Community Organising IME Day

Steve writes

In our capacity as a resource hub for Community Organising, we hosted the inaugural IME2 Community Organising day on Saturday 28th January 2023

This was attended by a group of 20 Curates (Trainee Vicars) from across the Oxford diocese to provide them with an overview of the methodology and tools of Community Organising for church growth and community engagement.

The 5 steps to social change were introduced with a focus on step 2, Listen by exploring the powerful tool of a 1-2-1.

This 1-2-1 tool helps build up strong relationships through intentionally spending time with people face to face to really understand what they care about, what drives them and to find areas of common interest on which, together, you might want to take public action. It’s an opportunity to share stories, values, interests and goes deeper than just a ‘chat’.

Each of the curates had a practice of a 1-2-1 conversation and one reflected to me afterwards that ‘good listening and relationship building in a 1-2-1 makes for good, honest, flourishing pastoral care’.

Steve then shared the output from a recent listening campaign in the community that asked people what was putting pressure on their families.

This resulted in hearing stories around a common issue of broken, missing, and dirty street signs. Members of the church then worked with the local community and local Council to take collective action to clean the signs and highlight those that were missing or broken.

For me, this 1-2-1 tool captures something of the manner that Jesus encountered people. He listened deeply to them, but also asked them directly about their deepest desires for theworld as it should be. The question he repeats to the first disciples and others he encounters is: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’, i.e (Matt 20:32, Mark 10:36)

In Community Organizing our Christian faith shapes our approach to seeing the world as God intended it to be – an outworking on our Sunday prayer - your Kingdom Come

It could simply start by asking someone…

Could we have a coffee so I can find out more about what you do and share what I’m doing?

Who could you have a 1-2-1 with this week?