Between faith and profession

Report of a 24-hour learning session

Soesterberg, September 22nd 2010, the church bells sound four times, people are gathering in the chapel of Kontakt der Kontinenten, maybe expecting to hear a sermon of ‘reverend Rick’.

However, instead of passively receiving a lecture they are promptly requested to discuss the following questions in little triad groups: Do you consider your organisation faith based? Is that important to you and why? How do you see this reflected in your daily work and does the fact that your organisation is faith-based influence the organisational development work that you do with your partners? People share in an open way, the ice is somewhat broken and the 24 hour learning event Between Faith & Profession has kicked-off.

Why this event on organisational development of Faith Based Organisations?
The idea for this learning event was born during a discussion amongst personnel from PSO and Mensen met een Missie: About 50% of PSO’s members have a faith based background. In 85% of all development interventions in the world, faith plays a role some way or the other. Why is it than, that the role of faith in organisational development processes is hardly talked about? Is there anything different about faith-based partnerships? And how do you bring your faith to the work floor yourself?

Resource person – Rick James
A man who has dealt with these issues extensively is Rick James from INTRAC. One of INTRAC’s central themes is capacity development of Faith Based NGOs (FBOs) and many research articles and practice notes focus on organisational development of NGOs with religious motives and on the relationship between Northern NGOs and their Faith based Southern partners. PSO as a knowledge broker has decided to link the research of INTRAC and the professional experience of Rick James with the field practice of our members, through organising this 24 hour session, in cooperation with Mensen met een Missie.

Participants
About 30 people from 16 different organisations, ranging from Groningen University to ‘Kom over en Help’, got together to participate in this event, with motivations that were equally diverse. They ranged from ‘wanting to learn more on how to positively cooperate with faith based partners in the world’ to ‘learn how to partner with FBO’s without worsening a conflict or discrimination.’

Triad discussion group
We started out by discussing the following questions in little groups:

• Do you consider your organisation faith based? Is that important for you? Why?
• How do you see this reflected in your daily work?
• Does this influence the organisational development work that you do with your partners?

Most people present, defined their organisations as faith based and also found this important. As one of the participants put it: “Development work is always done out of a certain faith, a conviction.”

The following statements and questions were hung up on the wall for everyone to see:

• Tension between inside and outside Faith Based identity
• Contact should come before contract
• Personal click between partners is essential
• Important to put faith in daily practice/strategies
• What if OD includes converting people?
• Depends on how you define faith based. Different degrees of faith based

Looking at the role of faith in Organisational Development (OD)
The triad discussions were then followed by a presentation of Rick James, who looked at the role of faith in OD processes.

We should realise that there is good religion, bad religion and very bad religion (Sjef Donders)

Rick highlighted the different risks of religion in development. It can be divisive, regressive (for instance: Apartheid, gender approach), irrelevant, insensitive (culturally exported product) and proselytising – where does spiritual development end and proselytising begin? However, fortunately, people also increasingly talk about the opportunities of and the positive role that faith based organisations play in development processes. They provide efficient services, they reach the poorest, their long term sustainable presence and they are valued by the poorest. Furthermore, they provide an alternative to secular theory of development – economic factors aren’t enough. Well being is just as important.Last but not least, Rick also mentioned that FBOs often motivate voluntary action – for instance the civil rights movement in the US.

Rick moved on by challenging whether there is a spiritual added value to working with faith based organisations. Yes there is, he concludes. Working with FBOs engages spiritual power and brings forth hope, meaning and purpose. Change is possible, it’s beyond human effort. Choice of partners can also differ significantly. Some FBO’s work with any CSO or NGO, some work with FBOs (including different faiths) and some only work with Christian organisations (sometimes only with specific denominations).

Choice of partners
Rick then asked some participants about their choice of partners, which lead to some discussion:

ZZG: Denominational focus and also non-church based

TEAR: protestant church organisations, no catholic organisations

Woord&Daad: Preferably non-Church based organisations. We find that church leadership can be very influential in the line of the activities. Sometimes works detrimental.

ICCO: You are stressing the negative influence but I also see the positive influence: church needs to be involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ZOA: Depends on the context you work in.

ICCO: And it also depends on the development goals you work on. Sometimes non-church orgs are more functional to work together with.

Critical organisational issues
Rick continued with mentioning some critical organisational issues related to working with a faith based organisation.

• Leadership and culture is almost always stinging
• Beliefs affecting purpose and strategy (proselytising is understood as a bad word and we don’t dare to go there, to talk about spiritual development.) Beliefs affect how we do development. How do you say no, when we’re loving and compassionate?
• Staffing. How important is faith in recruiting? We want them to be motivated by calling so we shouldn’t pay them too much. However, then the good accountants will go to other organisations
• Systems, particularly financial and M&E – We’re accountable only to God.

