Community Development
Diocesan community development aims to support the development of specific parish projects and to increase the capacity of parishes to manage those projects. In addition, it promotes amongst clergy and laity an understanding of community engagement as a fundamental part of the mission of the church through formal and informal training.
Community work
Community work is about ways that people can:
1. Become involved in the wide range of issues that affect their lives;
2. Work together in an equal way and share their skills, knowledge and experience;
3. Identify their needs and work together to do things for themselves and their communities.
Why should churches be involved?
The Christian basis of community work is founded on a belief in the Kingdom of God as encompassing the whole of life. Kingdom values that inform community work are love, justice, peace and the mutuality of people with each other. Community work seeks to work with and for the signs of that Kingdom in the lives of human communities.
Community work is guided by the following principles:
1. The involvement of people in purposeful action can bring about change in communities.
2. Communities and individuals should be encouraged to develop their self esteem.
3. Resources available to communities should be increased.
4. Any understanding of community which neglects the needs of its weaker members should be challenged.
5. Expression of the Gospel’s bias towards the weak and vulnerable leads to a challenge to their exclusion from society.
6. Reflective engagement in society and the development of a theology is the work of the whole people of God.
Training
Visit the Events page for details of training.
Models of community work
There are three different models of community work:
1. Community service
This is a way of working for those in need. It is the classic illustration of organised compassion based on care for neighbour. This is the area of community work in which the institutional church has in the past been mainly engaged.
E.g. Debt: Providing advice and help on management of debt. Help individuals to increase income by helping them to access benefits advice.
2. Community development A number of parishes in the diocese have successfully extended their work to include community development projects in response to a need in their area. This is a way of working with rather than for people, who are encouraged to improve their physical and social environment through a particular process. This process involves discussion planning and organising and getting people to act for themselves. In so doing people find self confidence, a recognition of the skills they already have and learn new skills. It involves the making and taking of decisions which will lead to change.
E.g. Debt: Set up a credit union. Start a self-help group for compulsive spenders.
For many parishes the starting point is the undertaking of a Parish Audit in order to develop ideas, find out community needs and develop a response.
Networking There is a support network for parishes running community projects or working in partnership with local groups. The network serves the Dioceses of Manchester and Chester and meets two or three times a year. These meetings provide the opportunity to hear about the work of other projects and to share news, information and experiences and there is usually a speaker to address a relevant topic.
3. Community action This is concerned with a stance which involves a more tactical questioning of society and its systems and values. Firstly it attempts to enable people to organise collectively to take action against injustices and win more power and resources. Second it concentrates on groups and issues where there is potential for political education rather than working with the community at large.
E.g. Debt: Campaign about the causes of debt and factors in society which encourage it, such as the benefits system; low pay; Drop the Debt campaign.
