What we learned, and what’s happening next.

The Faith Rooted Community Organising (FRCO) Pilot developed from round table consultations organised by Kerry in 2020/2021 with Birmingham and Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury District leadership teams, Citizens UK, Queen’s Foundation, and local church leaders who are organisers.

Funding from Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury District, Birmingham District, and a one-off grant from Church at the Margins (Evangelism & Growth) enabled us to employ a full time organiser.

We agreed that the aim of the pilot should be to explore how Faith Rooted Community Organising practices could enable Methodist congregations in the West Midlands to develop and flourish.

The following is a summary of a report produced by Kerry and Eddy for those who funded and supported the pilot. We have their permission to share the following.

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Who was involved?

Kerry Scarlett initiated the pilot, and led on learning and development, report writing, and strategic engagement with related Connexional work. Kerry did this alongside other responsibilities in her Learning Network role, and so offered an average of 15 hours a week to the pilot.

Eddy Aigbe was employed as the full time Congregational and Community Organiser, to support churches and leaders at grassroots and build relationships with local external partner agencies (chiefly, Birmingham Citizens).

Birmingham Citizens (Citizens UK) were pilot project partners. Kerry and Eddy planned to meet monthly with their Lead Organiser to share learning, explore development opportunities and recommend local Methodist leaders who would benefit from Citizens UK broad based organising training.

Outcomes & Recommendations

The following is a summary of our agreed outcomes, with recommendations for further consideration. We’ve removed identifying detail, but hope that the learning we share will still be helpful for the future.

 

Outcome One: Bespoke support for Methodist congregations and leaders (Lay and Ordained) in up to 10 contexts across both Districts. 

Throughout the course of the pilot, 12 churches and 15 leaders signed up for bespoke support. 5 churches and 5 leaders kept receiving intensive support until the end of the pilot.  We’ve seen evidence of all using organising practices to listen, gather people together, discern actions, and begin to bring about change in their church and community.   3 of these leaders attending Citizens UK broad-based organising training. 

What about those who didn’t stay involved or expressed interest, but didn’t sign up?  2 decided to bring a team to the FRCO training, hosted by Cliff College, led by Kerry Scarlett, Eunice Attwood and Carmel Murphy.  2 felt they had received enough support and were confident to continue on their own, drawing on the resources we produced as needed.  1 leader decided they’d prefer to stick with what they had been doing. In 4 other contexts, leaders or churches wanted to be involved but couldn’t due to unexpected circumstances.

Recommendations:

• Circuits and churches should be encouraged to include the development of FRCO in their MAPs and, where appropriate, in recruitment to lay or ordained roles.  

• The inclusion of ‘practitioner hours’ in all District FRCO roles so that organisers remain grounded in the practices. 

• District FRCOs should be part of the District Mission team to enable clear communication, collaboration and clarity around tasks and work plans.

•  The Connexional Organiser, (once appointed) should, along with colleagues from the Evangelism and Growth and Justice Seeking Church teams, seek conversation with Connexional colleagues about the integration of organising practices within diaconal and presbyteral ministry and where appropriate, lay work roles.

Outcome Two: Exploratory partnership between Birmingham Citizens and the West Midlands Methodist Region, resulting in:

1. Greater participation in Birmingham Citizens chapter meetings/ assemblies. Eddy supported Birmingham Circuit leaders to increase participation at the Birmingham Citizens Mayoral Assembly to 35. Eddy facilitated meetings between Birmingham Citizens and  Methodist leaders about setting up a Black Country Citizens Chapter. Conversations are ongoing.
2. Wider engagement with Citizens UK national social justice campaigns and actions. Eddy joined the national Pathways to Citizenship strategy group, co-facilitated 4 gatherings hosted by local Methodist churches and met with 3  MPs. Eddy was on the organising teams for the Birmingham Citizens Mayoral & Crime Commissioner Assembly, and the Citizens UK General Election Assembly in London. Eddy supported congregations and leaders interested in being part of the Homes for Afghans scheme.
3. Methodist leaders in the region accessing to a range of training opportunities in broad based organising training. 3 leaders attended the accredited, 6-day Citizens UK Leadership in (Broad Based) Community Organising training.  2 leaders, including 1 young leader, attended the two-day training. 1 leader will attend the Citizens UK 3-day online leadership training in September (postponed from June due to General election). Eddy helped lead the Birmingham Citizens 2-day leadership Training (Dec 2023). Kerry worked with Alison Webster (Citizens UK Theologian in Residence) and Rachel Lampard (Social Justice Lead, Methodist Church in Britain) on a Citizen’s ‘Learning Thursday’ session on Methodism & Organising, with 50+ attendees.

