CityVoices readers,

The focus for January (and March) editions of CityVoices is community development – Christian community development, specifically. While the words and concepts have been with us in city ministry for some time now, many still have questions regarding its nature, purpose and where it fits into the greater mission of any city church.

As movements toward intentional urban ministry have developed and matured over the past generation, varieties of Christian community development have inevitably followed. When a church decides to love its immediate neighbors; job banks, food coops or childcare centers might be among the immediate results. As that passion for community flowers; housing ministries, health care centers and credit unions may also be initiated. The task of building and sustaining nonprofit organizations to perpetuate the work of Christian community development has now become its own art form.

Just as the Spirit of our Lord cannot be reigned in, so the spirit and direction of Christian community development cannot be controlled. A visit to an annual CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) convention, or a Christian community organizing association will quickly prove that to be true.

At best, we hope to describe Christian community development (and community organizing), inspire you with a few real life examples of where and how development is at work, and lead you to believe that community development may have an important place in your ministry agenda.

Before we begin, let me again mention a few of the great books we are currently featuring at CityVoices:

“Congregations in Transition: A Guide for Analyzing, Assessing, and Adapting in Changing Communities,” by Carl Dudley and Nancy Ammerman ($17)
“Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church” by Joy Skjegstad ($14)
“Time to Talk in Church About HIV and AIDS” by Corean Bakke ($10)
“How Far Along is Your Church? The Life-cycle of Congregations” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“Why Some Churches Succeed and Others Don't!” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“The Biblical Understanding of the World as it Actually Is” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“How Struggling Churches Can Cluster for Power” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
and “One to Ones: A Way of Life and Ministry” by Marilyn Stranske ($10)

All of these books are filled with creative ideas for making urban ministry happen with strength and power. To purchase single editions (or multiple copies) contact the CityVoices office at (312) 726-1200, or roger@cityvoices.com. (VISA and MC are accepted.)

Please browse our Bookstore section (http://www.gospelcom.net/cv/pages/cvshop.html) for a listing of other great CityVoices resources.

Roger Johnson, CityVoices / SCUPE

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Community Development: Some General Definitions

Community Development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities.
Community development practitioners are often involved in organizing meetings and conducting searches within a community to identify problems, locate resources, analyze local power structures, human needs, and other concerns that comprise the community's character.

Community Development Corporations (CDCs) are sometimes known as Neighborhood Development Corporations, Community Based Organizations, or Community Housing Development Organizations. CDCs vary in size, organizational structure, and in primary mission. However, most CDCs have a few distinguishing characteristics. A community development corporation is a community organization, which is community based and whose mission is to serve low-income families and neighborhoods. Its board of directors is representative of the communities it serves, with community residents and stakeholders serving as board members.

A CDC may develop real estate for housing or commercial properties, which will help meet its community development mission. It offers economic development services such as business loans to small businesses in low-income communities, and / or operates other programs and services that help develop and improve the quality of life of the community it serves. Much of a CDC’s strength and effectiveness comes from its people and its community-based focus.

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Community Development is …

Community Development is about the redistribution of power from the politically and economically rich to the people and their institutions within a given community.

Christian Community Development means taking Jesus seriously when he says, “Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Christian Community Development happens when individual Christians relocate into poor communities, reconcile themselves across racial and economic lines, and begin redistributing their God-given economic resources.

Community Development is occurring when leaders are developed and continually empowered within a community that would not be (based on economics or educational attainment) a natural home for the growth and education of civic leaders.

Community Development is about the growth of good housing and healthy businesses, even when statistical indicators indicate that such growth is not likely to happen.

Christian Community Development is all about local churches being energized as they “buy into” the indigenous growth and development ideas of their people and leaders.

Community Development is about individuals and families succeeding in life as they band together and affirm the God-given talents and gifts, which often go unrecognized by a wider world.

Community Development happens when poor neighborhoods start developing jobs for their citizens, good schools for their children and hospitable surroundings

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Arthur Lyons: A Theology of Community Development

(Art Lyons is Co-director of the SCUPE / North Park University Master of Arts in Community Development [MACD] program. There he teaches courses in Ethical Dimensions of Community Development, and Statistical Analysis. In addition, he is also the founding director of Chicago’s Center for Economic Policy Analysis.)

