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What makes Holistic Neighborhood Development unique?
Place-Based
One of the greatest indicators of one’s life-long economic mobility is the neighborhood in which one lives. HND asserts that place is the most important factor to consider when seeking long-term outcomes, and it is one of the most neglected lenses within traditional poverty alleviation tactics. Place allows us to go deep, work broadly, and invest in the long-haul for real results.
Proximity
We cannot solve anything from a distance. We have to draw near, enter into relationship, and open ourselves up to the possibility of mutual transformation. Transactional giving between strangers will never end poverty. You cannot serve someone out of poverty. HND leads with neighboring and relationship.
Integrative
Poverty is neither caused, sustained, or solved by any one thing; it is the dynamic intersection of multiple factors, systems, and circumstances. The “holistic” dimension of HND is about committing to comprehensive engagement that seeks innovative, integrative strategies for long-term outcomes.
Agile
Cities, people, opinions, policies, and economies can all change in the blink of an eye. Strategies that worked last year might night work in the next. Work done for months may come up empty and expectations may get upended at a moment’s notice. HND can create real change because it is flexible and adaptive, constantly committed to the best, healthiest approach, even if that means a radical course correction mid-stream. We do not seek the perpetuation of our program; it is always about the thriving of a community and whatever it takes to make that happen.
Impact-Oriented
Results matter. Not activity, not busyness, not arbitrary program numbers, but impact. They may be hard to come by, hard to define, or hard to measure, but they are core to what it means to commit to HND. We want to see lives and communities thriving, not dependent on external support year after year. We do not settle for less than true and lasting change.
Data-Driven
Flourishing communities is not just a big vision for us. It is a process we have developed with tools to track and measure the health of a place. This process will define and create the strategies that will lead to long-term, lasting change in your neighborhood.
The Dancefloor of the American Church
If you believe that the church should be embedded in your neighborhood, how do you know how to do that or what to do once you are?
There are leaders, practitioners, scholars, and advocates around the globe who are struggling with this same thing. And even better news is that some resources and organizations exist solely to help you navigate that challenge.
Joining us today are two of our friends and colleagues from The Parish Collective, a global network whose simple mission is to connect people to the church in the neighborhood. Jose Humphreys III is the author of Seeing Jesus in East Harlem: What happens when the churches show up and stay put, and Tim Soerens is the author of “Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church, Right Where You Are”. His co-authored first book “The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches Transform Mission, Discipleship, and Community
Listen to my colleague, David Park, and I talk to two men who’ve given their lives, calling, and careers to reminding churches that place matters.
Seeing Place as Parish
Does loving your neighbor mean you have to love your neighborhood? For the church to enter into the full work of following Jesus, we believe place matters.
In this episode, we are talking to our good friends, colleagues, and clients – Dave Burger and Peter Hough. Peter and Dave are two congregational leaders in Alton, IL – a small, post-industrial, river town. Peter and Dave are the city catalysts who have been working with FCS to lead a City Shapers cohort in Alton. These guys exhibit so many of the qualities for what it means to personally love your neighbor but to also invite your congregations to love your neighborhood.
Listen in as one of our Lead Consultants, David Park, talks to Peter and Dave about the necessity, challenges, and possibilities of being a place-based church.
Introducing a Special Series: The Gap Between Church and Neighborhood
Join us, as we explore the relationship between community engagement and the church. What’s the relationship between church and neighborhood? Is there a gap?