City Transformation as A Platform

In our recent GoodCities Leadership Gathering in Phoenix, Eric Swanson introduced a creative approach when he gave a 20 minute presentation titled “City Transformation as a Platform” (his full presentation is available at the end of this post). His belief is that the real power of a decentralized network in a city is found in the many ways that people live out their callings and yet, unify under a city transformation vision.
Swanson notes that people will find their place within a common vision if it serves their own self interest. He distinguishes between self interest and selfish interests by stating that self interest is a belief from those involved that they will get more out of being involved with the movement than through non-involvement. Selfish interest is a viewpoint that only engages because of a self-promoting ulterior motive (i.e. a sales rep who gets involved in a volunteer organization to make sales instead of to accomplish the goals of the volunteer organization.)
He compares this new approach to Web 2.0 which has radically changed our online experiences. Web 1.0 offered a way for people and organizations to share information about themselves with others. Web 2.0 offers an interactive experience where internet users pursue their interests and engage information and organizations to get what they are looking for. In Web 2.0 Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple are four big platforms where internet users find what they need.
Swanson asks, “How can we be more like…
  • YouTube not ABC?
  • Wikipedia not Encyclopedia Britannica?
  • Airbnb not Marriott Hotels?
  • Twitter not Associated Press?
  • A playground not Little League?

City movements become much more powerful when they lift a transformational vision that engages people and organizations in their self interest. Swanson listed the kinds of self interests that various parties within city movements hold deeply to give examples of why they may become involved. These self interests include:

When city transformation becomes a platform rather than only residing in an organization, the work of a city movement will experience new levels of effectiveness.

Download Slides From Eric Swanson’s City Transformation as a Platform

The full presentation  below was recorded at our GoodCities Leadership Gathering. The video of Eric was pretty shaky, although the audio was very good, so this presentation shows a few stills of Eric interspersed throughout the presentation of his slide deck.

A Culture of Honor in City Transformation

At our recent GoodCities Leadership Gathering in Phoenix, Pastor David Drum shared about the importance of developing a culture of honor among pastors in Tucson. This important aspect of church unity has its roots among leaders of primarily African American and Hispanic churches. In the 2:48 minute video below, Dave talks  about what he’s learned and how this can be helpful in other cities as well as we pursue city transformation.
 

Top 3 Concerns of Cross Sector City Movements

I was recently asked, “What do you think are the top 3 concerns of business, church, and civic leaders in city movements across the nation?” What I offered in response was not based on a survey, but rather on my observations with the city leadership teams I coach and work with at the conferences GoodCities holds throughout the year. Here’s what I wrote:
Not many city movements have all three of these leadership groups working together. I believe this is happening in a big way in Akron & Modesto, two cities of modest size. In Portland and Minneapolis, all three groups are engaged in targeted efforts around schools and jobs. However, in each of these cases, while there may be Christians from government involved, they will rarely be involved with a regularly convened covenant group of church, business and nonprofit Christian leaders. For that matter, in most cities, pastors meet with pastors. Business leaders meet with one another and with nonprofit leaders where they are volunteering or serving on a board of directors. Nonprofit leaders meet with one another when their purposes are best fulfilled through collective impact, but generally don’t meet together otherwise.
In each of these sectors, private, public, and social, there are leaders who are bridge builders and conveners. These folks have a larger vision for God’s kingdom influence in their city. In the public and private sector, these leaders operate discretely. In the church and nonprofit social sector the anchor churches and nonprofit organizations operate with as much publicity as they can muster because they are always looking to expand their constituencies. Individually, each leader carries within them first a concern for his or her home and family’s well-being, next a concern for the success and well-being of the entity in which he or she serves, and third a concern for the peace and prosperity of his or her city or community. These are the three main callings that each of us live into throughout our lives.
With this in mind, what are the top 3 most common shared concerns of Christians involved in collaborative leadership for the good of their city? Here is my list as I understand this (in no particular order).
1. The peace/shalom of the city or community (This includes issues of justice, mercy, and safety).
2. A prosperous economy (The economic well-being of the people).
3. The spiritual, intellectual, and emotional well-being of the people (This includes access to a good education, healthy families, aesthetic beauty, and an opportunity to learn of God’s reconciling love through a contextualized Christian witness.)
What are your thoughts? Do you have a list of the top three concerns as you have talked with many of these leaders?

City Transformation through Faith at Work

Chuck Proudfit and the Origins of At Work on Purpose in Cincinnati


This five minute overview was recorded at our recent City Advance Conference in New York City. There is much we can learn from the stages of development of At Work On Purpose of Cincinnati. What Chuck talks about is central to the development of any healthy citywide movement that has city transformation in view.
The City Advance in NYC is one of three conferences that we offer through GoodCities for leaders of Christian unity movements in cities. Our next conference, “ONE,” will take place in Phoenix, AZ on January 27-29 and will engage leaders of John 17 movements working to make cities more redemptive places to live and work. We’ll have stories of unlikely partnerships between Catholics and Evangelicals, between people of different ethnic, cultural and socio-economic classes.

Catalyst Modesto: Christian Unity with a Purpose

A Place Where Collaboration is Born

Catalyst is a monthly gathering of leaders and influencers in the Modesto area who believe they can make the biggest difference in their community by collaborating and working together! This Christian faith-based group is an outgrowth of the City Ministry Network (CMN) and meets monthly with about a hundred leaders at CrossPoint Church.
Marvin Jacobo, the CMN Executive Director says “We welcome anyone to come and contribute. Our primary audiences are leaders, team members and volunteers in Nonprofits and Churches. There is also a focus on leaders in Education, Business, Media, Government, Neighborhoods & the Arts (many of whom are active in nonprofits and churches).” These collaborations often result in collective impact in key areas of city life.
I recently visited Modesto to evaluate the impact of the 2011 GoodCities Engagement/Exploration Process known as the Community Leadership Survey. I interviewed twenty leaders who were either interviewed or were interviewers in this process. Most reported that following this work, the Christian Ministry Network was strengthened as a leadership   organization that gives birth to collaborative work in Modesto around critical issues. Catalyst Modesto has become one of their primary monthly meetings where Christian Collaborations are birthed or accelerated. Below is a list of some of the organizations/movements that have taken hold.

