Love Thy Neighbor, Love Thy Neighborhood Economy
How churches can bring hope and healing through community economic development—
An Article by David Kresta, an Agent of Thriving
Over the past 20 years, Rev. Barry Randolph has seen God revive the east side Detroit neighborhood of Islandview where he presides as pastor of the Episcopalian Church of the Messiah. Guided by God’s desire for what he calls “righteous economics,” Barry has challenged traditional boundaries between church and community, bringing the good news of Jesus alongside affordable housing, workforce development, job placement for those returning from prison, a food pantry, community organizing, youth mentoring, and business incubation. He has even worked to provide low-cost internet service to those without it. “The work being done isn’t solely that of the church,” he said. “It is the people coming to the church with an idea, and we help that idea take root and grow.”
Photo of: Rev. Barry Randolph. Credit: Episcopalian Church of the Messiah Facebook
Unfortunately, the Church of the Messiah is an outlier. Research I conducted on over 2,000 churches across the nation shows that, in general, churches are not helping their neighborhoods. Even worse, some are hurting them. However, churches like Randolph’s are awakening others to the reality that neighborhoods need churches—and those churches need their neighborhoods. Guided by a God-sized vision for just economics found in Micah 4:4 (NIV) “Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid,” these churches are working with God toward a new vision. Using the community economic development framework, they are rethinking well-meaning charity and social service programs, church planting strategies, “taking a city for Jesus”-movements, and other traditional church-centric approaches to urban ministry and outreach.
“We all want to see the Islandview neighborhood continue to grow in an equitable manner,” Randolph said. “Where all are welcome and can thrive.”
A common misconception
There is a common misconception that simply by being in the community, churches bring good news to a neighborhood. While the good news may be preached inside the walls of a church, my own doctoral research at Portland State University reveals a mixed picture of the relationship between a church and its surrounding neighborhood.
In my study of over 2,000 churches across the nation from 1990 to 2010, I found that churches are on average 60% more racially segregated than their surrounding neighborhoods. This is made all the worse when we consider where new churches are being planted: church planting shifted from predominantly white, suburban, growing, higher-income neighborhoods in the 1980s, to “grittier,” “cooler,” diverse, lower-income neighborhoods in the 2000s. Some of these low-income neighborhoods were already gentrifying or at risk of gentrifying. And these new, predominately white churches, whose congregations seldom mirror the demographics of their neighborhoods, contribute to higher rates of gentrification, with higher-income white individuals moving into these once diverse, lower-income neighborhoods. Of course, churches are not solely or even primarily responsible for gentrification, but my research reveals that churches are responsible for about 10 percent of the income growth that typically accompanies a community experiencing gentrification. One explanation for these disturbing research findings is that these churches serve as a signal to higher-income, predominately white individuals that a neighborhood is changing and will soon be populated with people and institutions that mirror themselves.
For churches already in a neighborhood, a traditional community engagement strategy is to provide social services such as food and clothing programs. But as a former member of the board of a local chapter of Love INC, which aims to transform lives and communities through churches, I’ve seen growing discouragement within these churches as members question their program’s effectiveness with the same people returning for support year after year. My research confirmed that church social services, in general, did not create lasting change in the community as measured by impact on neighborhood incomes. However, I did find one positive impact: These services may enable low-income residents to stay in the neighborhoods, thereby slowing displacement from gentrification. Also, when these traditional services such as food pantries are combined with economic development activities such as community gardens, cooperative grocery stores, or shared commercial kitchens, wholistic solutions emerge that can make a lasting difference.
Rethinking our approach
Credit: Rockwood Center Facebook
Fortunately, there is a proven approach to creating lasting change in neighborhoods by directly addressing economic injustice. This proven approach is community economic development (CED). CED emerged in the 1960s in response to the failures of top-down Urban Renewal, countering with bottom-up, equity-driven development in divested and forgotten neighborhoods. While top-down, traditional economic development is perfectly content displacing the poor to “improve” neighborhoods, CED seeks out those who are left behind, and encourages the community to work together to build the wealth of current residents and businesses. A major focus of CED is to offer help towards starting or growing local businesses that are committed to serving the community. Benefits of such a local approach include keeping more money circulating in the community, strengthened local partnerships, and creating businesses that embody community loyalty. Supporting microbusinesses is a popular CED entry point. With just a little help, existing businesses can expand, or new local businesses can be formed. For example, the Gresham and Rockwood United Methodist Churches in the Portland metropolitan area teamed up to convert Rockwood UMC into the Rockwood Center, where they now host a variety of community entrepreneur programs including a sewing collective and soon, a commercial kitchen to support food-based business development.
Another approach to supporting local business development is to convert underutilized church space into a “makerspace.” By providing access to shared equipment and skills training, makerspaces help nurture local businesses and prepare individuals for jobs. The Bible Center Church in Charleston, West Va. started a “Maker’s Center” that offers a wide range of training including computer skills, sewing, 3D printing, construction, and even driver’s education. The program serves the general community, as well as school-age children and adults in recovery with a goal to reverse the effects of persistent poverty and lack of opportunity in the surrounding area.
