Editor’s Note: The following article is facilitated through a partnership between Good Faith Media and the International Baptist Theological Studies Centre (IBTS) in Amsterdam. It has been edited to reflect U.S. English spelling.
I have recently completed my doctorate through IBTS and the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. My dissertation examines the theory and practice of Broad-based Community Organizing, establishing a critical dialogue between this approach to social change and Baptist social justice theology, ethics and practice with impoverished and marginalized people.
I researched and wrote this dissertation from a “position on the edge of the inside.” I explore and critique community organizing as an insider, as I have been closely involved in the work since 2011.
I also critique Baptists and their approach to social justice as an insider. I grew up in some unusual Baptist churches, in that they were teaching about and practicing social action and social justice as a key part of mission. I then became frustrated that not all Baptist churches are like this.
I organize with various education, faith, union and community organizations. The churches I have organized with have been primarily with Anglican and Roman Catholic institutions, but only rarely with Baptist churches.
The relative lack of Baptist church involvement in organizing in Wales and England, despite the central roles that Black Baptist churches play in community organizing in the U.S., has increasingly bothered me over time. I started to wonder why this is the case and whether community organizing could provide a way for Baptist churches in Wales and England to be more involved in tackling social justice issues and making positive changes in local communities.
Community organizing is an approach that originated in the United States in the 1940s and came to the UK in the late 1980s. It has been adopted by churches from many denominations, other faith traditions, and many civic society institutions because of its perceived effectiveness as a vehicle for leadership development and collective action for social justice and the common good.
Community organizing has informed other faith communities’ social justice work, particularly in Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. However, there is little UK Baptist literature on community organizing. My dissertation has brought the growing community organizing literature into contact with Baptist church theology, ethics and practice.
In Wales and England, there have been over 400 years of conversation about what it means to be Baptist. However, in the UK, we have less than 40 years of conversation about what community organizing means for churches. Until now, Baptists in the UK have not participated in this latter conversation alongside a Baptist conversation about justice. I argue that this should be the next step for Baptists.
Through examining current theological reflection on community organizing and the work of Baptist theologians, I have found a focus on covenant theology and ethics very helpful both to strengthen a Baptist theology as well as something Baptists can offer other churches and institutions engaging in community organizing.
Covenant language can be woven together with, and help strengthen, the principles and practice of community organizing. Covenantal relationships bring a Baptist theological understanding to community organizing and provide a dynamic way to weave institutions together in acting for justice.
The idea of covenants formed by God with churches and others in communities can help make sense of complicated and challenging relationships in a community. Thus, covenant theology can be recognized as the basis for understanding church action in mission with God in communities or society.
However, it is not enough to have a Baptist theology for the practice of social justice. It must be translated into reality. It must be practiced through action in the world as it is, and with aims to bring about the world as it should be more fully.
Baptists can and should be part of coming together with others to effect change on justice issues. Weaving relationships with others in distinctive ways should produce new patterns and reconfigure the quality and character of Baptist churches and other organizations.The result will be patterns in communities that are beautiful and inspiring to others.
We have a long way to go before our communities resemble the beloved community of Christ, as envisioned by Martin Luther King Jr. I hope there might be many more stories that can be told in the future of Baptist engagement in community organizing in Wales and England, as Baptists seek to covenant with God and others in seeking justice.