  • Love Modesto
  • Love Your Neighborhood
  • Pray Modesto
  • Recovery Modesto
  • The Jobs Cohort

CMN has become known as a leadership group that is in touch with the people and issues of Modesto. The regular meetings of Catalyst let people know that they are commited to facilitating collaborations that will further the peace and prosperity of people in the city (Jer. 29:7) while pursuing a John 17 vision for Christian unity. This can happen in your city, too! Download our Top Ten Books List on City Transformation and to learn more about the movement. Contact Glenn@goodcities.net for more information about how GoodCities can help you take the next steps on this journey.

For Houston's Kids: Beyond Church and Public School Partnerships

Steve Capper (pictured below and featured in a 2:40 minute video below) is a GoodCities Community Leadership Coach and serves as the Executive Director of For Houston’s Kids. He will be a contributing blogger for our blog site. This article introduces the missional thrust of how this unique collaboration between people of faith and people of good will works together for the good of Houston’s children. For Houston’s Kids goes beyond church and public school partnerships by forming unlikely partnerships to accomplish their goals.

In 2004, a healing of many in the Church of Houston who were blind began.  Like the story told in Mark 8, the restoration of sight was both partially immediate and largely progressive. This miracle followed a simple question, a group conversation, and a massive investigation in search of an accurate picture of our city’s condition.
Dave Peterson, then the Senior Pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, had attended a one-day conference featuring a stirring story of one man’s efforts to replace isolation and hopelessness among Baltimore’s inner city youth with caring mentors and a path to a hopeful future.  On the way home, Dave found himself pondering a suddenly appearing thought: “What would it take for Houston to be as world famous for every neighborhood and school producing whole and healthy children as we are for NASA, the oil and gas industry, and the world’s largest medical center?”  Whatever the answer, Dave realized, it would take the Church … and not just the Church.  Weeks later, Dave shared his experience with a group of 25 pastors and ministry leaders.  The room went noticeably silent and still, as if God had shown up and Himself asked us the question.  When words were again spoken, the sentiment was unanimous: this would not only be a goal worth giving our best efforts and resources to, but would both bring tangible blessing to our neighbors and city for years to come and it would expand the Kingdom of God.  As with the blind man whom Jesus touched, we were beginning to see, but the shapes were not yet clearly defined.
It just so happened that Mission Houston had months prior launched a citywide research effort to establish a baseline, the Houston Profile Project.  Utilizing the expertise of Baylor University’s Center for Community Research & Development, conducting interviews with leaders in 45 clusters of communities, and deploying volunteers in three- or four-to-a-car “windshield survey” teams to make notes of their neighborhoods, our primary initial interest was in determining both the objectively verifiable places of societal brokenness in our metropolitan area and the most widespread “felt needs” of our neighbors so that the Church of Houston would know without guessing where our serving would have the highest impact.
One finding confirmed what we had not yet seen: the single most pervasive needs found in all 45 areas of the city, and reported by both people of faith and those of no active faith, centered on concerns for the present and future of kids.  Further, one characteristic of the rapidly changing demographic face of the city was this: the number of at-risk kids in our city was multiplying far faster than the number of human, financial, educational, and health resources being allocated to them.   In spite of great efforts within and beyond the faith community, more and more kids faced an unhealthy present and a predictably grim future.  One prominent sociologist in the city even declared that Houston was on the verge of becoming a third world city, whose employers had to import their workforce because the kids of Houston were not adequately prepared. And now, as with the blind man in Mark 8, the plight of kids right before our eyes came into increasingly clear focus.  We would never again be able to not see what was now crystal clear.
Fast forward almost ten years.  The terms “collective impact” and “movement” are more common than their reality, but they provide language for the quest we remain focused on – to adequately address the needs of kids here in Houst
on so they have a likelihood of a future with a hope.  After five years of multiplying mentors in the public schools, and after over two years of one-on-one conversations with leaders of hundreds of organizations working with or for children and youth, Mission Houston joined the YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Catholic Charities, and others to birth in October 2013 a new initiative that seeks to add 250,000 new volunteers to maximize the efforts of service providers who are committed to addressing together the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of those age 0-19.  Called simply “For Houston’s Kids,” this fledgling undertaking is not faith-based, but it is faith community friendly.
And it has no guaranteed success.  There are significant obstacles … challenges … that loom large.  In the non-profit and government sector, and sadly even in the world of the Church, we have too little experience of or appetite for shared efforts and joint credit.  In the Church, there are still many who believe that if an organization is not specifically faith-based and names Jesus as our reason for being then the work undertaken does not contain “the gospel.”   But those of us engaged inside the Church and the wider community building relationships and casting the vision believe the work of sowing the seeds of Church unity (people of good faith) working in intentional partnership with anyone who cares about the well-being of our kids (people of good will) is worthy of our best efforts.  You see, it’s not for or about us, or the organization.  It’s “for Houston’s kids!”
We request your prayers.  We ask you to connect us with anyone in the city you know who yearns to see kids well-educated and healthy in every way.  And we’ll keep you posted on progress towards the God-sized goal, whether that includes fruit through our organization or not.