What is Faith Based Community Organizing?

Evaluation Meeting Following Congressman Pallone's Driving Tour of Camden January 2009

Faith-Based Community Organizing is a method of working with faith communities to address the problems and concerns of their communities, and in turn, vitalize and strengthen the life of congregations.

There are many paths to a more just world, and faith-based community organizing is one of them. Other paths include direct service, in which people respond to the immediate and often urgent physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of others. Another path is advocacy or activism, where people act and to speak on behalf of others who are suffering from great injustices and social ills.

CCOP's and PICO's paths to building a more just world involves teaching people of faith how to build and exercise their own power to address the root causes of the problems they face. In PICO, this struggle for justice is rooted in our faith.

At the center of CCOP's and PICO's model of faith-based community organizing is a belief in the potential for transformation - of people, institutions, and our larger culture. This belief stems directly from CCOP and PICO's rootedness in faith communities, and radiates throughout the organization, influencing the way CCOP relates to public officials, to community members, and to one another.