Faith Based Organizing – A Justice Ministry

A Strategy for Ministry

                                                                       

By Gregory Galluzzo, Director of the Gamaliel Foundation

 

Community Organizing is a term that can be applied to many types of activity.  I will use it here to designate a particular methodology developed by Saul Alinsky, an American activist who influenced many in the United States from Cesar Chavez, the great farm worker organizer, to Senator Barrack Obama. 

 

Alinsky developed this methodology in a community called “The Back of the Yards” while trying to address the myriad of social problems confronting its people.  Back of the Yards is the community that Upton Sinclair wrote about in the book The Jungle.  The community got its name from its proximity to the infamous stock yards of Chicago.  Thousands of animals were being slaughtered daily in what many say was the first industrial assembly line in history.  The blood from these animals was pumped directly into the sewers and nearby creek.  The stench from this operation was overwhelming and depending on the wind affected neighborhoods many miles distant.  The workers in this slaughter factory lived in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.  They were mostly Eastern European with some from Mexico.  Each ethnic group had its own church, its own civic groups, and its own parochial school.  The relationship between the workers and the management was fractious.  The people living in this smelly, disease ridden, working class community were victims of organized crime, substandard housing, a corrupt political machine, poor public schools, and an inadequate health system. 

 

 

While others came to this ghetto with the intention of helping the downtrodden, Alinsky came with a different notion.  His analysis was that the problems in the community were the direct result of the intentional exploitation or the unintentional neglect by politicians, corporations, crime bosses, banks, public school officials and governmental agencies.  He was acquainted with the great union organizer, John L. Lewis, and felt that just as workers had to be organized to confront and/or negotiate with management, residents had to be organized to confront the forces of impacting the quality of their lives.  His analysis was that the people whose self interest it was to have a healthy community were not the ones with the power to make the decisions necessary for it to be a healthy community.  He decided to change the equation.

 

His problem was threefold: 1) those in power had no intention of listening to the people they were benefiting from and exploiting and who were quite prepared to use intimidation, threats and even violence to continue their domination. 2) the people were divided by religion, by race, by class and most profoundly by the American ethos of individualism and 3) the people were conditioned to think that they could not change the situation.

 

Alinsky came with an attitude and an analysis and he created a methodology.   His attitude was that the people in Back of the Yards were quite capable of creating and wielding power.  His mantra was, “never do for others what they can do for themselves.” He also understood that one person, by his or herself cannot make a difference.  He was pragmatic.  Even though he was an agnostic Jew, he understood that the churches were the most effective entities organizing the people.   Also by organizing through the churches he would have a common language and common set of values from which to work and a broad set of relationship already in place.  He talked about self-interest as being the medium of exchange when brokering power.  He relished the opportunity to challenge his good friends in ministry by saying such things as: “never talk to a priest, minister, rabbi, or bishop about Judeo Christian values because it is outside their experience; talk to them about getting their parking lot paved for free, protecting their bingo operation, or increasing the Sunday giving, and they will come up with the right biblical quote to justify their behavior.”  Alinsky utilized agitation to get people to define and defend their own values and positions. 

 

Alinsky also constructed an organization.  He invited, cajoled, seduced, convinced, and propositioned the existing groups (most especially the congregations) to become formal members of the people’s organization, The Back of the Yards Community Council.  The motto of this organization was, “We shall decide our own destiny”.  He understood the necessity to have a clear analysis of the power arrangements in a neighborhood and how to exploit weaknesses and difference in that structure.  He understood the power of mass meetings, public actions and mass media in a democratic society. 

 

 

 

 

 

Alinsky success attracted others to his method.  He began to develop professional community organizers.  He said an organizer is an agitator and an organizer organizes an organization.  He understood the power of anger to motivate one self and inspire others.  To him, anger was the appropriate human response to the violation of a value.  Alinsky organizing is now being practiced in most cities in the U.S.; in South Africa, and in Great Britain in Wales, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

 

There is much written on the life and the method of Saul Alinsky.  One can easily find material on the internet.

 

I would like to discuss how this applies to working with congregations. 

 

 

It is a biblical mandate to work with the Anawim, with the poor and with the oppressed.  That mandate, when acted upon, has often resulted in the downtrodden being liberated, being lifted up, and being made whole.  That mandate when acted upon has also often resulted in worshipping communities becoming strong and vibrant.  The Exodus community, a group of slaves, became strong enough to conquer a land and create a religious heritage that lasts to this day.  The first Christian community consisted of slaves and fishermen and outcasts.  But they too, by the very act of hearing the Word and throwing their lot in with one another, became such a force in their society that with the fall of the Roman Empire, they emerge as the only cohesive force in Europe.  But is it automatic and is it guaranteed that to work with the poor, to work with the outcasts and the downtrodden results in strong, enduring viable communities – either religious or secular?  It is not a guarantee.  In fact, the opposite is often true.

 

Many of the churches that were active in the civil rights movement in the U.S. are today struggling or are closed.  Many of the neighborhoods that were the backbone of the civil rights struggle — such communities as East St. Louis and the West Side of Chicago — are today worse off than they were before civil rights struggle began.  The gospel mandate does not say that if we work for the poor and the oppressed we will automatically build strong congregations – but is not the gospel, the creation of community, itself the truest form of liberation.  Perhaps if strong church is not being created in poor and oppressed communities, we are doing it wrong.

 

Faith based organizing is an ongoing exploration into how working for justice can lead to stronger congregations.  It begins with these observations:

 

• Doing things for others, when they can do things for themselves, is often counterproductive.  People need to be fed, clothed, educated and provided with medical care; but if it is done in a way that strips people of their dignity, turns them into a clientele and rewards dependency, then the very act of helping can destroy peoples’ capacity to help themselves.