Art, give us a simplified definition of community development.

Whenever you make a decision, you have to make it from some platform – you need some criteria for making a decision. If I see some people who have a problem, should I introduce them to an existing organization, help start a new organization, raise money, or start doing community organizing? Community development provides criteria for making that decision. Everything we do has to be for the purpose of promoting the community, and we all need to be doing it.

For example, a physicist needs to understand community development. Otherwise, what is the point of doing physics? The only useful, constructive purpose for physics, chemistry, sociology or history is to promote community welfare. Community development makes explicit what all of us need to be doing and what most of us already are doing.

There seems to be a lot of “fuzziness” around the word development. What’s development?

In this context, it’s enhancing relationships among individuals and groups of individuals. When Jesus said, “Love God and love your neighbor,” what does that mean? He answered that by telling a story; there are no rigid definitions. There is no single precise thing that if you do, or if you employ this technique, then you are a community developer. Instead, you need to understand what is appropriate and necessary in your current circumstances, with your particular people. So development is what you do when you love those around you.

Community development is a non-theological term for living out the two greatest commandments: love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself.

Art, how do you feel the course material you teach is preparing a non-profit (or for-profit) worker to become more effective in the arena of community development?

Take the Statistical Analysis course. We look at various uses of mathematics: statistics, algebra, accounting and budgeting methods. Understanding those tools gives a person a greater capacity to be involved with any kind of activity within their community. We’re surrounded by statistics and mathematics. A lot of times, people throw up their hands and say, “I can’t deal with this property tax stuff,” for example. But if you understand just a modest amount of arithmetic along with a few practices specific to the property tax system, then it all of a sudden becomes clear to you and now you can represent your community and their interests in property tax discussions. When the media are talking about property tax issues, you can interpret that discussion to your community. If you’re with a church or other community-based group, you can help formulate a response.

Why should a church, a group of churches, get involved in community development? Why should they care enough to sponsor a student to be part of the MACD program?

Churches should be involved in community development because they have to be. And they are involved, although they may not call it that. Churches try to provide a supportive, nurturing environment for their congregations, and hopefully they’re reaching out to everyone. I make a strict equivalence between community development and Jesus’ two great commandments. If you love God, you love God’s creation. You work to bring creation together, as God would have it. If you love your neighbor, you work to provide a nurturing, supportive environment for your neighbors and bring them together. That’s community development. At their best, churches are already doing this.

Now, why should a church send somebody to the MACD program? Because we make that explicit. We take what may be implicit, reflect on it and raise it to the level of consciousness so that when people go back to their congregations they can lead others through the process of understanding how all things can work together for the glory of God.

Contact: Art Lyons, SCUPE / North Park MACD, NPU Box 7, Chicago, IL 60625, (773) 244-5774, alyons@northpark.edu

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Leading Examples: Church-based Development Corporations

The Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) is a 501(c)(3) community development corporation dedicated to improving the quality of life by, in Harlem, [New York City]. The genesis of Abyssian Development Corporation in 1986, was the passionate response of Abyssinian Baptist Church parishioners to a call from their pastor, Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts III. Reverend Butts encouraged the congregation to rebuild its community “brick by brick, and block by block.” For nearly 20 years, Abyssian Development Corporation has helped to strengthen and rebuild the socioeconomic fabric of the Harlem community by developing housing, spearheading commercial development, stimulating the local economy, fostering education, strengthening families and building community capacity through civic engagement. For more information on Abyssian Development Corporation, go to http://69.72.225.163//index.html, or call (212) 368-4471.

First Baptist Community Development Corporation (FBCDC), was incorporated 501(c)(3) organization in 1993 to improve the social, educational and economic conditions in the community surrounding the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, in Somerset, New Jersey. FBCDC was created as a logical outgrowth of a sixty year-old religious institution with a rich history of dedication to community service. FBCDC began its work with a youth program designed to address problems associated with education, training, employment, substance abuse and delinquency. Operating out of the First Baptist Church basement and subsequently a trailer, the first two and one-half years were focused on organization building and service definition. Over the next few years, FBCDC continued to refine and expand its programs, developing the concept of a holistic approach to family support. The current staff facilitates neighborhood revitalization efforts to address housing, employment, health, education and other human service needs. For more information on First Baptist Community Development Corporation, go to http://www.fbcdc.com, or call (732) 247-0444.

