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Theological reflection for community development practitioners

September 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

The good folks at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) have been helping Christians to engage their cities and communities holistically for nearly 25 years, especially through their three Rs: relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution. And they’ve just taken another step to engage us further in thinking about what it means to seek the shalom of the places God has called us.

For those less familiar with CCDA, the network was formed in 1989 by John Perkins, an evangelical leader who was active in the Civil Rights movement. In Welcoming Justice: God’s Movement Toward Beloved Community (IVP), Perkins argues that after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the movement largely lost touch with its deep Christian roots. He writes:

Only as long as the Civil Rights movement remained anchored in the church — in the energies, convictions and images of the biblical narrative and the worshiping community — did the movement have a vision.

Robust theology, in conjunction with the importance of thick Christian community, has been a core tenet of CCDA since its inception, and I think that’s a significant part of what’s kept this movement on track for these 25 years.

In keeping with this key value, CCDA has just published the first edition of its very own theological journal:

The Theological Journal is designed to enable our practitioners to capably integrate theological concepts into their practice. The articles are written by CCDA members and will challenge us to go deeper theologically, while giving us language that will allow us to dialogue outside of The Academy. Theological reflection and engagement among practitioners and with our neighbors can often be strange bedfellows, but this should not be the case. A significant focus of this first edition will speak to why we need more theology and dialogue, giving historical and Biblical precedent for engagement, helping us explain who we are and why we do what we do. Building on that foundation, the journal will then address the theology and practices of reconciliation, shalom, self-perceptions of the oppressed, and multiculturalism within churches. Contributors include Vince Bantu, Soong-Chan Rah, M. Daniel Carroll, Chris Jehle, Sydney Park, Randy Woodley, Chanequa Walker-Barnes and Curtiss Paul DeYoung.

The journal is available for free as a PDF, and can also be viewed online using Uberflip.

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Weekend Video: The transformation of Rio

May 26, 2012 — Leave a comment

Both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the city has its fair share of work on its hands to get the place ready. Already we’ve seen some impressive renderings of Olympic Park, while hearing some troubling stories from the city’s slums, known as favelas.

Below is an interesting TED Talk from Eduardo Paes, Rio’s mayor, who shares his four commandments for cities. He (understandably) avoids some of the messy details about the “pacification” of favelas, even as he talks about new schools and community centers in those areas. But I do love this quote:

[At] the end of the day, when we talk about cities, we talk about a gathering of people. And we cannot see that as a problem.

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Repaso: Voting questions; Latinos & the environment; conservatives & immigration; evangelicals overseas; Lancaster, PA

March 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

1. Four important voting questions
Gideon Strauss suggests four questions that gospel-motivated citizens should consider when voting, but that his 11-year-old self wouldn’t have considered: Will this candidate help rehumanize American political life? Will this candidate help Americans of differing convictions to coexist more peaceably? Will this candidate help American communities and institutions toward a more symphonic justice? How does this candidate talk? These are important considerations in an election year.

2. Latinos and environmental stewardship
A Fox News Latino article takes a look at Latino support for legislation related to climate change, indicating that in addition to immigration, education and jobs, Latinos are also very concerned about environmental issues:

A 2010 study by Yale and George Mason universities found 66 percent of Latinos considered climate change a “high” or “very high” priority for the president and Congress to address, compared to 48 percent of non-Latino whites… Latinos viewed several forms of environmental damage, including air pollution and toxic waste, as a more pressing issue than whites did… Quintero said Latinos are less likely to question climate change because they have more contact with countries in Latin America that lie closer to the equator, where the repercussions are more evident. “The reason that Latinos believe and see the reality of climate change is because they live it,” Quintero said. “These impacts are very real and they’re costing lives and they’re costing jobs.”

3. Conservative evangelicals and immigration
Ali Noorani writes for CNN about a recent conference in Alabama focused on immigration from a biblical perspective and changes taking place among ordinary conservatives and evangelicals:

If you think all conservatives support a deportation-only approach to immigration, think again. Last week, hundreds of conservative evangelicals gathered in Alabama to engage in a reasonable, respectful discourse on immigration. You read that right. Less than a year after Alabama enacted the strictest immigration law in the land, evangelical students, pastors and national faith leaders gathered at Samford University in Birmingham for “a Christ-centered conversation on immigration” called the G92 South Immigration Conference… A fundamental shift is occurring among conservatives toward a new consensus on immigrants and America. These are the early steps in a march by Americans of all political stripes fed up with partisan attacks on immigrants and immigration — a groundswell ready and willing to skewer political extremism from either side of the aisle.

4. U.S. evangelicals’ overseas focus
Karl Zinsmeister writes in Philanthropy Magazine about how evangelicals in the U.S. are becoming more and more actively involved in overseas ministry, looking at different denominations and faith-based NGOs. The piece covers a lot of interesting ground, but here’s an interesting blurb:

While smart government agencies and secular NGOs often hire local workers to help them navigate crucial cultural nuances, Christian aid generally takes place in close partnership with indigenous church members. Those partners, who are both local and motivated by religious conviction, are especially good at opening doors, establishing trust, and mobilizing communities. That’s why AIDS care, health clinics, schooling, and similar assistance provided by Christian philanthropists and volunteers is frequently more transformational than aid delivered by other organizations. (Recognizing this advantage, some governments and NGOs seek out partnerships with religious philanthropies—as happened with AIDS assistance during the Bush administration.)

5. Lancaster, PA does it again
Yep, a new study shows that well-being is higher in the Lancaster metro area than in any other metro area in the country. Though I no longer live there, that finding makes me happy. It really is a great little city. Daniel Klotz has good analysis at his Lancaster, PA Blog.

