What is Community Organising?
Community Organising is a methodology which is used to strengthen society and the democratic voice of everyday people, raise leaders, and do something about injustice. Community Organising brings normal people together so they have the collective (relational) power and can act together on common concerns. By joining with others in this way, we can seek the ‘peace and prosperity’ of our cities, towns, and villages.
Community Organising aligns with the heart of God – starting with relationship, connecting us with our wider community, and centring those on the margins and with lived experience of injustice. In People of Power: How community organising recalls the Church to the vision of the Gospel, Angus Ritchie expresses how it’s not enough for the church to have a ‘heart for the poor’, instead the poor must be at the heart of the church. Ritchie observes how engaging in Community Organising ‘recalls the church to that vision, placing those who experience injustice at the heart of the struggle for social justice.’
Who is Citizens UK?
Citizens UK is the home of Community Organising in the UK, bringing together diverse people and organisations to build a better, fairer society. As a diocese, we’ve partnered with Citizens UK to grow Community Organising across Thames Valley. Citizens UK builds local alliances by gathering local institutions, like schools, faith groups, charities and unions, to act with the local community on their interests for the common good. We are equipping people in Community Organising methodology, and supporting three Citizens UK alliances, which together form Thames Valley Citizens:
We believe the church has a key role to play in strengthening communities and raising voices against injustice. Community Organising with Citizens UK is a practical, effective way to do this. Hear from Ayo Audu about how they’re using Community Organising methodology at St Frideswides Church, Water Eaton:
- Read more about Citizens UK and their work on their website and see what’s happening near you.
- Get inspired by what’s already happening – read Oxford Welcomes Refugees’ story.
- Read about the campaign win by Oxford Citizens for a 6-month pilot of bus tickets for asylum seekers in Oxford (and the bus tickets being distributed)
- Find out how St Frideswides Church in Milton Keynes are using Community Organising to develop their church and mission. You can read stories on their blog, including about how they organised with local residents to ensure that developers built a footpath and a pedestrian bridge connecting the new-build estate with the rest of the city.
- Organising for Growth: Read how intentional embedding of Community Organising in small estate churches led to growth in number, depth, and impact.
- Run the Growing Good session on Justice (from CUF), focusing on Community Organising as a way to pursue justice.
- Join Reading Citizens, Oxford Citizens, or Citizens: MK as a church.
- Participate in local campaigns via the Thames Valley Citizens alliances.
- Join the national Migration Justice campaign to make the pathway to citizenship more timely, fair, and affordable.
- Access practical Community Organising training to explore how your church could grow their connections within and beyond the church, and work with others to address poverty and inequality.
Contact diocesan Social Justice Adviser, Hannah Ling, to talk about your local context and find out how to get involved.
Sign up to the Thames Valley Citizens email newsletter to hear what’s happening across the diocese:
Keep up to date with Thames Valley Citizens
Additional Community Organising resources:
- People of Power: How Community Organising recalls the Church to the vision of the Gospel, The Centre for Theology & Community
- Christ the Organiser: Community Organising for Discipleship and Mission, Tim Norwood (book)
- Organising for Growth: Growing inner-city churches in number, depth and impact, The Centre for Theology & Community (report)
- People, Power, and Participation, Alison Webster, Modern Church (blog)
- Homelessness and Community Organising, The Hopeful Activists’ Podcast (podcast episode)
- More Power to You: how we can all help to make a change, Reasons to Be Cheerful – hear Froi Legaspi share about his journey into Community Organising with Citizens UK (podcast episode)
- Why Social Change is No Joke, TEDx talk, Stephanie Laing (video)
- How to Resist: Turn Protest to Power, Matthew Bolton (book)
- Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organising, Dennis A. Jacobsen (book)