Asset Based Community Discipleship
by the Venerable Paul Ferguson, Bishop of Whitby - March 2021
+Paul Ferguson reflects on recent developments in the Diocese of York and suggests some fruitful connections between community development and community discipleship.
A few years ago in the Diocese of York, we asked some simple questions: Whom aren’t we reaching? And what has to be different? The diocese has a concentration of population in urban clusters around Middlesbrough, Hull and York, but otherwise is rural and spread out. The figures for active Church of England adherence in some of our estates has been worryingly low, in contrast with some rural villages. We were also concerned about the profile of our congregations where there was a trough in the age group of younger adults.
Of course we have emphasised that evangelism, and helping people to take an interest and grow in faith, matter everywhere and for everyone. But we made a focused response to the broad under-representation of people in particular situations. We devised two initiatives for which we have received national funding support: Multiply, deploying younger ministers with a view to establishing new worshipping communities of people aged 20 plus; and Mustard Seed, which is starting to work in areas of multiple deprivation on Teesside, around Hull, and also in smaller coastal communities.
Whilst the coronavirus restrictions have made some aspects of the Mustard Seed programme more difficult to get started as we had hoped, we are still working with its three aspects: first, ‘stepping up’, encouraging learning communities where lay people can grow in Christian discipleship and in their confidence and ability to share their faith within their local community; secondly, ‘community hubs’, worshipping communities developed as places of welcome, hospitality and support — perhaps in church buildings, perhaps elsewhere — for local people, amid the challenges they face, offering opportunities for prayer and exploring faith; and thirdly, ‘ambassadors’, people from across the diocese who have a passion for mission in our poorest communities, and who will build a network of prayerful support and financial giving, and, we hope, help to change the culture of the whole diocese.
Clearly, Mustard Seed has a focus on evangelism, pastoral care, and discipleship. We might therefore think it necessary to draw a careful distinction between its aims and those of a diocesan / CUF joint venture such as Together Middlesbrough & Cleveland, which is dedicated to the service of whole communities, albeit from a distinctly and unashamedly Christian (and in our case strongly ecumenical) base. But there are links and parallels between the two. An obvious one is that there is a common context that can have the effect of limiting the quality (and indeed the length) of people’s lives. TM&C’s previous development officer moved to be the programme leader of Mustard Seed, taking with her the same passionate commitment to seeing the gospel making a difference in, and by means of, the lives of people who form our communities where residents experience multiple deprivation. Another is that a significant number of the same people and places are involved in the early days of Mustard Seed as have been part of activities that have happened under the umbrella of TM&C, in particular holiday clubs for children (which in the past months have been translated into the supply of food and activity packs) — and we are starting to see individuals whose participation in both is part of a wonderful story of their gifts and their potential for leadership being unlocked.
On one hand, then, there is a proper demarcation between the overtly discipleship-oriented programme of Mustard Seed and the work of TM&C which is available to everyone without distinction and without an evangelistic aim — as one would expect when there is an element of public or other restricted funding. On the other there is an interesting dynamic and relationship between the two.
I am reminded of the conversation I had a few years ago with someone in another part of the diocese who was doubtless well-meaning but (as often happens) had never been to the more deprived areas — I regularly find people who would travel from their village to shop in York, Northallerton or Malton but who have never in their lives made the short journey to Middlesbrough or Redcar. This person knew about TM&C and said ‘So you give money to poor people?’ Well, no, I said, that’s not what we do. I tried, probably not very successfully, to give a short account of asset based community development (ABCD).
It is easy to perceive places where there is multiple deprivation, and perhaps where there is a correlation with a lower than average proportion of the population engaging with church life, as asset-poor: an over-simplification that fails to see who and what is ‘already there’, and perhaps also does not take account of the reasons for that deprivation. Generous as many people and parishes are, I have sometimes wondered about how far in this diverse diocese there is a mindset of there being ‘donor’ and ‘recipient’ areas, as far as financial support is concerned — and not only that, but the extent to which enterprises such as joint ventures with CUF, as well as initiatives supported by national Strategic Development Funding including Mustard Seed and Multiply, might have the unintended and undesirable effect of ‘projectifying’ particular issues, so that they are seen as the responsibility and concern of programme leaders charged with fixing a problem, rather than this being something that should affect the thought and action of the whole (as it may be diocesan) family that celebrates the riches of God’s diverse gifts, and appreciates how people in places where life can be tough have much to share and teach.
I like to think of Mustard Seed as ‘asset based community discipleship’. As a diocesan leadership team we hope that Mustard Seed will indeed grow from a small grain to the biggest of the shrubs! — in other words that the whole of diocesan culture may be influenced in the direction of a more imaginative approach to learning and leadership that is connected in a network but that really works locally. I hope that together we would look for stronger ties between the theology and principles that we apply to ‘asset based community development’ and ‘asset based community discipleship’.
Questions
What do you think of the idea of connections between ‘both kinds of ABCD’? How far could it apply in your locality?
In your context, whose gifts are being overlooked and whose voice is not being heard? What misapprehensions and unhelpful assumptions might you address?
Bishop Paul Ferguson has worked for 20 years in South Teesside and North Yorkshire, as Archdeacon of Cleveland and now Bishop of Whitby in the Diocese of York. He has been Chair of Together Middlesbrough & Cleveland, a joint venture between the diocese and CUF, since its inception in 2012.