Asset Based Community Development is Partners for Sacred Places topic
by Anne Clarke Brown
Mountain Echo, December 2009

Representatives of the ten congregations participating in the Partners for Sacred Places “New Dollars/New Partners for Your Sacred Place” program arrived at Christ Church, Montpelier November 14, eager to share the work they had begun after the September training module and to move into the next phase of the training.

The training is intended to give congregations tools to be better stewards of their buildings, resources for creating community partnerships, methods for fund-raising, both within the congregation and in the community, and tools for ongoing stewardship of buildings and financial resources. Many of the participating congregations will use the training to launch capital campaigns.

Tuomi Forrest, associate director at Partners opened by asking the congregation teams to describe the work they had been doing in the areas of parish history, discerning the extent of public use of their spaces and its value to the community, and assessing the condition of their buildings. Participants agreed that what had seemed overwhelming at the close of the first session became less so as they actually got into the work. Some had done history timelines, and many did energy audits and building assessments that had already led to some problems being rectified.

Most had begun the process of examining the community value of their properties and were gaining insights about how their spaces are being used. Nancy Vogele reported that St. Paul’s, White River Junction, has strong community partnerships, and many use the church who are not part of the congregation. However, because of the space configuration, it is difficult for more than one group to use the facilities at a time. They are planning for expansion with that in mind.

Diane Montague reported that St. Andrew’s, St. Johnsbury, discovered that they had not had much of a community presence until recently. “That was an eye-opener,” she said. “Now, week by week we are becoming more visible in the community. We have a new soup and bread meal and people are very excited.”
Asset Mapping

Forrest introduced his colleague, DeAmon Harges, and said that the focus for the rest of the day would be on assets. “The glass half full is the only way to move forward,” he said.

Harges, whose title is “Roving Listener” at Broadway United Methodist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana, encouraged a move away from thinking in terms of a hierarchical, pyramidal service-driven model with people with needs at the bottom to a circular, community model based on association and people’s gifts and talents.

As roving listener, Harges said, “I go around the community to learn about people’s gifts and talents and connect them to the church. I do this for economy, community and mutual delight.” His goal is to turn the conversation from needs to gifts. Instead of asking people what they need, he asks, “What is it that you are good enough at that you can teach? What support do you need from God?” He finds ways of using the church and its relationships to allow the gifts of others to be used and celebrated. Instead of simply receiving a service from the church, people often find a vocation through previously underutilized talents.

A fine story-teller, Harges shared several examples of people whose lives had been transformed by being invited to share their gifts. He said he is part of a small group at his church who call themselves “abundance and blessing animators.” Practicing the outlook of “people need this and people need that—it’s burn-out time,” he said. Instead, “Practice looking at assets, and think about it being long term.”

Harges led the group in exercises of mapping the assets—the gifts and talents—of people in their communities and making connections among them. He encouraged intentional efforts to get together with people to learn about one another and their many gifts. The key, he said, is making connections. Asset based community development, he said, is about connecting two previously unrelated assets. What could happen if people with different but potentially complementary gifts are introduced to one another and invited to intentional conversation and listening? And he reminded the group that speaking about assets is a focus on abundance that is theologically very appropriate.

The session ended with each team brainstorming and then sharing how they might follow up with asset mapping in their own setting. The positive energy in the room was almost palpable. This writer could not help but make the connection to the concluding portion of Bishop Ely’s address to Diocesan Convention and his statement that “Celebrating what’s right with the world reminds me that incredible things happen when we’re open to possibilities.”

The third of the four training days, set for March 20, 2010, will look at internal fund raising, and the final session in May will address community-based fund raising. But, as Forrest told the group at the first session, “The real work happens in between the sessions. Those congregations that do the work make progress.” Harges has likely inspired significant work over the next few months.

Back to Stewardship home page