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Firstly, when I said I would add blogging to my daily routine I meant weekdays.
I thought that I would resume my blogging journey by looking at some of the building blocks of the framework that shapes my world view.
The first one I want to touch on is Community Development.
Community Development at its most basic is the process of allowing a community define its own goals and then work towards achieving those goals. Secular CD practitioners would suggest that it is the responsibility of the community to define the destination it aims to reach. They would hold to the fundamental ideals of equal access, democratic decision making and the sharing of resources.
Now I am happy with that definition and am quite happy to work towards that ideal, however I think that it isn't a complete understanding of community development. As a Christian I believe that the goal of community development is the kingdom of God. That is to say the ideals of God's kingdom being enacted in the here and now. I think that the ideals outlined by the secular community development practitioners are beginning points. Added to them I would suggest the following ideals:
- a commitment to eliminating poverty in all its forms
- community built upon shared interests and resources rather than self interest
- a commitment to diversity and learning from each other's viewpoint
I do not see Christian community development as relating exclusively to the Christian community. It is what Christians can bring to the table of our wider communities, recognising that it comes as one voice amongst many. However I believe that if we are able to articulate our vision and back it up with self sacrificing commitment then it will become an attractive vision for our communities.
What do you think?
I've had about dozen attempts at responding to this- some social, some political, and some far to esoteric to bear mentioning!
ReplyDeleteFor me CD comes down to two things:
1. What is community?
2. How we understand community.
Further, I believe we live in a range of communities. Some of us live in communities within communities (diaspora?). As such I think we need to consider Inter-CD and Intra-CD.
I'm probably not qualified to speak of notions of Christian CD, but there's more than one way to achieve the goals you speak of. For once in my life, I'll let The Age do the talking for me!
http://www.theage.com.au/national/religion-in-schools-to-go-godfree-20081213-6xxs.html?page=-1
You can pick your chin off the table now...
ps Liam, how can I markup hyperlinks?
Argh, the internet ate my first response.
ReplyDeleteCommunity is a slippery sucker.
CD practitioners would suggest that power must be devolved to the lowest possible level to allow grassroots democracy to take place.
We do all live in a range of communities but I think most of them are formed around commonality of some kind. I think the real challenge is to form communities of diversity where people are valued for what they bring rather than being valued for 'fitting the mould'.
As far as the Humanist society in schools I think that it should be encouraged. We need children to be shown a diverse range of views and to develop their own belief/moral/ethical worldview. I mean that is the whole point of religious education in public schools, to reach the kids who aren't going to church. ;)
My problem with the idea is that it is religious education time. Most humanists and atheists I know would not like to be called either 'believers' or 'followers of a religion'.
Sorry Paul, forgot to mention how to mark up links.
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to just enter them as HTML text.
eg. '<'a href= '>'
(I added the quotations to avoid it thinking I was writing in HTML)
I generally agree that community is about what people have in common, but what is a community's greatest strength- that which they have in common or the individual experiences that bring diversity ?
ReplyDeleteI think that community needs to have a common vision and purpose to come together. Diversity is definately important and is crucial to a rich commuinity. It takes a lot to bring that diversity together as it is much easier to sit with people who are the same as us. I think when a community harnesses the ability to make the most out of diversity it is at it's fullest. However I believe this cam only happen when there is a common goal or vision to unite the group.
ReplyDelete