St Frideswides Church, Water Eaton, is the first Resource Hub for Community Organising and Church Growth in the diocese.
Through a strategic partnership with Citizens:MK and working with stakeholders across the city of Milton Keynes, St Frideswides has been effective in creating tangible and positive change in their community. It is also using community organising to explore how new worshipping communities might emerge in nearby housing estates, such as Eaton Leys.
Community Organising offers a framework for listening, taking action, negotiating with those in power and holding decision-makers to account. It provides a way for local people to play an active role in democratic processes, build collective power and overcome social injustice.
Community organising, and particularly its focus on listening and building relational power, has enabled St Frideswide to pay attention to issues of social justice. It also supports their vision to ‘have fun, make friends, and grow disciples of Jesus’. One of the positive changes has been the launch of a SOFEA community larder at the church centre in Water Eaton. Local people struggling with the cost of living can purchase their weekly food shop for as little as £3.50. The community larder is resourced with excess food from supermarkets that would otherwise go to landfill.
The Revd Catherine Butt has been the Vicar of St Frideswides since 2017, she reflects on the value of the church being an active part of local community organising:
“Belonging to a group of people who are not all part of the church is an invaluable opportunity for us to form meaningful relationships.
“Community organising is about building relational power in order that you have greater capacity to act and create change for the common good. It’s a good reflection of Jesus’ life and teachings, that we recognise where the power lies in our churches, recognise that power and justice are not a zero-sum concept, and that there is enough to go round if we work together and take mutual ownership of the wellbeing of the whole and common good.”
In 2022, St Frideswides was able to employ a Congregational Development and Community Organiser, Nudrat Hopper, to lead the community organising work with Associate Minister, the Revd Steve Hallett, Their aim, over time, is to build a local Citizens alliance and grow the church’s call to action for social justice and the common good. The church works with the new congregations team in the diocese, leading community organising days for other churches in the diocese, and recently hosted a training day for curates.
“There are so many tools and principles in community organising that lend themselves to creating sustainable church mission, ministry and evangelism, in both rural and urban contexts. We have been applying the principle of listening to our congregational development, worship, and team building at the church and it’s helped us to be more accountable and intentional in our relationships with one another.
“If we are serious about connecting with our neighbours and making disciples of all people, in a culture and country that is post-Christian, then community organising is a really useful too. It can help us to be faithful to the greatest commandments of loving God and our neighbour, and to fulfil the great commission.”
Addressing poverty and inequality
The diocese has a strategic partnership with Citizens UK, an alliance of diverse community groups working together for a more inclusive and fairer society. We believe the church has a key role to play in tackling injustices. Community organising with Citizens UK is a practical, effective way to do this. Through the partnership, the diocese is working with community organising alliances for social justice in Reading and Oxford and supporting action in rural contexts.
Explore how you and your church could utilise community organising to address poverty and inequality in your local context.