The Strengths of Ecumenical Protestants

My experience as president of Bread for the World convinced me that faith-based legislative advocacy works. Bread and its members win legislative achievements again and again, and the cumulative impact among hungry people in this country around the world is clear.

I asked Amy Reumann, senior director for Witness in Society for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), to talk about faith-based advocacy from her perspective. She focused on how the ELCA and its people do it, and I learned more than I knew before about how advocacy is integrated into the life of the church.

At the same time, Amy painted a picture of a church body that is deeply grounded in Jesus and faithful in many ways, and I want to focus this post on the strengths of the ELCA and the other Protestant churches who participate in the ecumenical movement.

The 38 church bodies that are part of the National Council of Churches include Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian. Reformed, African-American, Orthodox, and Peace churches. Each of these globally connected traditions is distinctive and valuable. They identify by their own names more than by the category "ecumenical Protestant." But what these churches all have in common is Christian faith, fellowship across denominations, and commitment to share the love of God through social reform. Most of them have been joined together in what is now the National Council of Churches since 1908.

They don’t get as much press attention as Evangelicals or Catholics. The local Methodist or Presbyterian church may seem routine and predictable, while the National Council of Churches has often been maligned as a “socialist” organization. But the leadership of these churches has an impressive long-term record on issues of racial and economic justice. When Bread for the World wants to strengthen its network of activists in a target legislative district, the state or local council of churches is always a good place to start looking for like-minded people.

Most of these churches also have theological traditions that are open to learning from science, the modern world, and other religions. Some Evangelicals think that such churches fall short in their theology and experience of conversion. But while all churches have their flaws and failings, ecumenical Protestant churches are firmly grounded in the Christian gospel, and Jesus is very much alive among their members.

Amy embodies some of the strengths of ecumenical Protestants generally - a joyful, well-informed faith in Christ, a deep sense of personal connection to people in need, commitment to “walking with” rather than “assisting” and “speaking for” people and communities in poverty, and clear awareness of the strengths of other churches and groups.

She explains how the ELCA’s advocacy is grounded in local Lutheran congregations, which are often diverse in their political views, levels of income, and in other respectss. Its policy positions are based on carefully considered theological and policy analysis. ELCA advocacy also draws strength from ELCA connections with people in poverty. A local congregation’s relationship with a recently evicted family in their community informs the ELCA's significant work on housing policy, for example. The denomination's partnership with Lutheran churches in Central America is the foundation for what it does to accompany and advocate for migrant children.

I’m an ELCA pastor and have been part of an Episcopal parish for many years, so I’m biased. But Amy Reumann’s presentation reminded me to be grateful for the many strengths of ecumenical Protestant churches generally - not least, their long-standing and effective work in legislative advocacy.

Asking Young People to Help us Build Back Better

What an honor to receive an honorary doctorate from the College of the Holy Cross. My brief remarks encouraged the students and their families to help us recover from the pandemic in a way that makes us a better nation than we were before.

Faith-Based Organizing and Low-Income People Speaking Up for Themselves

Long-term polling data indicates that political participation among low-income and less educated voters has been consistently low for decades, but recent experiences suggest that poor and near-poor Americans are beginning to speak up for themselves more than before.

In my last years at Bread for the World, we shifted much of our grassroots organizing to low-income communities and communities of color. People in those communities responded and helped to achieve legislative results. I don't think this shift in strategy would have been nearly as successful 10 or 15 years earlier.

On a larger scale, the Trump and Sanders campaigns of 2016 both drew millions of formerly disengaged voters into the political process. Lots of Americans who felt left out and left behind voted for a big change, either Trump- or Sanders-style. There was also unprecedented voter turn-out for both Biden and Trump in 2020.

The faith-based community organizing movement has been a significant contributor to the growing power of low-income and working-class people, but the prevalence and power of faith-based organizing is not well-documented or widely-known.

Ana Eng, a senior regional organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), explains the organizing system of faith-based organizing in this week’s webcast.

The movement has an impressive record of winning change on issues that are important to people in need, especially at the local and state levels. Their method is rooted in relationships with individuals, and they focus on issues that emerge from the experiences of people in the community. Their methodology doesn’t shy away from conflict (which religious people usually tend to avoid); it addresses conflict by building power and negotiating. Anna speaks with particular eloquence about the increased confidence and self-respect she has seen in many of the people who participate in community-led policy change.

The faith-based community organizing movement began with Saul Alinsky, an organizer on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s, and then Ernie Cortez, who adapted Alinsky’s methods to South Texas. Its main external funders over the decades have been church bodies, led by the Catholic bishops.

The funders have together commissioned two studies of the movement as a whole (1999 and 2012). The 2012 study found that IAF, Faith in Action, and several other networks have built community organizations in 189 communities across the country. The community organizations in turn have 4,500 member institutions, including 3,500 religious congregations (mainly Catholic, mainline Protestant, and African American).

The ongoing impact and growth of this grassroots movement is a great story, but has received little publicity. The organizing networks would all benefit if they would communicate about the movement as a whole, rather than only about their own efforts. This is also a good-news story for religious leaders to tell: churches strengthening the capacity of low-income people to speak up for themselves and improve their communities.