Congregation-based community organizing is a deliberate process of bringing religious congregations together around shared concerns and values to challenge the economic, political and social systems to act justly.
| Congregation-based Community Organizations will: | Congregation-based Community Organizations will not: |
| Seek justice by calling for long-term, systemic solutions to problems. Examples include holding city and transit authorities accountable to improve public bus service and increase accessibility to higher paying jobs; holding public school officials accountable to train teachers to use improved reading curricula in low-performing public schools and increase literacy; holding housing authority officials accountable to establish a publicly financed trust fund where returns on investment may be used to build low-income housing | Provide direct service to meet immediate needs like the Red Cross, that provides food and supplies in the aftermath of hurricane; Teach for America, that sends teachers into low-performing public schools for a limited time to provide supplemental support; Habitat for Humanity, that builds several affordable homes using volunteer labor and donations |
| Break down ethnic and cultural barriers by bringing together people from diverse ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds | Define membership by one particular ethnic, religious, or racial constituency |
| Encourage dialogue and action among religious congregations to do justice | Actively recruit secular organizations for membership (though they may join) |
| Seek to improve communities by calling for whatever best practices are proven most effective, no matter which political or economic leaders may be responsible | Align itself with a partisan agenda or political party |
| Meet and discuss issues with public officials face-to-face in a large public setting | Rely on protests such as marches, picketing, lobbying, or letter writing to gain support |
| Pursue multiple issues simultaneously and retire old issues when there is a clear cut victory | Define their mission around one issue like the Sierra Club (environment) or National Rifle Association (right to bear arms) |
| Seek financial sustainability and independence by raising funds internally through dues and member-supported fundraising drives | Accept government funding or become dependent on one or two primary supporters |
| Select issues locally by having members vote to determine the problems they wish to resolve | Engage the community around a pre-determined set of issues defined by outside experts |
| Collect dues from member congregations such as churches, synagogues, mosques | Canvass door-to-door to recruit individual members |
| Deliberately seek to build a powerful organization for the long haul, not simply win issues | Develop around a temporary crisis and then dissolve when the issue is resolved |
| Rely on broad-based, collective leadership among many people | Build organizations centered around one or two high-profile, charismatic people/spokespeople |
| Develop leaders to speak and act on behalf of the organization in the public | Function as an advocacy organization where staff speak and act in the public on behalf of the organization |
