Lara Rusch ~ 23
Another interviewee, a long time core team leader at an African American Baptist
church, suggested that elders on her church’s trustee board had limited enthusiasm for
community organizing, and did not understand its relevance or potential for the
congregation. She believes, “They need to be replaced with some younger people.” While
the pastor appoints all board members, he is reluctant to ask people to step down: “they
don’t vote you out, you just die out.” She mentioned that among the “upstanding men” on
the board, one of the trustees is one woman, who is also active in the MOSES Land Bank
task force, but, “she’s a young person fighting against those people.” A congregation’s
membership in the CBCO network does not mean that all power holders within the
congregation are on board with the mission of community organizing, or even understand
its purpose and methods. That can be the case even if the pastor is personally involved
and fully supportive of lay involvement.
In this example the core team is viewed as its own ministry within the
congregation, and therefore is seen as belonging to or the responsibility of the team, just
as other committees are responsible for their ministries or form of service. Because the
congregation is involved in many activities, few are active in MOSES despite the pastor’s
support and the congregation’s overall membership. While the pastor fully supports the
congregation’s participation in MOSES, he also seeks lay participation in other
organizations, such as the Progressive Baptist Convention. “They [congregation
members] look at the conventions like that’s for the people in what we call the Christian
Education Department. […] And the same thing that they feel with MOSES, the core
team.” She is suggesting that most people in the congregation see outreach or political
action as compartmentalized within particular committees. Members see MOSES as yet
Convention