Being a With Church

I recently became a community partner with The Communities First Association. I am learning about community transformation and how the Church can partner with it's community for the better.

Communities First Association is a network of professional Christian colleagues with a common heart and role. Using Asset Based Community Development methods, the Communities First Association Transforms a growing number of communities and engages Christians and Churches in their community change story. (From: www.CommunitiesFirstAssociation.org)

What has come home to me is the differing types of churches in our communities. The first type of church is the "In" church. "In churches take up space in their communities and their ministry is centered on their members only. There is no interaction with the community and the gifts of the body are mostly for the body."

The second type of church is the "To" church. "To churches members want to do good things for their neighbors. They want to evangelize their neighbors. They have money and power to do what they want, so they decide what they are going to do to or for those neighbors, and they do it."

The third type of church is the "With" church. "With church members know God is already in the neighborhood where they occupy space. They want to discover what He is already doing. They listen to their neighbors. They learn to dream with their neighbors what this community might be – “on earth as it is in heaven.” Together they develop an agenda for change. They use members gifts and residents gifts (time, talent, treasures) to accomplish their shared dream for a better future."

In my reading of "Revolution," and "UnChristian" for example, there seems to be a growing awareness that our churches are not, for the most part, with-type churches. Although we mean well, we program for our own desires more so than for our communities needs even when we are trying to do good things for our communities.

Here's is an exercise to evaluate our church's efforts. 1. List the ministries of your church. 2. Decide for each if it is an In, a To/For, or a With ministry. 3. Do you see anything you might like to change?