VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS)-At a culminating event Saturday at the June meeting of the Board of National Ministries, several regions signaled their support for Future Search, a community-based action plan to forward the Children in Poverty Initiative of American Baptist Churches USA.
The program, called Prosperous Communities, Prosperous Nation, which Future Search administers, teaches communities to bring all stakeholders together, those interested and able to effect change, to search out solutions to intractable social problems.
Six individual regions and a collective group of regions signed on to learn the Future Search method of bringing about community transformation. Individual regions include American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, New York State, Greater Indianapolis, Rochester/Genesee, Maine, and the Philadelphia Baptist Association. The Mountain/Prairie group got on board with its coalition that includes American Baptist Churches of Nebraska, the Dakotas and the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, New Mexico, eastern Utah and Wyoming), along with the Central Region (Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas) and Mid-American Baptist Churches (Iowa and Minnesota).
"The Children in Poverty Initiative isn't so much about being against poverty as it is about being for prosperous communities," said Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, executive director of National Ministries. Ten years from now, he said, "We want to be able to say that we made a true difference in the lives of children."
Rev. Marilyn Turner, National Ministries' Associate Executive Director, Program Ministries, sounded a call to action with her reflection on the plight of Rizpah in 2 Samuel 21:3-10. Rizpah was grief-stricken when King David handed over her children to be hung along with other sons of Saul, the price sought by outraged Gibeonites to avenge for Israel's slaughter of their people.
"Powerful people still make decisions that destroy children," Turner observed. She invited all who were present to allow for the personal transformation necessary to become 21st century children of Rizpah, engaging in the war against the evils of poverty.
With Rizpah's story as a backdrop, Nancy Polend, program director of Prosperous Communities, Prosperous Nation, presented the Future Search method. She explained that the whole-system action planning of this approach is based on tested principles that lead to far-reaching, constructive changes.
"During 13 years of use, this process has enabled cooperation and commitment in complex situations of high conflict and uncertainty," said Polend. For National Ministries, the goal is to engage a whole system to create and carry out new strategies for reducing poverty. After local action plans gain momentum, a national Future Search, including selected local participants, could lead to commitments that change U.S. government policies.
"Future Search focuses on common ground, rather than problems. Differences are used as information to develop an action plan, instead of as problems to solve," Polend said. With that in mind, Wright-Riggins pointed out that American Baptists have the type of diversity Future Search relies on to be effective. "The challenge is: Do we really want to discover community?" he said.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/