The Lived Theology and Community Building Workgroup
Meeting Highlights
- First Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
December 15-17, 2000 - Second Meeting
New York, NY
March 12-14, 2001 - Third Meeting
Los Angeles, CA
May 4-6, 2001 - Fourth Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
October 12-14, 2001
Second Meeting
New York, NY
March 12-14, 2001
Narrative
Members of the Theology and Community-Building Workgroup traveled to New York City on March 12th for their second meeting. The group convened at the Harvard Club where Don Davis of the Urban Ministry Institute gave a presentation on his work—please see link to Don's paper entitled, "Who Cares About King?" Following Don's presentation workgroup members asked questions of Don who facilitated a discussion involving the entire group.
Amy Laura Hall of Duke Divinity School made the second presentation of the weekend. She showed the opening scenes of City of Lost Children, to highlight concerns about changing attitudes toward children. Her presentation addressed ethics of parenting for a just society and the lived theology of faith-centered families. Please see link to Amy Laura's paper entitled, "Losing and Using our Children." Amy Laura also entertained questions and facilitated discussion.
On Saturday morning the group traveled to the South Bronx where they met with Lee Stuart, Lead Organizer for South Bronx Churches, a congregational-based group that organizes community members to effect constructive changes in their neighborhoods and the city at large. Ms. Stuart, who addressed the group in the basement of a Roman Catholic parish
house, began by asking the workgroup what the primary theological virtue is (click here for summary text). One by one,
group members gave various answers—faith, hope and love being the most popular—but no one gave the answer Stuart
wanted: power. "The primary theological virtue is power, the ability to get something done. The church shies away
from power, even though we worship an all-powerful God. But power is the virtue that enables us to move from 'the way
the world is' to the 'way the world ought to be'. Power is the only way to advance all the other theological virtues--love,
justice and peace."
Stuart then explained how South Bronx Churches, or SBC, organizes for power rather than for specific ends--even though specific ends are obviously pursued—and that the purpose is always for recognition, participation and decision-making. Stuart then took the workgroup to a section of the South Bronx as concrete demonstration of her theology of power. The group witnessed the extraordinary transformations of once embattled neighborhoods that are the fruit of the Nehemiah Project's twenty block construction of homes for the poor—a SBC-based initiative that involves frequent confrontations of slum-lords and city housing bureaucrats. Stuart also led the group through one of the houses and explained the features of the home and the homeownership program.
The workgroup members then took the subway across the Bronx to the Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC), where they with met executive director Ray Rivera, a Pentecostal Hispanic minister ordained in the Christian Reformed Church. Rivera first led the group on a tour of the large, rambling community center which houses administrative offices, two schools, a gymnasium, weight room, classrooms, an auditorium and a book store. In his presentation (click here to view), Rivera described his lifelong search for a "wholistic theology" that serves the total person. In this regard, L-PAC is first and foremost a concrete theological expression. "Unapologetically Christ-centered," the Latino Action Pastor Center is based on four principles: personal and structural liberation in Christ; healing in the spirit; koinonia or community; and a call to personal transformation and perpetual growth in the Lord. Of particular interest to the group was his discussion of the parallels between the Israelites in captivity and the inner city poor.
On Wednesday morning the group convened for an extended time of reflection on the previous day's site visits and discussions. Charles Marsh asked each member of the group to formulate one question related to the goals of the Project on Lived Theology that had come to mind as a result of the presentations and site visits (click here to view). The conversation that proceeded was lively and vigorous and helped to clarify our theological work and to establish a foundation for substantive collaboration.
Readings
- Myers, Ched, et. al. Say to this Mountain: Mark's Story of Discipleship. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.
- Rasmussen, Larry, ed. Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991.
- Rooney, Jim. "Why did the South Bronx Collapse?" Organizing the South Bronx. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.
- Sassen, Saskia. "Introduction: Whose City Is It? Globalization and the Formation of New Claims." Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money. New York: New Press, 1998.
- Stuart, Lee. "The Development of Moses as a Leader." South Bronx Churches.
Papers/Presentations
- Amy Laura Hall (10k, pdf): Losing and Using our Children
- Don Davis (158k, pdf): "Who Cares about King?"
- Lee Stuart (10k, pdf): Notes from Presentation on South Bronx Churches (more complete notes forthcoming)
- Ray Rivera (14k, pdf): Notes from Presentation on the Latino Pastoral Action Center
- Workgroup (8k, pdf): Notes from Final Meeting