GROWING COMMUNITYTHE ABCD WAY!

Revd Al Barrett (Hodge Hill, Birmingham)

@hodgehillvicar

thisestate.blogspot.com

STARTING WITH THE ‘ISSUES’...? Talk to each other!

What are the ‘issues’ in your neighbourhood?

THE ‘ASSETS’ OF A NEIGHBOURHOOD

The skills, knowledge &

passions of local RESIDENTS

The power of local ASSOCIATIONS

The resources of public, private and non-profit INSTITUTIONS

The physical and economic resources of local PLACES

The STORIES of people’s lives and of their evolving community

THE ‘ASSETS’ OF A NEIGHBOURHOOD The skills, knowledge & passions of local

RESIDENTS The power of local ASSOCIATIONS The resources of public, private and non-

profit INSTITUTIONS The physical and economic resources of local

PLACES The STORIES of people’s lives and of their

evolving community

What are the ‘assets’ in your neighbourhood? Reflecting back... did anything feel different?

A STORY

“I’m not going to tell you anythingyou don’t already know”

“You can’t know what you needuntil you know what you already have”

We need to talk to each other!

ABCD & THE ALTERNATIVES...Needs-based approaches

Start with ‘problems’

People are ‘victims’, ‘recipients’, ‘clients’

Look outwards to find solutions; funded according to level of need / deprivation

Labels people according to need; ‘professionalised’ solutions extract people from community

Focused on targets, end results / outcomes

ABCD

Starts with ‘assets’

People are active agents for change

Builds community ‘from the inside, out’

Focuses on relationship-building & collaboration, drawing on strengths, building communal resilience

Journey is as important as destination – discovering and learning together

12 DOMAINS OF PEOPLE POWERED CHANGE

www.nurturedevelopment.org

‘COMMUNITY’ & ‘SYSTEMS’

What can we do with local people power? What can we do with help from outside

agencies? What do we need outside agencies to do?

What would enable ‘Austin’ to grow old here?

‘OUR FLOURISHING NEIGHBOURHOOD...’

• in the love of God• with all our neighbours• across Hodge Hill

WOMEN’S GROUP

Open Door

together turning ‘I need...’ into ‘I can...’

OPEN DOOR

TIMEBANKING

COMMUNITY LUNCH

ABCD STEP-BY-STEP

Stop, look, listen! Discover the assets!

Find the ‘connectors’ Uncover the associations / networks Unearth the gifts! – HEART, HEAD, HANDS...

Connect people & passions Grow associations

Appreciate what’s great... and unlock what might be possible... What can we do with local people power? What can we do with help from outside

agencies? What do we need outside agencies to do?

Money – to ‘match’ Celebrate!

What could we start here today?!

UNCOVERING THE ‘ASSETS’ / GIFTS

‘SPIRITUAL PRACTICES’OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING

Patient ‘presencing’ Rule of St Benedict

‘Stability’ ‘Conversion’ ‘Obedience’

‘Hearing to speech’ Radical renouncing (kenosis)

Providing Possessing Performing

John V Taylor, ‘The Christlike God’ (1992)

‘SPIRITUAL PRACTICES’OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING

Patient ‘presencing’ ‘Hearing to speech’ Radical renouncing (kenosis) Vulnerable gratitude

‘SPIRITUAL PRACTICES’OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING

Patient ‘presencing’ ‘Hearing to speech’ Radical renouncing (kenosis) Vulnerable gratitude Limitless celebration Expansive friendship Painstaking reconciliation Enacting hope Building ‘home’ together

“If you have come here to help us,you are wasting our time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with ours,

then let us work together.”(Native Australian activist group, c.1970)

‘Theological’ reflections...?

STORIES... AND QUESTIONS...

How might we connect from

here?• ABCD toolkit (work in progress!)

www.cuf.org.uk/ABCD

• A network of Christian ABCD

practitioners

www.facebook.com/groups/ABCDfaith/

• Contact me:hodgehillvicar@hotmail.co.uk / @hodgehillvicarthisestate.blogspot.com

• Here in Southwell/Nottingham...?

Next steps...?• What kind of training / support might be

helpful?

• Who’s up for giving it a go?!