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Jesus in the City

The 2nd UK Urban Mission Congress

"Community Conflict and Celebration"

Belfast, 26-30 September 1998

Serving the Community - conflict or celebration?

lain Johnston is the Development and Training Officer for the Church of Scotland's Priority Areas Fund which gives financial and practical support to local ecumenical initiatives in disadvantaged urban and rural communities. Iain coordinates a national grants scheme and works as a facilitator with local groups on project development, management and finance.

Aim: to share stories and experiences about practical and theoretical issues of setting up church-based community projects and working with other churches and community groups.

For: those starting out/those involved for some time.

Time: 75 minutes

Resources: Flipchart (Video/OHP also available)

Principal method: by dividing participants into two groups: experienced/less experienced, and giving to each group stories of different projects for reading, reflection, discussion, analysis and feedback; in the hope that the stories will also trigger thoughts of issues from their own experience.

Programme:
  • 0 - 5 minutes: map icebreaker
  • 5- 10 minutes: round robin of introductions, why this workshop, expectations
  • 10-IS minutes: outline of workshop
  • 15- 45 minutes: group work on stories
  • 45 - 65 minutes: collective feedback; general issues
  • 65 - 70 minutes: expectations met? other sources of help?
  • 70 - 75 minutes: message for conference and handouts

Groupwork:
  • Appoint a spokesperson to make notes about the group's comments and to report back
  • Each person in the group reads the stories on their own.
  • When everyone has finished, chat about the following points and note answers as a group:

    1. Why did the church (cs) involved set up the project?
    2. What does the project do for the local community?
    3. What do you consider to be the encouraging signs of celebration in the stories?
    4. Are there any issues of conflict tension, either obvious or hidden, in the stories: -
      • within the church(es) themselves
      • between "the church" and "the community"
    5. Are there any rhetorics or practices you particularly disagree with in the stories?
    6. If the people involved in the stories were with you just now, what questions would you like to ask them?
    7. Do any of the issues raised in the stories trigger thoughts of any similar or different issues from your own experience?

Information sheet:

Some common problems arising from the experience of churches involved in projects supported by the Priority Areas Fund. (These arc by no means exhaustive- they are just a selection of issues)

  1. Concerning the initial developmental stages of the vision

    • This is is very much Jo's baby..." Visions can originate from a group of people or from one person; if they originate from one person, it can be more difficult for the vision to become collectively owned by others in the congregation/community. The vision and commitment of one person can be a great strength: it can also be an immense weakness when, at a later stage, the person begins to resent the fact that all the work is being left to him or her, or when the person leaves.
    • "Been there, done that, let's go..." There can be a temptation to skip, or rush, what should be equally important stages of developing the vision: identifying the needs and issues, reflecting on them in the light of the Christian faith ("theological reflection"), reflecting on them in the context of community life ("social analysis"), developing practical responses in the light of this reflection, consulting widely with others within and without the churches, beginning to act, continuing to reflect on the action and change/develop accordingly.
    • "We'll open up next week..." People often imagine that the steps from vision through to practice are simple and can be done quickly. Obviously this depends on the nature and scale of the work to be undertaken, but generally speaking, it always takes much longer than people anticipate for a vision to become practice.
    • "The congregation isn't interested..." The group most deeply involved with the vision often assumes that most other people in the congregation will automatically understand and support their ideas. It takes a great deal of hard work to communicate the vision so that the wider circle can share and appreciate it.

  2. Concerning the issues peculiar to church involvement

    • Culture of amateurism" There can be what someone has termed "an affection for a culture of amateurism" within churches. In other words, an attitude by which some Christians and church groups ignore legal and moral responsibilities on topics such as employment, health and safety, food hygiene etc. This attitude is made even worse when more importance 15 placed on the historic rights and privileges of the church, than on the safety and welfare of people (eg "We don't need to do that, the church is exempt from this law. ..
    • "Church membership hasn't risen~" Tension can arise at a later stage if the motives, expectations and theological issues have not been thought through clearly, and discussed openly at the outset. (eg "Why was this youth project set up - to get more young people into church, or to make a difference in their lives out there.."?)
    • "God will provide..." Our faith and trust in God cannot be used as an excuse for inactivity -- eg one project worker kept pleading with the management committee to apply for funding for a piece of equipment Various parts of scripture were quoted in response and the worker was told to be patient and to have faith but the committee did nothing about it.
    • "It's all right for some..." There can be tensions and resentment when a church, which has been run by volunteers, moves into project work and takes on paid staff.
    • "Someone's put the cross in the cupboard!" There can be tension between the existing management boards of churches and the new management committees of projects - over use of space, times of access, damage to property, and so on.
      • A question for everyone involved in church-based community work: "To what extent does the project work spin back on and affect the life of the congregation? Is the church changeing at all in the way it relatest to the community it serves?"

  3. CONCERNING FUND-RAISING

    • "Why should we let them see our minutes?" Most, if not all, approaches to major funding bodies should be thought through and discussed in detail by the management committee. If applications are left purely to one person, there is a chance that conditions of funding set by funders may aggravate people on the management committee who did not know about these potential conditions prior to application.
    • From a funder's perspective: - groups which appear not to have read through the application guidelines, and follow the basic procedures outlined, do not create a good impression with the funder. - groups which do not have a clear plan of what they are doing, why they are doing it,. how they will do it. How they will be able to demonstrate to others how they are doing it effectively: and where all the money will come from, are likely to be unsuccessful.

  4. Concerning the practical operation of projects once established

    • Changes in both staff and volunteers can cause difficulties and instability
    • There is a need to focus on training as one way of maintaining volunteer enthusiasm and commitment to long term in involvement.
    • There can be immense overload on the staff member of a small project Management committees need to ensure proper support and develop clear policies on the respective responsibilities of management committee members/staff.
    • Once set up, activities can develop apace and begin to outgrow premises. On the other hand, the demand anticipated for a project or service can turn out, in practice, not be as great as expected. There is therefore a need to continually monitor what you are doing and to adapt to changing needs and situations, finishing one area of work if need be, so that other areas can grow and develop.
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