Recognising the treasure in our midst

Revd Canon Angus Ritchie writes about the gift of Community Organising and the development of local leaders

Thirty years ago, Fr Kenneth Leech argued that authentic Christian social thought must always be “rooted in the worshipping and corporate life of actual communities” and begin with “concrete and specific issues.” This would “overcome the syndrome of a facile optimism in which we seek to deal with problems over too wide an area, at the level of general principles and moral rhetoric” (Subversive Orthodoxy: Traditional Faith and Radical Commitment).

There is a similar emphasis on slow, patient, concrete engagement in the teaching of Pope Francis.

Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness (Evangelii Gaudium, 224)

Francis wants to see a Church that has more than a heart for the poor. He is recalling us to the Gospel vision of a Church with the poorest at its heart.

Salvation came to us from the “yes” uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire. The Saviour was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of poor families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the offering made by those who could not afford a lamb; he was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own hands to earn his bread (Evangelii Gaudium, 197).

From Subversive Orthodoxy and Evangelii Gaudium, we can identify three central motivations for Christian engagement in community organising:

• Practicality: rooting our reflection in “the worshipping and corporate life of actual communities” and beginning with “concrete and specific issues”
• Patience: prioritising “processes of people-building” over short-term wins, and
• The agency of the poorest: ensuring those who experience injustice are at the heart of the struggle for change

Although it is best known for its campaigns, the most valuable long-term impact of community organising is the development of grassroots leaders and the building of relationships of solidarity and trust among the peoples of a neighbourhood. Authentic organising is necessarily slow, but over time there is no more fruitful approach. Its campaigns develop the confidence and agency of more and more local citizens, rather than burning out a small cadre of (usually more middle class) activists.

Fr Sean Connolly’s ministry in east London exemplifies this patient process of “people-building” – beginning with “concrete and specific issues’ and placing the poorest at the heart of Christian social action. Fr Sean arrived in the Catholic Parish of Manor Park just before the London Olympics of 2012. (The parish, in the London Borough of Newham, which contained the main Olympic Park.)

That year, one of the churches in his parish was celebrating its 150th anniversary. Because of the impending Olympics, the local council was unwilling to put up any new road signage. However, Fr Sean’s parishioners felt strongly that their church needed the same public recognition that many other local institutions had already received – and hence that this prohibition was arbitrary and unfair.

These parishioners led a community organising campaign called “We Don’t Want A Miracle, We Just Want A Sign.” The good-humoured action they took at a meeting of Newham Council got significant local media coverage, and led on to an agreement by councillors to provide the sign.

While it was a small victory, it was a very tangible one. Every time parishioners attended the church, they were reminded of what could be achieved by collective action. People who had never before had any experience of successful action to change the behaviour of either government or corporate bodies began to envisage greater possibilities.

Five years later, the seemingly trivial victory around a sign has led on to successful campaigns against unjust housing evictions, and in favour of new affordable housing in the area. You can watch the testimony of Lucy Achola, who has become a key leader in the housing campaign here .

By beginning with the motivations and concerns of parishioners, and moving only at the pace at which those motivations changed, Fr Sean has managed to achieve far more than if he had rushed into action on a more obviously strategic issue without first developing local leaders.

The grassroots leadership developed through this process is spiritual as well as political. In authentic Christian action, the two must always be intertwined. Manor Park was one of the neighbourhoods worst hit by the first wave of the pandemic. In this time of trial this spiritual leadership has been particularly evident – as you can see from the testimony of Caroline Alfred and Susan Graves in the People’s Rosary Project.

In Anglican parishes involved in community organising, we see this same pattern emerging. It begins with patient development of local leaders through small-scale local action, rooted in prayer. These leaders then contribute to the renewal of the church, as well as of its action in the neighbourhood. And with more confident grassroots leaders, and a more vibrant institution comes the possibility of action to address the root causes of social injustice –through more strategic campaigns for a Living Wage and affordable housing.

This year, the Organising for Growth project is seeking to help more east London churches to go on this journey. You catch a glimpse of the project’s impact through yesterday’s online Carol Service at St Andrew’s Stamford Hill. Members of this small, inner-city congregation share stories of the faith that has sustained them though the pandemic, and is inspiring them to take action to challenge injustice in their neighbourhood. Like Fr Sean’s congregation in 2012, the Revd Charis Enga’s church in Stamford Hill is on the early stages of a journey of renewal. The work is slow and patient. It begins small, and as it grows remains rooted in the conviction that God is the one who gives the increase.

Subversive Orthodoxy ends with a chapter on “The Future” which stresses “the importance of beginning movements of spiritual renewal and social justice at the basic neighbourhood level.” In the testimonies of the people of Manor Park and Stamford Hill, we see the enduring significance of the local parish. We also see the extraordinary gift God has given the Church (and indeed the wider world) in its inner-city congregations. Community organising has a vital part to play in enabling the Church to recognise the treasure in its midst.