In my last class in my Doctor of Ministry program, Dr. Gary Simpson challenged us all to think through what is our “public theology”? I wrote on my Facebook update the next day—”Stephanie is confused about her public theology. More reading is in her future.” When I told Gary that this was my update for the day, he laughed.
This second interview with Trey Hammond touches on issues of public theology, or how one thinks God calls the church to interact in the public sphere. Watch the interview with this question in mind, what is Trey’s public theology?
Trey mentions that his congregation has been involved in community organizing. This would be one approach in a public theology. The Wiki definition:
“Community Organizing is a process by which people living in proximity to each other are brought together in an organization to act in their common self-interest. Unlike other forms of more consensual ‘community building,’ community organizers generally assume that social change necessarily involves conflict and social struggle in order to generate collective power for the powerless.”
In this framework, the church joins other groups to bring pressure to bear on power structures in order to facilitate God’s justice in the world.
Another approach, Civil Society, is put forth by Dr. Gary Simpson. The church exists as one civil society organization (CSO). There are three types of organizations in Western society: Business, government and CSO’s. The London School of Economics Centre for Civil Society’s working definition is as follows:
“Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated . . . Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organizations, community groups, women’s organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups.”
In this light, the church seeks to find SCO’s to partner with in order to cooperate with what God is doing in the world. The thesis here is that God is at work through these three strands of organizations, the church finds its place and ministry in the world through its participation as one CSO.
These are two different approaches with similarities and distinctions beyond the scope of this blog today. I see both in Trey’s approach. He mentions community organizing, but I don’t know specifics. (A story to capture on another interview?!) He mentioned in last week’s interview how the La Mesa Presbyterian Church sponsors a children’s art and music program with the elementary school across the street. This would be an example of the church as a SCO reaching out to a government organization in order to collaborate in providing a service to the community.
What is your public theology? How does the church interact in the public sector?
Lastly, I love this quote from Trey, and lift it out for our consideration as we struggle with these questions:
“We don’t do mission to people we do mission with people. We don’t do evangelism to people we create places of hospitality for people to engage each other on a spiritual level.”
What is the public theology at work behind this quote?
Resources for Reading more on Public Theology:
What is Public Theology? http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/theology/pact/documents/What_is_Public_Theology.pdf
Online Journal of Public Theology: http://www.pubtheo.com/
The University of Edinburgh’s Divinity School’s Center for Theology and Public Issues: http://www.div.ed.ac.uk/theolissues
The Canadian Center for Public Theology: http://www.publictheology.org/
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