Realising our assets

Yesterday to Holy Trinity, Tooting for a meeting of the diocesan Urban Mission Group which began with a delicious chicken curry from one of the many local Indian take-aways.

The location was nostalgic for me because we began our married life just round the corner and I taught for five years at Ernest Bevin School nearby. As we left I was pleased to see some Bevin boys making their way home - same school uniform with the school's distinctive phoenix badge (right) - and I had happy memories of my time there teaching in the science department in the early 80s.

Our meeting was designed to consider how the 2011 census results could be used in planning the church's mission.

Very helpful it was, but the most interesting aspect was a presentation from Bethany of the Church Urban Fund about something I hadn't previously heard of but which they are strongly advocating: Asset Based Community Development.

Here's the idea: a lot of work being done in deprived communities adopts a needs-based approach.

It starts by looking at a community's problems. It tends to characterise people as victims in need of help. It often looks to the Government or the Council to bring in a solution from outside.

An asset-based approach, by contrast, starts by identifying a community's assets: its strengths, its strong points, its resources.

It believes the local people are the greatest asset of all and that they can change their own community from within.

CUF say that Asset Based Community Development isn't specifically Christian, but it resonates with a Christian understanding of the world. It celebrates what is good about a place. It celebrates everyone's gifts and believes everyone has a contribution to make. It is essentially positive and hopeful in outlook.

It's a good way for us to think about Bermondsey: what's good about the place? what are our assets? and not just what are the problems.

And its a good way to think about our churches and each other.