The Resurrection Project was founded in 1990 by a coalition of parishioners from six southwest side Catholic parishes in Chicago. (Several more Catholic churches have since joined in Resurrection’s leadership.) The Resurrection Project’s mission is to build relationships and challenge people to act on their faith and values to create healthy communities through education, organizing and community development. Current programs include Homeownership Services, Community Organizing, Asset Management and Economic Development. In order to respond to community needs, The Resurrection Project created a five-year strategy called the Quality of Life Campaign. The overall goal of the campaign is to improve the quality of life for residents within targeted communities by addressing the key issues of education, housing and economic development. For more information, go to http://www.resurrectionproject.org, or call (312) 666-1323.

Trinity Christian Community is a Christian Community Development Corporation in New Orleans, directed by Kevin Brown. His father, the Rev. Bill Brown moved his family into the inner city of New Orleans in the early 1960's, during a turbulent time in the deep south's civil unrest. In 1967, when Kevin was just six, Trinity Christian Community was founded. Since then, Trinity Christian Community has specialized in strengthening families and urban youth, providing economic opportunity, developing urban leaders, improving neglected communities and networking faith-based organizations. Trinity Christian Community’s mission includes “evangelism, discipleship, compassion, and empowering inner city youth to become mature, confident Christian leaders who can effect positive change in the urban communities of New Orleans.” For more information, go to http://www.trinitychristiancommunity.org, or call (504) 482-7822.

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Practical Philosophy Works at Chicago’s Bethel New Life

(Excerpted from “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly,” January 31, 2003.)

One of the thorniest urban problems is the breakdown of communities, plagued by crime and unemployment. But, one such neighborhood has turned around. The process began with a church in an area that had been ravaged by riots. In that church was one determined woman. For more than a hundred years, Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church has anchored an impoverished neighborhood on Chicago's west side – through riots, white flight and economic decline.

But Bethel Lutheran is more than a spiritual center. The church is rebuilding its community – literally. The catalyst for change is Mary Nelson, president of Bethel New Life, the church-based community development corporation. She came to Chicago in 1965 to join her brother David, who had taken over as Bethel's pastor. Three years later, race riots broke out following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The already struggling neighborhood deteriorated steadily throughout the 1970s.

Mary Nelson remembers, “Streets weren't repaired, landlords virtually abandoned their buildings. The church looked around outside of its building and saw all this abandonment and demolition and said, ‘We've got to do something about housing or there won't be a neighborhood left!’”

In 1979, Nelson and her brother formed Bethel New Life, a community development arm of the church. Replacing destroyed or abandoned housing became Bethel's first priority. “People put together ten dollars a week until we had the first $5,000,” says Ms. Nelson. “Poor people themselves put their widow's mites in there. And we started with a determination that God would make a way.”

With that initial $5,000 investment, congregation members renovated an abandoned three-unit apartment building. Other renovations followed. And Nelson was only getting started. Today, Bethel is a national model for what urban churches can do to revitalize neighborhoods. Nelson proved adept at tapping into federal funds. Bethel's annual budget has grown to more than $11 million, reflecting Nelson's ability to identify needs and then doggedly seek out public and private money.

Besides developing nearly 1,000 housing units, Bethel operates a day care center, a shelter for homeless families, an educational program for young mothers and a job training and placement center. Bethel New Life has succeeded in areas where the government is still seeking to find solutions. One of Bethel New Life's most audacious moves was to raise $3.2 million in government funds and private donations to purchase and renovate a closed hospital. Bethel turned the hospital into apartments for senior citizens.

Bethel converted a wing of the hospital complex into a day-care center for 70 children, who often visit with neighborhood seniors. Thirty percent of the elderly people who come here suffer some form of dementia. Bethel recently dedicated an 85-unit assisted-living facility for low-income seniors. Nelson says, “It takes first a vision of the possibilities, looking at what are the strengths of a community. We work with individuals in understanding that jobs are the very most important thing. Having a breadwinner with a living wage does much for the whole sanity and well-being of family.”

