|
About the Demonstrations:
Civic Business | Civic Education | Civic Non-Profit
Civic Organizing Inc. | Renewing the Public Congregation
 Renewing the Public Congregation
Governing Members: Eliot Howard, Linden Hills Congregational United Church of Christ; Brian Rusche, Joint Religious Legislative Coalition
Renewing the Public Congregation (RPC) believes that faith communities are obligated to develop the moral capacity of the people to produce a just society. In a democratic society, moral capacity encompasses both religious precepts and democratic principles. The mission of RPC is to develop the civic capacity of individuals and congregations to fulfill their particular purpose and to contribute to a just society. As a demonstration of the Minnesota Active Citizenship Initiative, RPC tests the worth of the civic organizing approach to achieve this mission.
Too often, members of faith communities have assumed a consumer mindset, viewing congregations as simply a place to receive spiritual enrichment services delivered by professional staff. Politics and power are seen as profane. As a result, policymaking is often hidden, fragmented, and privatized. Members of congregations have lost site of their public purpose and lack the political skills necessary to govern for the common good.
Renewing the Public Congregation renews the public role of faith communities, making them places where faithful citizens learn the political competence needed to build whole, vital communities with the capacity to work with other institutions for the common good.
Pilot Project Tests Civic Organizing Approach
Eliot Howard is currently leading a pilot project in his Linden Hills Congregational United Church of Christ congregation to test the viability of using democratic principles and civic organizing practices to make the church a more effective organization and help it fulfill its obligations as an institution in a democracy.
|
