Casting New Nets: Introduction to Special Section on the Church

Ask someone what churches are doing in the area of economic development in the South, and you probably won't get much of a reply. Yet church groups have been a source of hope, funding, and technical assistance for a myriad of community-based efforts for many years, especially through programs sponsored by national and regional church offices. These programs have been vital to the development of communities, but generally they have failed to link local church members with the folks "across the tracks."

The current economic crisis has generated a resurgence of church commitment to "help the poor," especially the victims of massive plant closings. Although some national funding offices are buying the "Reagan recovery" line, many church leaders are grappling seriously with economic policy and trying to build a constituency for economic justice within church ranks. The most publicized effort is the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops' pastoral letter "Economic Justice For All," which calls for serious changes in economic relationships. Less publicized efforts are afoot in almost all the other major denominations, too. These efforts are encouraging to all of us who persist in the often unpopular fight for economic justice.

The key question for the future is whether churches will be able to engage their membership in efforts to develop alternative economic thinking and programs, national and local. In this section you'll find some examples of what church groups can do, as well as some program ideas that might broaden your notion of what economic development work is all about.