A couple of weeks ago I went on a Community Organising training course. This is part of the setting up process for a Manchester Community Organising er... Organisation called 'ChangeMakers'. This is being done with help from the Gamaliel Foundation, one of the main CO outfits in the US where this whole way of doing things was started in the 40's by Saul Alinsky. It will be an alliance of grassroots groups and organisations, beginning with the faith groups and congregations and working outwards.
The training was stimulating and thought-provoking - I'm still assimilating it, and I have a few questions. But the bit that was most interesting was hearing stories of how organised communities have managed to bring about change - stories from the UK. We talk and sing and pray a lot about justice and siding with the poor and there are lots of excellent examples of Christians getting stuck in and seeing positive results. But so far I don't see the City of Manchester taking much notice, or of the issues and conditions behind the casualties we deal with being challenged or altered. I'm tired of years of talk in meetings of 'transforming the city' which doesn't actually amount to very much in the big picture (or not that I have noticed!). If this CO initiative works as others have done, that could change. For me, that makes it worth investigating. As Jim Wallis (another Organiser by the way) says: "We need to do more than pull people out of the river before they drown; someone needs to go upstream to see who or what is throwing them in."
It's the 'mission with' thing I've been going on about and doing via work with Carisma and PeaceWeek but on a larger scale, getting to grips with causes not just symptoms. However, as with something like PeaceWeek joining in with others will mean we as Christians recognise that we are not the only ones who care about the 'welfare of the city'. It will mean being willing to join in with others, particularly other faith groups, in equal partnership to work together on our shared concerns (of which we have many. One for instance... Muslim families also want their children to grow up healthy and safe). For a lot of us, evangelicals especially, that will mean deciding between our desire to see justice flow and our desire to be in control.
Cartoon by Chris Morgan.
The training was stimulating and thought-provoking - I'm still assimilating it, and I have a few questions. But the bit that was most interesting was hearing stories of how organised communities have managed to bring about change - stories from the UK. We talk and sing and pray a lot about justice and siding with the poor and there are lots of excellent examples of Christians getting stuck in and seeing positive results. But so far I don't see the City of Manchester taking much notice, or of the issues and conditions behind the casualties we deal with being challenged or altered. I'm tired of years of talk in meetings of 'transforming the city' which doesn't actually amount to very much in the big picture (or not that I have noticed!). If this CO initiative works as others have done, that could change. For me, that makes it worth investigating. As Jim Wallis (another Organiser by the way) says: "We need to do more than pull people out of the river before they drown; someone needs to go upstream to see who or what is throwing them in."
It's the 'mission with' thing I've been going on about and doing via work with Carisma and PeaceWeek but on a larger scale, getting to grips with causes not just symptoms. However, as with something like PeaceWeek joining in with others will mean we as Christians recognise that we are not the only ones who care about the 'welfare of the city'. It will mean being willing to join in with others, particularly other faith groups, in equal partnership to work together on our shared concerns (of which we have many. One for instance... Muslim families also want their children to grow up healthy and safe). For a lot of us, evangelicals especially, that will mean deciding between our desire to see justice flow and our desire to be in control.
Cartoon by Chris Morgan.