There are always bees but tell me about the one that stings.

Rick closed his presentation by outlining three issues that still need to be addressed:

• Are FBO’s really distinctive?
• What are the implications for organisational development (OD)?
• What are your roles and boundaries as a Dutch FBO in OD processes of partners?

The discussion that followed went a little something like this:

ICCO: The difference is that we have the intention to do an extra effort and will be extra disappointed. Partnership goes beyond contract of a few years.

WV: Churches are key players in forwarding with the processes you started. We rediscovered the role of the church. We want to phase out eventually, and the church makes sure the work will be sustainable. You can’t see the church just as a means to an end, it’s an end in itself.

Verre Naasten: Don’t use the church as implementing partner but share your faith with the church and see how this affects society.

ICCO: Development organisations are there with development goals and will be there for a short while. Also because of funding for short periods. Churches are there to stay. This requires a different mindset.

We’re looking for sprinters while churches are long distance runners. Gives a tension.

Evening group discussion – distinctiveness of FBOs
After dinner, we went on with sharing in little groups about what it means for you to work for and with a faith based organisation. In one group a participant argued that you feel that you are driven by the same calling: To love your neighbour as yourself. Some one else stated that there is no relation when you don’t share your faith with each other and that, because of the unconditional relationship, there is more room to talk about sensitive issues.

Another group concluded that the distinctiveness depends highly on the intensity and the integrity of faith; If Christian values are not lived out then there is no difference. However, when it works, faith based partnership can bring a lot: feelings of connection, shared ultimate direction and framework of meaning, trust, openness, holistic connection, role models ( Bible) etc.

At the same time there was the awareness that these benefits do not come automatically. One has to work very hard . That’s also one of the conclusions of the booklet of Rick James: Space for Grace. You can’t organize grace. One only can work to create conditions ( and space) for grace.

Pantoum Poem
The next day we started with a small refresher of what was discussed on the first day and after that we were challenged to write our own poem. A lot of participants increased their poetic capacities.

Sharing out of the intervision groups
We continued with discussing case studies in so-called intervision groups. Five organisations brought in a case from the practice, to reflect on. 

Case Oikos:

Oikos received a request from Zacharias in Zimbabwe. He wanted to start a mission oriented school in a remote area. Oikos felt they were pressured to finance it. They were told that if they didn’t finance, an evangelical American organisation would be glad to do so.

Advise: If you’d have clear guidelines, you could assess whether the proposal would fit in or not. Are you a diaconal organisation or a mission organisation? It’s not your responsibility to prevent Zacharias from doing business with that American organisation. Oikos was glad with the advise to leave the problem with the partner.

Case Faculty of Religious Studies University of Groningen:

Sexual education programme in Uganda and Kenya. The challenge is for partner organisations and Dutch organisations to speak in an open way about the comprehensive approach. Often, there are ideological and institutional objections.

Advise: Focus on the essence of taking time for such processes and go through it together. Last week this same case was also discussed but in a different setting. Focus there was on results, outcome and time management. However, in this setting the focus was on the essence of establishing and maintaining a relation.

Case ICCO:

ICCO has brought together different NGOs in Liberia. Recently, a new organisation joined this group: the interreligious council. Cooperation with the other NGOs didn’t go smoothly. The council focuses on religion in the dialogue for reconciliation. The president of the council was very dominant. How can we incorporate the religious aspect in a proper way?

Advise: Take the time, be aware of your own organisation and what they want and in what way this is in line with the partners. Try to involve a neutral partner and try to broaden the issue.

Case World Servants:

With our partner in Egypt, there was a change of contact person. Now the relationship doesn’t go very smoothly.

Advise: Take a good look at your own situation. The relationship with this partner will last longer than your responsibility for this contact. Take the time to get to know the context better. Go and visit, just to be there and to get to know and understand each other better.

Case Mensen met een Missie:

This case focuses on a congregation of brothers in India. There was an internal conflict because of caste differences. Internal conflicts have an effect on the work in the villages. What is your role as a programme officer and what are your possibilities to do something about it?

Advise: The conflict exists for more than 10 years already. Still, I have decided to take action in it! They have tried to solve this conflict more than once, which means there is commitment to do something about it. This is a conflict you can not solve with organisational changes. You need a mediator from outside who can help in the process of reconciliation, someone with authority, who is independent. And this should happen at a moment when there is openness and willingness to change.

Common denominators that are of influence in all these cases:

• Time: most processes take a lot of time
• How should I (re)act as a person?

More of Rick please!
After lunch, Rick shared some more of his experiences with OD processes with FBOs, as requested by participants. He shared the story ‘Creating Space for Grace’ – God’s Power in Organisational Change. (I will not repeat the whole story here – All participants received this publication at the end of the event.)

