I grew up in some unusual Baptist churches, ones that both taught and practiced social action and social justice as a key part of their mission. I became frustrated when I learned that not all Baptist churches, especially those in Wales and England, are like this.
I started to wonder why that was the case and whether community organizing could offer a way for Baptist churches to be more involved in tackling social justice issues and making positive change with others in local communities. I also wondered what Baptists could offer to community organizing.
My research into this and practice led me to write Covenant Relationships for Radicals. In addition to my work in community organizing, it is also informed by my involvement in leadership roles in several Baptist churches in Wales and England.
Community organizing is an approach that originated in the United States in the 1940s and arrived in the UK in the late 1980s. The practice has been adopted by churches from many denominations, by other faith traditions (including Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in Wales and England), and by many civil society institutions. It has been appealing to these movements because of its perceived effectiveness as a vehicle for leadership development and collective action for social justice and the common good.
In the book, I share stories of how organizing has helped communities win significant change on issues such as housing, wages and becoming more welcoming communities. Despite extensive theological reflection and research by Baptists and others on social justice as a key area of Christian discipleship and church action, there is currently little practice or exploration of social justice among UK Baptist churches.
Baptists would benefit from a stronger theological ethic for social justice. In the book, I examine the theory and practice of community organizing. I also establish critical dialogue between this approach to social change and Baptist social justice theology, ethics, and practice, particularly with impoverished, vulnerable, and marginalized people.
Additionally, I explore current theological reflection on churches’ practice of Community Organizing, mainly by Catholic and Anglican theologians. I examine the extent to which a theological ethic for the practice of social justice within Baptist churches in Wales and England developed during the period when community organizing alliances were being established in both nations.
The book explores the main themes in the writing of four prominent UK Baptist theologians during this period: Paul Fiddes, Brian Haymes, Richard Kidd and Nigel Wright. I explore how their discussions and writings engage with key principles drawn from theological reflection on organizing. Fiddes, Haymes and Kidd’s writing demonstrates the most extensive links, particularly in their writing on participating in God and covenantal relationships.
Covenantal relationships bring a distinctly Baptist theological understanding to community organizing and provide a dynamic way of weaving institutions together in the pursuit of justice. A focus on covenant theology and ethics can therefore strengthen a Baptist theological ethic for social justice while also giving Baptists something valuable to offer others engaged in community organizing.
In Wales and England, there have been more than 400 years of conversation about what it means to be Baptist. By contrast, churches in the UK have had fewer than 40 years of conversation about what community organizing means for their life and mission.
Baptists have not yet participated significantly in this discussion as part of a broader Baptist conversation about justice. I propose that this be their next step.
Those who initially developed community organizing focused on what it means to be radical and on institutions acting from their roots. Baptists can likewise draw from their roots by acting for justice through covenantal relationships.
Through these relationships, they can help restore solidarity among people and institutions by walking together and watching over one another in love. In doing so, they can renew their understanding of what it means to be radical in covenantal relationships with others.
Baptists and others need to practice covenant rather than simply preserve it in written documents. The writings of Fiddes, Haymes and Kidd are particularly helpful in developing our understanding of covenant. However, I argue that the covenantal relationships they describe are not currently being practiced widely by Baptists in Wales and England.
I hope that many more stories of Baptist engagement in community organizing in Wales and England will be told in the future as Baptists seek to be radical by covenanting with God and others in the pursuit of justice.
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Covenant Relationships for Radicals: Baptists, Community Organizing, and Social Justice by Richard Weaver is available in print, as an eBook, and on Kindle here: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385253913/covenant-relationships-for-radicals/
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Tutor in Community Leadership at Cardiff Baptist College, UK, and doctoral research graduate from IBTS and VU Amsterdam. This research will be the basis for a forthcoming book.