I had the privilege of attending the Coalition of Supporting Indigenous Ministries (COSIM) conference this week. So inspirational! The highlight by far was the session led by Steve Corbett, co-author of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself.
In upcoming weeks I’ll explore some of the topics covered in the book, but today I wanted to talk about the power of with. This theme was reiterated again and again during the conference.
What do I mean by “the power of with”? In his book Communities First, Jay Van Groningen discusses this concept. Although written with a North American church’s local outreach approach in mind, it is applicable overseas as well.
The church “in’ community
- Does not desire to influence the community
- Does not desire community members to influence it
- Invests nearly all its resources on its own members
- May be described as a fortress, holding the outside world back
- Takes up space in the neighborhood; many members commute into the neighborhood for services and meetings and then leave again; the church does not pay taxes and is a net drain on the community.
The church “to” the community
- Desires to bless and make contributions to the community (on its own terms)
- Does not desire community members to influence it
- Spends some resources in the community (but usually a small percentage of the total budget)
- Limits or suppresses the influence of community stakeholders in its planning or assessment process.
- Serves the community for reasons it prefers and with methods it prefers, and assumes it knows what is best for the community.
- Overlooks the gifts, skills, and resources already in the community that achieve the same result.
- Takes up space in the neighborhood, sometimes sharing it with the community.
The church “with” the community
- Desires to influence the community
- Desires community stakeholders to influence it
- Spends significant resources (time, talent, goods) in the community
- Utilizes planning and assessment processes that are influenced by both church members and community stakeholders, and makes decisions based on the impact desired by church members and neighbors
- Serves and develops the community for reasons and with methods that bring transformational impact to the community and church alike.
- Looks for and unleashes the gifts, skills, and resources already present in the community.
- Is a convener of the community, a servant to the community, adding value to residents and the community as a whole’ a net contributor to the community even though it does not pay taxes.
What does “ministry with” look like overseas? Watch this video to find out:
How is this different or the same as the ministries you are involved with?
What's on your mind?