LOCAL/REGIONAL/STATE ISSUES Affordable housing Education Health Care Transportation

2. LOCAL/REGIONAL/STATE ISSUES • Affordable housing • Education • Health Care • Transportation • Treatment Instead of Prison • Work force development • Tax reform • NATIONAL ISSUES • Voting Rights Act re-authorization • Civil Rights of Immigrants • Health Care • Education

4. THREE YEAR STRATEGIC CAMPAIGN THREE OVERALL GOALS • I. Build our collective power • II. Strengthen faith communities • III. Heal our democracy

5. Where are we now? “We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use?”

6. Attitude I The work of the church is in matters of life and death – what could be more important? What do we do to undermine our importance?

7. Attitude II Our ministries should have an urgent relevance to the daily lives of people Are our ministries resulting in a stronger congregation or are we just “managing?”

8. PEW: 20% OF AMERICANS ARE NOW ATHEIST, AGNOSTIC OR UNAFFILIATED WITH A RELIGION

9. “The unaffiliated are less trusting of churches and religious organizations than the general public overall. • “In particular, they claim that these groups are “too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules, and too involved in politics.” • “That being said, a majority believe that faith and religion can be a positive force in society and that religious organizations bring people together and help strengthen community bonds.”

10. Attitude III Congregations must build power to be relevant Who instilled the spirit of timidity in us?

11. Power • Ability to act • Two components • Organized people • Organized money

12. Attitude IV Relationships based on an understanding of self-interests are the key to building powerful congregations How can we love one another if we do not know one another? What stands in the way of knowing our neighbors?

13. Discipline I Intentional relationship-building: fostering natural but uncommon exchanges A. Build trust B. Understand self-interest C. Gain/offer clarity D. Gather information

14. Discipline II Meetings that respect people. • Have a point - action • Follow an agenda – prepared in advance • Begin and end on time – this is business • Ratify decisions that have already been made

15. Discipline III Build a culture of integrity and accountability • Specific, measurable plans • We say what we’ll do and we do what we say • Evaluation: Did we meet our goals? How did people grow? How is this building the congregation?

16. Discipline IV Building a public life for our faith communities “We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spike into the wheel itself.” 

17. Discipline V Ongoing leadership training and development • All leaders are grooming their replacements • No one is expected to “sink or swim” • Everyone moving toward the center of congregational life

19. GAMALIEL NATIONAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING www.gamaliel.org Norton@Gamaliel.org 410-458-3380

21. Most Rev. Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America “My own experience of Gamaliel leadership training gave me a deep sense that churches were not simply being used for some narrow political agenda, but that there is a real respect for the faith-based nature of our work. I also appreciated the emphasis on the individual and their call to leadership in the church as well as the community. I believe we can use this methodology to integrate the attitudes and disciplines of community organizing even more deeply with our church revitalization efforts, using it as a principal tool in developing churches and their leaders as powerfully relevant to the daily concerns of our people.”