Repaso is intended as a thought-provoking compilation of news and commentary from the past week related to the intersections of faith, development, justice and peace. As always, I welcome your thoughts on any of the links and ideas in this roundup!

[Photo credit: storiesofusa.com]

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Neighborhood Transformation in Phoenix

February 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

Last week I attended the Phoenix Neighborhood Transformation banquet, which brought together organizations, churches and all sorts of people involved in the Phoenix area putting the Neighborhood Transformation (NT) model into practice in their own unique ways in their own unique neighborhoods. Phoenix is the first city in the US where a NT network has been formed, so it was exciting to hear about some cool stuff underway in four different parts of the valley: downtown Phoenix, South Phoenix, Granada Estates (northwest of Phoenix) and Guadalupe (southeast of Phoenix).

So, what’s NT, exactly?

Neighborhood Transformation is a strategy which helps churches minister in a wholistic manner to people in urban poor neighborhoods. It empowers people to take responsibility for their own lives. It helps neighbors to help their neighbors and moves them from welfare and relief to empowerment. It focuses on assets found in the neighborhood which fosters local ownership instead of being based on problems which they expect outsiders to fix for them.

Though I’m not that familiar with Neighborhood Transformation as such, it’s quite similar to what is known as asset-based community development (ABCD), and all the great work that happens in US cities under the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) umbrella. I’m not sure how much collaboration happens between CCDA and NT folks, but it seems to me they’re pursuing a common cause, so I hope they’re willing to work together and learn from each other along the way. I should also add that NT has its roots in the international CHE model (community health evangelism, no relation to the Latin American revolutionary). CHE, which integrates evangelism, discipleship and community health, has been around for a long time and has been put into practice all over the world, but it seems clear to me that CCDA has more expertise at its disposal here in urban US contexts. (Note: If you want a better understanding of CCDA and urban ministry, last spring I did a 5-part series on Christian community development, based on John Perkins’ book Beyond Charity.)

The guest speaker for the banquet was Dr. Gil Odendaal, who heads up The PEACE Plan at Saddleback Church in southern California, and says he has learned everything he knows from Stan Rowland, who was honored by Odendaal at the banquet for pioneering the CHE model. When I was living in Costa Rica I read Rowland’s book, and instantly recognized that CHE must have been the inspiration for the work I was so impressed by in Cambodia with World Relief.

Odendaal considers NT/CHE “the most exciting thing happening in the church today” and emphasized that one of its greatest contributions is that it’s based on the fundamental belief that the urban poor, and all of us, are made in the image of God. “People aren’t projects,” he asserted. It’s time we stop living as if they were, and it’s time our urban ministries take seriously the reality of the imago Dei. I’m grateful for those who are giving it a shot.

If you’d like to learn more about all of this, check out the Collaborative for Neighborhood Transformation (and, while you’re at it, CCDA). And if you live in the Phoenix area, check out what’s happening with Apprenticeship to Jesus and Barrio Nuevo Phoenix.

[Photo credit: Barrio Nuevo Phoenix]

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Until Justice & Peace Embrace (Part 3/3)

October 10, 2011 — Leave a comment

In the first part of this series, I introduced Wolterstorff’s ideas about world-formative Christianity and the vision of shalom. In part two, we looked at his ideas about how responding to poverty is a matter of rights not generosity, and how unchecked nationalism destroys shalom. Here now are some final thoughts from Until Justice and Peace Embrace.

Shalom in the city
Shalom is about having and enjoying right relationships, and nowhere is the need for this seen more clearly than in our cities. Wolterstorff writes that this extends beyond the considerations we might normally consider:

It is customary to view the city simply as a large collection of buildings in close proximity to one another, each more or less self-contained and possessed of its own degree of architectural distinction. I propose… to break away from that sort of atomistic way of thinking, however, and view the city instead as an integral entity in which the individual buildings are abstracted parts. Adopting the holistic perspective, we see the city as a unit orchestrating paths and partitions to establish gathering places for human beings on a given amount of the earth’s surface.

The city both expresses and shapes the lifestyles of its residents, for better or worse. Architecture and aesthetics, in other words, aren’t neutral — not if shalom has to do with delight. “Could it be,” he muses, “that living in a city devoid of sensory delight is itself a form of poverty?”

Justice and liturgy
“Amidst its intense activism,” Wolterstorff writes, “the Western world is starved for contemplation.” He continues:

I want to explore the possibility that a rhythmic alternation of work and worship, labor and liturgy is one of the significant distinguishing features of the Christian’s way of being-in-the-world.

Work and worship are connected, he says, and they both spring from grateful hearts, in step with the six-plus-one rhythm set into motion by our Creator:

This rhythm was given to be practiced as a remembrance, as a memorial of the pattern of God’s creative activity and of the pattern of Israel’s liberating experience: the very rhythm of everyday life was to be a liturgical practice.

Activists of all kinds would do well to practice this kind of liturgy.

Theory & praxis
Wolterstorff concludes, not surprisingly given his original audience, with a challenge to academics and scholars that applies just as well to each of us:

My call here is not for theorizing that emphasizes the theme of justice; it is for theorizing that places itself in the service of the cause of struggling for justice… The goal is not to describe the world but to change it.

Wolterstorff concludes with the book’s single most poignant sentence:

By listening to the cries of the oppressed and deprived we are enabled genuinely to hear the word of the prophets — and of him who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped at, but took the form of a servant, walking the path of humble obedience to the point of accepting execution as a despised criminal: the Prince of Shalom.

Justice and peace, you might say, find their embrace in Jesus.

What do you think of Wolterstorff’s ideas of justice and shalom? Does his understanding resonate with yours? Where do you part ways?

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