The Congregational-Community Nexus: Common Ground or Conflict? (article)

By Abbey Chambers

One of the most surprising findings of the initial Project on Religion and Urban Culture (RUC 1.0) was the tenuous connections that existed between congregations and the surrounding neighborhoods. Most people assumed that congregations were intensely local, with strong links to the communities that surrounded them geographically and even with most parishioners living near the place of worship. Public policy rested on such assumptions. Mayor Steven Goldsmith’s Front Porch Alliance was an example of a faith-based partnership between local government and congregations because, in the mayor’s view, faith-based organizations were uniquely local and invested in what occurred around them. If only it were so.