 

• Advocating for people – that is speaking for them, is a way of stealing their own voice.  People can speak for themselves.  Advocates, instead of being a voice, can become a sound barrier. 

 

• People who live in and experience community, even though they are poor, are often much better off and healthier than people who live in isolation.  Yes we need food, clothing and shelter, but an essential element of our humanity is to feel part of a group, a community of people.  In such a community there is joy, meaning, morality, and hope.  Outside such an environment there is sterility

 

Father Leo Mann, a Chicago priest, has said that we have sold the gospel of Jesus Christ short – we have replaced it with subsidized schools, health clinics, food pantries, day care centers, self help groups, etc.  The gospel is an invitation to participate intensely in a worshiping community that reflects on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  It is just such a community that is so vividly described in Acts.

 

It seems an incontestable fact that the preaching of the word, ministering to the people, and living out the beatitudes, as done by Jesus and his disciples, leads to the formation of powerful communities and the empowerment of its members.  Is it not legitimate then to ask, “If our preaching, our works of mercy, and our works of justice do not lead to a similar result, might we indeed be doing it wrong?”

 

The Markan story of the rich young man (which is usually cited to discuss money or individual choice) concludes with the assurance from Jesus that anyone who answers the gospel call will “be repaid a hundred times over with houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land.”  In so many forms, Christian community has made good on this promise.  Outside community, Christ’s words can only be misconstrued as a promise of individual wealth.

 

Faith Based Community Organizing looks to the goal as a compass for its actions.  That which results in powerful faith communities of empowered people must be invested in and affirmed.  That which leads to weak communities of dependent people must be rejected.  Church based organizing is a methodology used by congregations to build community which leads to justice ministry.

 

Church based organizing as practiced by the Gamaliel Foundation makes these assertions:

 

• Fundamental to understanding, accepting, and living out the “Good News” one must commit oneself to and experience community.  (Community is defined as, “a group of people who realize that their destiny is somehow intertwined.)  

 

• In the past an experience of community in a village, in a rural town, in a neighborhood was a given because people living in such circumstances did have an experience of being intertwined with each other.  Crop failures, plagues, economic ups and downs affected everyone.  Language and ethnicity were frequently shared.  Plus there were intergenerational relationships, marriage between members of the group, a common school, a common cemetery, a common water supply and common forms of recreation.  People simply had time and were forced to get to know one another and depend on one another.  In such an environment, the task of the pastor preaching the word was not to create community but to minister to it, to celebrate it, and to make it sacred.

 

• Today we live in a society that is toxic to community.  People migrate and move frequently.  There is not a common racial and ethical background.  Television and the internet pull people into themselves.  Crime makes people fear their neighbors.  Diversity of jobs, interests, ethnicity and religion pull people in different directions.  Frequently a pastor is preaching the word to people who do not know each other, have very little in common, and might not be with the congregation for more than a few years.  Forty years ago Reinhold Niebuhr asserted that we live in a pre-Christian society – since we do not understand community, we cannot grasp the message of Jesus.  Before a pastor can minister to and celebrate community, a community must be created.  A community must be created among those who attend the congregation and with potential members of the congregation.

 

• Because of the immense concentration of wealth and power on an international scale, the influence of church in society is warning.  The place of the church in people’s lives, and in the body politic is being pushed aside by the media, by corporate interest, and by political forces.

 

Church based organizing asserts that for a congregation to function today it must do all those things it has been accustomed to doing – preaching the word of God, praising God in music, ministering to the sick and dying, baptizing, creating and maintaining a sacred worship space; but is must add the following three components to do effective ministry.

 

Have an Intentional and Intensive Relationship Building Strategy:  A congregation must set aside time, must calendar, and must have strategies to encourage, challenge, and train its members to come to know each other.  The members of a congregation must know the pain, ambition, faith, family situation, etc. of at least some other members.  It should be considered unacceptable that a person worshiping on Sunday is not known well by at least some members of the congregation.  This relationship building must be a mindset and must be concretized into definite planned action.  Faith based organizing provides the training, culture and milieu for intentional relationship building.

 

Develop Leadership and Share of Responsibility with Lay People.  The development of effective lay people is not only necessary to relieve the pastor of the unending burden of the work, it is also part of the invitation to discipleship.  It has been said “if you want someone to be loyal to your congregations, don’t give them something, give them something to do”.  Lay people today are looking for ways to live out their values.  They will not participate in a congregation if they are just spectators.  They need to be given responsibility.  If this is the case, leaders must be trained, and leaders must be given jobs commensurate with their interest and their talent.  Some would want to teach religion, others would want to evangelize, others work on steward ship.  But many will want to engage in the work of justice and in the work of building viable communities.  Faith based organizing provides a whole array of leadership training programs for lay people to make them more effective in their roles.  It also provides opportunities for leaders to do the work of justice as a ministry.

 

 

Have a vehicle to work effectively in the public arena.  The work of the Church is to bring about the kingdom of God.  Justice is constitutive of the gospel.  Historically the Church has seen and acted upon its responsibility to speak to political issues.  It is biblically grounded and well within our tradition.  But there is also a very practical reason.  If the Church ignores the oppression and problems of its people, the people will begin to say the Church is irrelevant to their lives.  The Churches in Ireland, Poland, South Africa, the African American communities of the United States, and Latin America could not and cannot afford to be outside the discussion of what is affecting the lives of their people.  The question is how to speak out effectively.  Preaching without acting can become hollow.  Setting up social service programs only addresses the symptoms.  Dealing with national and international issues can be an excuse to avoid what is happening right around the congregation.  The congregation must be able to act effectively in the public arena on those issues that most immediately affect its members.  This is the business of faith based organizing.

 

Faith based organizing brings a language, a spirit, training programs, and a methodology to incorporate the above three essential elements into effective ministry.