Bethel New Life employs 400 people and has helped find jobs for an estimated 5,000 low skill workers. Seventy percent of its budget comes from government grants and fees. “We're a strong believer in self help, that the best kinds of solutions come out of stake holders themselves, understanding and taking responsibility and control of a situation. We look for the strengths in people; we look for the opportunities in our community instead of seeing ourselves as deficit-laden people who need everybody outside of us to do things.

Bethel New Life is in the midst of a four million-dollar private-public project to develop a combination retail, day care and job center next to an elevated train stop. Nelson is training young leaders in the community to take over for her (she retires this year). “The myth,” she says, “is because I'm the one that's got the big mouth and talks a lot, that people seem to focus on Mary Nelson. But it is not Mary Nelson. It is this whole host of wonderful people who have committed themselves and hung in there through the thick and the thin.”

Contact: Mary Nelson, Bethel New Life, 4950 W. Thomas Street, Chicago, IL 60651, (773) 473-7870, mnelson367@aol.com.

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Must Read!

Blow the Trumpet in Zion: Global Vision and Action for the 21st-century Black Church, edited by Iva E. Carruthers, Frederick D. Haynes III, and Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Fortress Press, 2005.

“Blow the Trumpet in Zion” is a groundbreaking effort on the part of twenty-three contributors, all participants in the February 2004 Samuel D. Proctor Pastor’s Conference. African American church leaders, the likes of James Cone, Charles Adams, Renita Weems and Cecil “Chip” Murray, all weigh in on subjects diverse as “Piety and Liberation,” “Liberating the Ancient Utterances of African People,” and “Black Church Leadership in the Age of AIDS.” Blow the Trumpet in Zion” is an energetic effort aimed at activating the social justice agenda of America’s black churches. To a great degree, it succeeds in its mission. Read and judge for yourself. Best price can be found at Amazon.com.

Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development, John M. Perkins, Baker Book House, 1993.

While John Perkin’s “Beyond Charity” was published well over a decade ago, it remains a good, simple and inspirational manual for anyone the least bit interested in how they or their church can get going in community development. Perkins talks about the need for a new theology of reconciliation, “…living the gospel means desiring for your neighbor and your neighbor’s family that which you desire for yourself and your family. Living the gospel means bettering the quality of other people’s lives – spiritually, physically, socially, and emotionally – as you better your own.” But then he moves from theology to practice. John Perkins insists that churches can take on urban issues of dignity, power, education, health, housing and employment – and succeed. He insists on all this without failing in the areas of care and evangelism to unreached peoples.

“Beyond Charity” is not intended to be a scholarly treatise, and shouldn’t be read in that light. Rather, it is intended to help city churches start from literally nowhere and achieve substantial results in the arena of Christian community development. Read it believing that God can do something great, if only you and your church will make an effort.

“Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development” is now available from CityVoices for $12 per copy. Call (312) 726-1200, or email roger@cityvoices.com to place your order.

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Thanks for Reading CityVoices!

We return to consider both more and more practice regarding Christian community development in March. But next month, we turn our focus south, with a profile of city churches at work in Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. We gain a greater understanding of the issues facing ministry in Houston, as well as what seems to be working as pastors and church leaders minister to their communities.

Remember to call CityVoices at (312) 726-1200, to order any of the following books:

“Congregations in Transition: A Guide for Analyzing, Assessing, and Adapting in Changing Communities,” by Carl Dudley and Nancy Ammerman ($17)
“Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church” by Joy Skjegstad ($14)
“Time to Talk in Church About HIV and AIDS” by Corean Bakke ($10)
“How Far Along is Your Church? The Life-cycle of Congregations” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“Why Some Churches Succeed and Others Don't!” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“The Biblical Understanding of the World as it Actually Is” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
“How Struggling Churches Can Cluster for Power” by Bob Linthicum ($10)
and “One to Ones: A Way of Life and Ministry” by Marilyn Stranske ($10)

We look forward to hearing from you and meeting any of your ministry needs,
Roger Johnson – CityVoices / SCUPE (Chicago)
(312) 726-1200