Day 3: Collaborative Efforts: Assets

Our speaker this afternoon was Steve de Gruchy, Head of the School of Religion and Theology, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He spoke to us about the theological underpinnings of the MDGs and the various kinds of partnerships we ought to enter into. He described them as marriages and asked us to think of new marriages that might be designed, and reminded us that from marriages often come children. There was one bit of advice he gave us which stuck with me:

Start with assets.

Immediately I realized, duh, this is basic community organizing. That as we identify concerns in our communities, we start to confront them by analyzing our assets and the power we can access. "Start with assets" he advised, "and then go to needs." For a firm foundation, we should build on what people/communities do have, not what they don't.

As I thought about how that might apply to peacework and the MDGs, I thought about how our Creating a Culture of Peace curriculum uses popular education to do just that sort of thing, to draw out from individuals and groups their own power to effect the creation of communities of reconciliation. I thought about the powerful affect of drawing on the legacy of Dr. King and the civil rights movement as guides for our own approaches. God calls us to live out of gratitude for our abundance, rather than timidly stepping into the world afraid that we might give away what little seems to be ours. Our truth is that when God calls us to this work, God has equipped us for it, and guides us through it (if we pay attention!). We are never left alone to accomplish God's mission and the work of reconciliation is particularly rooted in a ministry of collaboration.

Thanks be to God for all the people God brings us into mission with!