Disciple: Effective, Economical, Evangelical

Collaborative Resourcing for Ministry

By the Rev. Lisa G. Fischbeck

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I sat at the table with the four of them. They were young, optimistic, smart, creative and educated. And they wanted to help provide housing for the homeless. They wanted to see if our church might be open to the possibility of allowing a cluster of “tiny houses” to be built on some of our land. They had creative ideas for funding, design and development. They had thought a lot through but were open to questions and making adjustments. In other words, they were open to collaboration.

COLLABORATIVE RESOURCING FOR MINISTRY

The Church of the Advocate was born of a collaboration. In the early 2000s, the three established churches of Orange County—St. Matthews, Hillsborough, and Chapel of the Cross and Holy Family, Chapel Hill—worked together and shared resources to launch the new mission. They funded the vicar’s salary for the first 18 months and supplemented it for several years more. They provided legal and financial services, office space, access to office equipment and, most important, people. No one of the three churches could successfully start a new church on its own. But the three together made it happen. Through collaborating, each could do more and do it better.

Once the Advocate came into being, we soon realized we could address more effectively the needs of the community and world around us if we collaborated with others rather than going it alone. Orange County Justice United, the Orange County branch of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), came along right as we were trying to figure out how we could help combat the racial and socio-economic inequalities of our town. When the Advocate was given funds from a donor to make it possible for us to engage in international mission, we connected with Presbyterian and Anglican churches in Georgia and South Carolina who were working together to partner with 11 small churches on an island off the coast of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. Sharing resources and experiences, together we could do ministry more effectively and more economically than we could on our own.

Collaborating with others gets more done. And it helps us to break out of our sometimes prideful identity or sense of turf. It puts us in relationship and ministry with others.

COMPLEMENTARY CURRENCY

In his book, Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Mission Ministries, the Rev. Eric Law, an Episcopal priest in California, encourages churches to realize what resources they can bring to a collaborative table. Money is an obvious “currency,” but there’s also “time and place, gracious leadership, relationship, truth and wellness.” Many churches discovered this by collaborating with other Episcopal churches or with churches of other denominations in town. Interdenominational ministries blossomed in the decades following World War II, and interfaith ministries bloomed in the years since 9/11. What’s emerging now is the prospect of collaborating with individuals and organizations outside of faith groups, as there is a great deal of good work, talent, financial resources and heart out there.

As a society, we now find ourselves in an exciting time of innovation and collaboration. Individuals, institutions and organizations are creating effective ways to work together to find solutions to social problems in our communities and in our world. Much of this work comes under the umbrella of “social entrepreneurship,” which is described as a way to organize problem-solving efforts to have a positive, caring and lasting impact on the quality of life of others. Projects start small but are designed to be scaled for wider impact in a variety of settings. With a general concern for social justice and environmental sustainability, social entrepreneurship brings together new combinations of people and resources in unexpected and collaborative ways. Social entrepreneurship creates bridges between government and business, for-profit and nonprofit, the creative and the pragmatic, the rich and the poor, bringing all to the table to find solutions. For the most part, churches are not at the table.

Yet within The Episcopal Church, individuals, congregations and dioceses are beginning to explore a variety of models and translate them into our context. Congregations are being challenged to move beyond old models of outreach to be called to new relationships and collaborations. These emerging partnerships and relationships are connecting congregations with their communities and the world in new and exciting ways. Not only are these collaborations effective and economical, they are also a form of evangelism, as people outside the Church realize we mean what we say we believe.

The Church brings a lot to the table, including a large population of people with a clear directive and commitment to help the poor, a variety of significant skills and resources, a narrative of death/failure and resurrection/new life seated deep within our tradition, and a network that spans the nation and the globe.

An artist's rendering of the future PeeWee Homes site at Church of the Advocate, Chapel Hill. Photo courtesy of PeeWee Homes

 

THE PEE WEE HOMES COLLABORATIVE

As the Advocate moved onto our own land and into our own building in 2014, we realized our currency of place, so we started to make known to the wider community that we wanted to share our place with others. After 11 years as nomads dependent on the hospitality of others, we were keenly aware of our land and chapel as a resource to share. It’s why the eager band of collaborators came to the Advocate to talk about tiny homes on church property and why the Advocate agreed to consider the prospect. The result is the Pee Wee Homes Collaborative, named for a formerly homeless man called Pee-Wee. The collaborative is “a group of peers and colleagues who have come together to try to be a part of answering this glaring call for deeply affordable housing in our community. Homes that individuals with fixed income … can afford; homes that allow elderly homeless individuals to age in place; homes that a single individual earning minimum wage can afford; and, importantly, homes that support independence within the context of community.

The Pee Wee Homes board of directors includes people from a local nonprofit that works with the poor, an architect, a banker, a social worker, a priest and a lawyer. All are working pro bono. Only two are Episcopalians. Half of the $140,000 needed for the Pee Wee Homes project at the Advocate has come from the Town of Chapel Hill. Another $35,000 came from monies raised by a social entrepreneurship class at the business school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. $20,000 has come from local foundations. Only $2,000 has come from an Episcopal church.

The local government gives permission; the church provides the location and community support; the local business school secures funding for the first home, pro bono professionals organize the building of the home; and a nonprofit screens prospective dwellers and oversees the rental agreements.

No single entity involved could have made Pee Wee Homes happen. But new relationships, innovative thinking and the pooling of skills and resources are becoming living proof of what can happen in a collaborative environment.

WATER IN THE FIELDS

Collaborative resourcing can take many forms. The Water in the Fields is another collaborative project taking place in the Diocese of North Carolina, or at least for one of its key ministries. The Water in the Fields is a project of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry (EFwM) and a collaboration that grew out of the vision and passion of Jerry Hartzell, a member of Christ Church, Raleigh. Hartzell has long been determined to help farmworkers have access to water as they work in the hot summer sun. He worked with Juan Carabaña, program coordinator for EFwM, to interview farmworkers and learn what design features for a water carrier would work best for them. He contacted a social entrepreneur with a passion for environmental sustainability, Aly Khalifa of Lyf Shoes and Designbox in Raleigh. Khalifa collaborated with a team of designers and creators, and the carriers were developed. Others helped Hartzell and EFwM create a fundraising campaign. None of these collaborators is Episcopalian. Funds coming in are largely from Episcopalians, but much is from good people outside the Church who see the merits of the project and want it to succeed. Through this collaborative resourcing, the mission of EFwM is enhanced, and farmworkers are less likely to suffer dehydration in the fields in the season ahead.

MANY WAYS TO ENGAGE

Opportunities for the church to engage in collaborative resourcing for ministry abound. A church can host an entrepreneurial enterprise like Pee Wee Homes on its own land or in its own buildings. Or a church can participate in the entrepreneurship of others elsewhere. It can deploy some of its economic capital to create and support microloan programs, supporting nearby entrepreneurs who are developing their own businesses that benefit the community. Ideally, a relationship develops between those who lend and those who receive. The Church can be intentional about forming people for ministry in social entrepreneurship. Liturgies and prayers for individuals—from within and outside of the congregation—taking part in this work can foster an environment of communal support and engagement.

Whatever a collaborator has to contribute, by sharing resources we can each and all do more and do it better. Collaborative resourcing for ministry: It’s effective, economical and evangelical.

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The Rev. Lisa G. Fischbeck is the vicar at Church of the Advocate, Chapel Hill.