Called to Transformationis centered around the belief that individuals, groups, and communities have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that each of us are given different gifts to serve the community and we are all a part of the body of Christ working together. Learn more…
Authentic help means that all who are involved help each other mutually, growing together in the common effort to understand the reality which they seek to transform. – Paulo Freire, in Pedagogy in Process: The Letters to Guinea-Bissau, 1978
As with all programs and projects, this work is based on a number of values and theological assumptions. We believe it is important to specifically enumerate these beliefs as much as possible from the outset.
We believe:
Developing a new way of thinking:
| Needs based ministry | Asset-based ministry |
|---|---|
| Focus on deficits | Focus on assets |
| Problem response | Opportunity identification |
| Individual responses | Collective responses |
| Focus: individual | Focus: community |
| Fix people | Develop potential |
| See people as "clients" | See people as "collaborators" |
| Programs are the answer | People are the answer |
Traditionally, church ministries have been based on needs.
A needs-based approach tends to start with external organizations or experts looking at the needs of a community. These experts build detailed images of deprivation and social break-down that are used to analyze an area’s most significant problems. When seeking ways to target and tackle these problems, organizations will often take these needs assessments as their starting point.
However, these assessments have two significant consequences. First, they shape perceptions of the nature of the problem and therefore the response given. Often used by anti-poverty organizations to write funding bids and research proposals, they determine the targets set and the solutions offered.
Second, they can have a psychological effect on the communities themselves. They help to develop a ‘client’ mentality in residents who think that their well-being depends upon their connection to an external agency and the solutions they bring. Residents may come to believe themselves incapable of taking charge of their own lives and their community’s future. As a result, community development work that is based on an external needs assessment often fails to achieve sustainable transformation.
Asset-based projects focus on a community’s strengths and resources.
An asset-based approach starts with local individuals and organizations uncovering and identifying the assets and capacities already present within their own community. This process helps to build images of resources and strengths. The assets identified are then connected and mobilized to build up and strengthen the life of the local community.
This approach proposes that sustainable change only occurs when community members are committed to investing their own resources in achieving it. The key is to ‘locate all the available local assets, and to begin connecting them with one another in ways that multiply their power and effectiveness.’
The act of discovering, identifying and connecting people’s assets changes the way that individuals view themselves and those around them. Instead of seeing themselves as ‘needy’ or ‘deprived’, they begin to believe in their own potential to make their community a better place to live.
Special thanks to The Beecken Center who helped facilitate this process and pilot the training.
beeckencenter.sewanee.edu
