intensity Model
Advocacy &
Justice
(Ideas)
10
Legislative/Systems/Policy/Social Transformation
9
Issue Advocacy/Organizing with others
8
Community/Economic Development
Risk/Complexity
Personal Advocacy with or on behalf of others
Development
(Places)
7
Long-term Mutual Transformation - family support relationship
6
Intermediate face to face - tutor, Big Brother/Big Sister
5
Service
(People)
Brief face to face - rides, visits, meals, soup kitchen
4
3
Short-term Projects - clean, sort, build, repair, events.
2
Basic Assistance/Commodities - food, clothing, furniture, etc
1
Donate Money
Charity
(Things)
0
1
Days
2
Weeks
3
4
5
6
Intensity/Duration
7
8
Months
9
10
Years
26
Equipping Relationships with Churches
Supportive Behavior
(High)
LOWER GUIDANCE
HIGHER SUPPORTIVE
HIGHER GUIDANCE
HIGHER SUPPORTIVE
Participating/Partnering
Consulting/Teaching
CS3 Person Oriented
Total Involvement CS2
LOWER GUIDANCE
LOWER SUPPORTIVE
HIGHER GUIDANCE
LOWER SUPPORTIVE
Coordinating/Collaborating
Recruiting/Convincing
CS4 Holistic Integration
(Low)
Guidance Behavior
Task Oriented CS1
(High)
Developmental Readiness Level of Churches/Volunteers
WORKING
CONFIDENT,
EXPERIENCED,
LEADING
ABLE,
WORKING
GAINING
CONFIDENCE
WILLING BUT
NEEDS &
WANTS
EXPERIENCE
UNABLE,
UNCONVINCED,
UNWILLING OR
BEGINNING
D4
D3
D2
D1
High
Integrated/Developed
Ideas
Moderate
Developing
People
Low
Under-developed
Things
Adapted from Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, Mangagement of Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, 5 th
Edition, 1988.
27
What Churches Need that Human Service Professional Can Provide
Two areas of focus
1. What the church needs to enable it to serve.
2. What the church needs in return for what it does.








Churches need to serve in ways that fit their mission and goal
Churches need education and training for service
Churches need to evaluate service in light of their objectives – beyond dependency to
transformation. Need to focus on outcomes and not just outputs.
Churches need organization and community consultation. Churches too often plan in
isolation from other institutions and other churches. Turf orientation.
Churches need community networking and connections
Churches often need ongoing support and mentoring in order to go deeper into community
ministry
Churches need to engage in community level planning with key neighbors and stakeholders
Community agencies and organizations often have more collective knowledge about
community needs than do many congregations
Adapted from “Effective Work with Religious Organizations by Social Workers in Other Settings”, Diana Garland
and Patricia Bailey. Social Work and Christianity, Spring, 1991.
28
Critical Planning Factors for Successful Church State Partnerships*
1.
Ground Floor-Up Involvement. Government, churches, NPO’s and businesses must all
have an equal or significant role in planning. Shared ownership.
2.
Connected Autonomy. Shared responsibility – not dumping, abdicating or co-opting.
Partnership. Complementary roles. Sphere of influence and proper latitude.
3.
Effective Recruitment Strategies. Shared recruitment. Demonstrate connectedness and
mutuality. Big picture. Value-added incentives. Proactive. Intensive. Ability to
emphasize distinctives.
4.
Sympathetic Respect. State/government needs to respect values of faith-based partners.
Policy plus relationship. What can state learn from FBO’s?
5.
Discerning Teachableness. Church needs to respect legitimate role of the
state/government. FBO’s can learn from wisdom, knowledge and experience of
governmental entities.
6.
Strategic Internal Organization. Initiatives need good vision, mission, planning,
direction, leadership, structure, etc. Well organized. Sufficient capacity. Balance of
breadth and depth. One versus the many. Good training and support – for all levels.
Mentoring of mentors. Staff reciprocity. Relationship based and outcome directed.
Difficult for governmental entities to relate to dozens or scores of congregations. Need
efficiency and capacity.
7.
Intentional Volunteer Support. Affirmation. Ongoing support. Team process.
“Supervisory” support.
8.
Clear Communication. At all levels – families, churches, intermediary structure, other
NPO’s, governmental entities, businesses and job partners, etc. Clear expectations.
Reciprocity. Common goals and interests.
*From Amy Sherman, Restorers of Hope. Crossway Books, 1997. Used with permission.
8 Characteristics of Successful Ministries**
1.
Focused Leadership. Very intentional about social service and outreach. Not a general,
one-stop shop. Focus is on specialization in a few areas – not all things to all people or
issues. Resist the tyranny of need.
2.
Target high-risk population and not just a neighborhood. High risk or hard to serve
individuals don’t come to publicized events, or open doors. Generate referrals from the
groups/agencies that deal with high-risk population – courts, social services, schools,
street-based leadership.
29
3.
Collaboration. Focused on collaboration. Can’t do it alone – need to work with others to
share the work. Work with other churches, public and private agencies, other groups.
“People of good faith and people of good will”.
4.
Caring Adults. Need to build in relationships with caring people – not simply exciting
programs. Relationships not programs. What person works best?
5.
Peer Relationships. Support from others who have been through similar situations. Build
community through mutual transformation and support. Self-help focus.
6.
Resident Membership. Availability and proximity. Geographical and emotional
connections, e.g., “relocation” idea of John Perkins and Robert Woodson’s “zip code”
test.
7.
Faith Factor. Intentional focus on God, Christ and faith. Transformation based on
reliance on a transcendent and loving God.
8.
Engage in Advocacy Ministries. “Sinners” versus “sinned against”. Individual and
systemic focus. Personal responsibility and social justice.
**Notes from presentation by Dr. Harold Dean Trulear of Public/Private Ventures, Philadelphia, PA – at Brookings
Institution, Washington DC, January 13, 1999.
30
Some Principles for Engaging Churches
1. Build reciprocal relationships of mutual value -nurture the connections.
2. Contextualize your contacts – help churches respond in natural areas. Find out where God is
working already in the life of the church and help the church grow from this strength.
3. Don't motivate from guilt or try to co-opt
4. Do not view the church as just a source of resources for other organizations – help the church
engage in its own mission and vision.
5. Properly assess the leadership culture of the church – find formal and informal leaders
6. Find legitimate "internal champions" – not necessarily the pastor.
7. Do not assume that the pastor will help organize volunteers – but do encourage the pastor to
be a visible champion and vision-caster
8. Provide "value added" service and consultation. Adjunct Staff. Be intentional and structured
– this isn't add-on type work
9. Treat the church as a "primary customer" and give good service. Keep in mind that churches
do not make quick decisions.
10. Recruiting churches is like recruiting other volunteers – it often takes at least 6 -7 nurturing
contacts before an initial positive decision is made.
11. Focus on opportunities that are legitimate, specific and manageable. What is true for one
church in this area may not be true for a different church.
12. Help churches engage in readiness assessment – what do they want to do, what are they
already doing and what are they realistically capable of doing, under God’s guidance.
13. Identify church strengths and work from there
14. Larger churches may be more difficult to engage than smaller or moderately sized churches.
15. Pray with and for the congregations.
31