"It’s like oil and vinegar. It separates when you put it together. Same thing with professional life and faith. But now I try to keep shaking it."

A few general principles out of the Space for Grace story:

• Leadership and motive. Example of ICCO and Zimbabwean partner: 3 years ago it was ICCO’s motive for change. Last year it was the Southern partner’s motive for change. You have to wait and have patience, what can be very tough.
• Appreciate human complexity. Name your fears (Exodus story of the spies who see the giants and are afraid)
• Prayer. It’s not a vending machine. It’s a mystery. It goes beyond human understanding. If we’re looking for change we’re often looking at logic.
• Use the bible appropriately. It can be used in a very manipulative way. Use it with integrity – question yourself about it.
• Take Responsibility – Starting with yourself. Let’s not externalise blame.
• Create space – you can’t control it when it happens, but you can create a so-called ‘enabling environment’.

Knowledge Centre Religion and Development
Welmoet Boender gave a presentation on the initiatives of the knowledge Centre Religion and Development. She shared that they started out with stimulating debate that religion plays a role in development. Now it’s time to stimulate debate on how religion plays a role in development.

The knowledge centre is now finishing a practical guide on religion and development. The guide contains three sections:

1. a) Know your context,
2. b) know your partner and
3. c) know yourself.

Visit their website www.religion-and-development.nl for more information.

Discussion with panel on questions from participants
Brenda Bartelink, from the Faculty of Religious Studies University of Groningen, Ton Groeneweg from Mensen met een Missie, Rick James from INTRAC and Lisette van der Wel from ICCO, were so kind to take part in the panel, to reflect on the questions and issues still pondering, and raised by the participants of the event. The following issues and questions were discussed and reflected upon:

Change in South needs change here
On a deeper level you encounter similar values. It’s a balancing act of playing a role on different levels. On a spiritual level and a professional level. As an organisation you want to bring about change. Change for poor and disadvantaged people. Therefore you collaborate with partners. They have to change. This affects our relationship as well. Can it in the end change our identity?

Sometimes repentance is necessary, meaning that you continuously reflect on your behaviour and change it when necessary. One participant noted the following:

"Our partners audited us for three days with the same assessment tool with which we assess them. If you want to be a partner, you need to be transparent – both ways."

In any long term relationship the only one you can change is yourself. It doesn’t work if you try to change the other person. However, what we can do is change what we do ourselves. Ask yourself: what was our contribution? Did we ask too much? Did we over fund?

Rick did some research with the following question in mind: What is it that changed leadership behaviour? What struck him was that in zero out of ten cases the donor actually contributed to that change. As a donor you only have a megaphone to talk with. And when you’re shouting, people stop listening. Often, change came about from lower levels within the organisation.

Trust is a word that comes to my mind. Trust is so incredibly important in any partner relation. How much trust can you put in a relationship? The previous organisation I worked for also had a few missionaries as staff. These missionaries had years and years of personal ties with individuals and organisations overseas and these long trusting relationships formed the basis for all the projects that were set up.

How to create space for grace?
One thing stands out. It needs to be authentic. You have to plan the unplanned space for grace. Are we really able to listen deeply and are we open to hear things anew. Can we read between the lines? It begins with our own attitude.

Closing of the event
The 24-hour event was wrapped up with sharing in little groups the personal answers to the following questions.

• What have you learned?
• What touched you?
• What are you going to do?

Participants were asked to write their answer to the third question on a postcard, which would then be collected by PSO and send to them within two weeks, as a reminder.

We closed the event with a prayer and a reading of Romans 12:2:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Follow-up: From a focus on FBOs to a focus on VBOs?
From the PSO feedback forms we came to know that most participants would be interested in a follow-up, mentioning the following things to take into consideration:

• Talk with Knowledge Centre Religion & Development for joint follow-up
• Bring secular organisations into the debate
• More in-depth learning and not only individual experiences
• Exchange of methods in operationalizing faith-based values in organisations
• More input of a professional nature
• Follow up in 9 months, after written evaluation among participants on their actions within their organisation.
• More interactive FBO activities
• 1 day follow up with same group – reflect on actions we have formulated at the end of the event.
• Training, more structural, on working with FBO’s and OD.
• Exchange on: why choosing for Christian partners or not? What is our ‘theory of change’? Maybe together with PRISMA?
• Discuss together the practical guide/ handbook of knowledge centre Religion & Development when finished.
• Exchange and reflection on different perspectives and approaches to FB development.

PSO and MM are considering a follow-up session early 2011, to reflect with the participants of the September 2010 event on the promised actions they had written to themselves, on the postcards. Furthermore, in this session we will discuss whether a possible follow up trajectory should focus on Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) or Value Based Organisations (VBOs). More information will follow in February 2011.