Recommendations:

• Kerry will offer to share feedback and learning on the pilot partnership with Birmingham Citizens/ Citizens UK, on behalf of stakeholders.

• Attendance at Citizens UK assemblies and events gives valuable insights into broad based organising in practice, but is limited to geographical areas where there is an Citizens chapter. Continued communication with the Birmingham Chapter as they seek to expand into other areas of the West Midlands, will ensure Methodist leaders have the opportunity to be involved as these develop.

Outcome Three: Relationship building with key Methodist Connexional, Regional and District colleagues, and external organisations with a view to ongoing engagement with organising practices.

• Through her role as Vice President of Methodist Conference, Kerry was able to lead introductory sessions on FRCO in 5 other districts.

• Kerry led a session on FRCO practices at Diaconal Convocation, with colleagues from Justice-seeking Church and Let’s End Poverty, with a view to building on this work in coming years.

• Eddy developed relationships with inter faith and ecumenical leaders in the region.

• Consultation and collaboration with Connexional Team colleagues in the Evangelism & Growth and Justice-seeking Church teams resulted in the inclusion of an FRCO work strand in the God For All (2024) report. God For All

  Recommendations:

  The Connexional Organiser should continue conversation with Connexional team colleagues, and external organisations regarding future collaborative working. 

Outcome Four: Creation of bespoke learning and development resources and opportunities, in collaboration with grassroots leaders and partner organisations.

• Kerry and Eddy created a draft FRCO framework, developed in collaboration with pilot leaders and the Methodist Connexional Church at the Margins officer, Eunice Attwood.. It offers an overview of the organising cycle and how practices are inter connected. Kerry developed bespoke resources for each stage of the organising cycle with input from Eddy and pilot leaders.

• At the request of local leaders, a series of short videos were created.  These were not used as widely as the initial consultation had suggested.

Community Organisers Ltd. gave permission for their core training material to be heavily adapted for the FRCO weekends held at Cliff College. Feedback from teams attending has been overwhelmingly positive. Teams from 3 circuits in the region have attended to date.

Recommendations:

• Resources produced for the pilot will be shared with Connexional colleagues for adaptation and use across Connexion.
• The Connexional organiser in collaboration with others (connexional and external partners) should offer targeted learning and development opportunities for key Connexional team colleague and for others across the Connexion (eg., District Mission Enablers).
• In the longer term, the Connexional Organiser and District FRC organisers should work together with the aligned Learning Network officers and others to ensure provision of appropriate contextual training opportunities

Outcome Five: Gathering and sharing stories of how Faith Rooted Community Organising practices are being adapted and used across the region.

• The ‘Called to Organise’ blog has 19 entries, and 24 subscribers.

• Kerry and Eddy shared updates at September 2023 joint synod, and Kerry produced annual reports for inclusion in synod papers each year.

• Pilot leaders have been encouraged to share stories in their circuits.

Recommendations:

The Connexional Organiser, once appointed, will   liaise with colleagues and the Connexional comms team to share stories through videos or blog posts.

At District, Circuit and local church level, creating intentional spaces for sharing stories and building relationships will create a culture where organising practices become integral.

What will happen now the pilot has ended?

Eddy has moved on to an exciting new role with Citizens UK. Kerry’s role with the Learning Network continues, and allows her to share this learning and discuss next steps with Connexional Team colleagues.

In the short term (2024/2025), the two Districts will offer some ongoing support for pilot leaders. FRCO is named as a core practice/ developmental priority in the new West Midlands District Mission Action Plan.  In the longer term (September 25 onwards) the new West Midlands District will, with explore accessing the Connexional funding for a full-time District FRCO post.

kerry scarlett, august 2024