ABCD approaches have long held appeal to faith based organizations and congregations. This should not surprise anyone. Most faith traditions believe that at some level people are sacred. In other words they hold as a fundamental tenant the idea that each of us is associated with and/or filled with the Divine. So an approach to building and developing community that starts and finishes with the giftedness and potentials of individuals and their groups, rather than their flaws and limitations, is going feel consistent with the values of most faith communities.
At a recent workshop I was facilitating, a participant said I have been turned off by traditional needs-based approaches to poverty because they so quickly fall into us/them paradigms. He is right. The common and charitable approach to ministry, the work of ministers lay and ordained, has been to find them and help them by sharing what we have. The assumption is that they dont have anything to offer, anything for us to gain from, and cant move forward without our presence. The workshop participant pointed out how this ran counter to his belief that in the eyes of God, we are all equal and valued.
The limitations of us/them charitable approaches are well chronicled. From John Mcknights The Careless Society to the increasingly popular book by Corbett and Fikkarts When Helping Hurts, we have no shortage of examples of how good intentions, applied with charitably, can hurt communities and individuals more than help. This happens, in part, because the interactions and connections are defined by labels and helper v. needy roles.
ABCD approaches offer people of faith an opportunity to connect with their brothers and sisters on a mutually beneficial basis, under the assumption that both parties have something to offer each other. By building community around our the sharing of our mutual and unique gifts and talents, we build a community more reflective of people connected to Creation and the Divine.
What has been your experience with ABCD and faith communities? Either intentional or otherwise?
updated by @ron-dwyer-voss: 10/24/16 04:45:35PM