Recognizing that entrepreneurship is not the solution for everybody, another popular CED focus area is preparing and connecting residents to jobs while supporting their journey to financial self-sufficiency. The United Church Outreach Ministry, a ministry of the Michigan Conference of the United Church of Christ located just outside of Grand Rapids, Mich. offers training in interviewing, conflict resolution, and work habits, with a focus on serving those who often have the most difficulty finding employment, such as those with criminal records. Partnerships with several area employers, such as residential care facilities, facilitate the transition from program participant to active employee. In North Carolina, Robbinsville United Methodist Church is involved in their community youth workforce training by serving on Graham County High School’s Career and Technical Committee and supporting summer work experiences for youth. The church is a supporter of the high school's coffee shop, Mountain Grounds, and their business, Knights Imprinting. Linking the mission of the church to the well-being of the local economy provides important resources to help and encourage the youth of the community to be prepared for their future,
Credit: Haywood Street Community Development Facebook (The blessing of 339 West Haywood Street)
CED also encompasses projects that keep housing and land affordable for current residents and businesses. Without adequate affordable housing, community economies simply cannot provide a thriving environment for all. Fortunately, a growing number of churches are digging deep into their local communities by developing affordable housing on their property. For example, the city of Asheville, NC will be getting some relief from their affordable housing crisis: Haywood Street Community Development, launched from the efforts of Haywood Street Congregation (a UMC mission congregation), is planning to develop 41 deeply affordable rental units in downtown Asheville. These premium, low-income housing units (typically an oxymoron) will enable service industry workers to live closer to their jobs and provide housing options for the formerly homeless and families struggling to make ends meet. Across the country, Portsmouth Union Church in Portland, OR, landed a $2.3 million grant to develop a 20-unit affordable housing complex for low-income residents. It took five years to get necessary zoning changes but, in the process, they convinced the city of Portland to create a city-faith community liaison position to make it easier for other congregations to follow suit.
Decentering the church
At this point, you may be thinking one of two things:
“Yes, this is exactly what we need! My church is ready to start a new CED program and lead the charge.”
…or…
“This sounds good, but what can my church do? Can we really take on something big enough to make an impact that will last?”
Both thoughts are rooted in the same, church-centric thinking. But since CED is a highly collaborative endeavor, it calls for a decentered church approach, with the focus on a CED ecosystem of private businesses, developers, community groups, nonprofit service providers, local government, financial institutions, other churches, and anchor institutions such as hospitals or universities. Your church cannot, and should not, do this work alone!
Credit: Portsmouth Union Church Website (“Church gathers to discuss affordable housing crisis”)
There are a variety of “decentered” paths your church can follow, starting with coming alongside an existing CED program, at their invitation, of course, to further their reach or effectiveness with financial support, space, and/or volunteers. Second, churches can be highly effective connectors, focused on bringing together people and resources, including providing space to facilitate collaborative meetings. This role also includes seeking out and encouraging the community to listen to the voices that have been traditionally ignored or silenced. Third, churches can start a new CED program, but only after identifying a true gap in the community and in full conversation with the CED ecosystem. Finally, churches may be called to help start a new organization to manage the overall efforts within a community’s CED ecosystem. Such efforts are typically long-term projects, however, and should not be considered until substantial CED experience is achieved.
Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH), for example, is a multiracial, interdenominational, faith-led coalition working together on affordable housing, economic equity, criminal justice, and education. By incorporating congregations, community organizations, and labor unions into its coalition, NOAH has successfully organized efforts to influence the passage of local hiring mandates for large-scale development projects and increased resources for affordable housing. And at a national level, Faith in Action provides help in establishing local efforts to work together toward what they call a “moral economy.”
Here are some action steps to get your church started on a decentered approach to community economic development:
Find people and organizations of goodwill that share your love and concern for your community. Start exposing the cracks in the local economy and seeking out the voices that are not being listened to. Listen to each other’s dreams for economic justice and start scheming about what CED programs could look like in your community. This work will form the basis for an advisory team.
Although we’ve emphasized a decentered church approach, your church’s vision and mission is important and must drive your involvement in CED. Otherwise, your church simply won’t have the staying power to see the CED ecosystem fully bloom. If you and your members can’t honestly say that a workforce development program or a makerspace is central to the mission of your church and necessary to be a faithful community presence, you still have some foundational mission and vision work to do. Engaging in this work calls for a truly holistic view of the gospel, and a justice-centered mission that is, by definition, a God-centered mission.
Implement a robust assessment process to understand your community and your church, especially the state of the CED ecosystem. Don’t speed your way through this, even, or especially, if you already think you know what CED path you should pursue. Following such a process may not only surprise you with new insights and open up new possibilities for engagement, but it will also jumpstart your efforts to nurture a robust CED ecosystem, something that is absolutely critical for successful CED efforts.
Work with your CED ecosystem partners to piece together wholistic responses to your communities most pressing needs, leveraging existing programs (assets) and filling gaps with new offerings. For example, if food insecurity is a major community challenge, your church’s food panty and meal service can address immediate hunger and economic challenges. Consider partnering with a community garden which can contribute fresh, healthy, cost-effective food to those in need, along with building community connections. Going further, create a team to envision and develop a cooperative grocery store to provide quality, well-priced food, create multiple jobs, and further build the local supply chain of food businesses. While none of these elements on their own will “solve” food insecurity, together the portfolio of offerings, each offered by a potentially different community ecosystem member, will make a much larger impact both immediately and longer term.
CED should be motivated by a desire for the common good, not for self-preservation nor relevance for churches. Like the shepherd in Matthew 18, the church must be willing to take a risk and leave the 99 who are already safe and well-fed to seek out the lost sheep who are falling through the cracks of injustice. In the process, we may find that we too have lost our way and must find our way back into loving relationships with our neighbors and the neighborhood around us. This path requires intimate love and concern for the people in our neighborhoods, as well as a deep understanding of and appreciation for the community’s history, assets, and challenges. The church is uniquely positioned by God to love individuals and seek out the “least of these” while resisting unjust systems and bringing hope and healing through community processes such as CED.