Abstract:
As Vineyard churches consider how to how seek the welfare of the city it is crucial that they partner with local community organizing efforts. As Vineyard churches seek healing and justice of their cities, they must also act as political entities in efforts to fight systemic ills through winnable causes. In this sense, politics is the collectivizing of power from individuals through Vineyard communities to act together in the transformation of social programs to benefit the most vulnerable. IAF community organizing looks to combine the power of multiple communities, embracing a shared telos of human flourishing that comes from a faith-based perspective, in order to act politically. Community organizing is the means of using moving from the world as it is into the world as it should be—challenging county commissioners, police chiefs, mayors, and ourselves to work toward the world as it should be (Gecan).
Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) forms of community organizing is a natural interlocutor and learning partner for Vineyard churches that are looking to learn more about how to act with and on behalf of the vulnerable members of our cities. The foundation of IAF organizing (“moving the world as it is to the world as it should be”) parallels the Kingdom theology that the Vineyard preaches and seeks in worship, though may limit in political action which challenges the systems that are keeping the poor impoverished and the outcast disenfranchised. By partnering with IAF chapters, the Vineyard could find new ways of putting its theology into practice, reinvigorating its worship of healing the sick and caring for the poor, and listening to God and neighbor—all through participation in IAF community organizing.
The full paper is attached to this post.
