As someone who does communications work professionally, this is SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE. So often, organizations fail to center the audience in the way they approach these things - too much inside baseball language, too many assumptions that if people are motivated by the mission, they'll just figure it out and it will all be fine. (As you point out, it definitely will not all be fine).
This has also given me a lot to think about as I just today agreed to join a group that is planning our community's response to potential ICE raids (I live in a heavily Hispanic community in the NY suburbns, so this feels somewhat imminent) and I want to figure out how to engage as many people as possible in this incredibly important but also, if we're being honest, scary work. I would love to hear from others who have done this successfully in other places that have been pushing back against ICE - feel free to DM me if that's more comfortable.
I don't know. Reading this makes me realize that there is a big gulf of divergence of what is occurring at a megachurch and what is occurring in activist political groups.
First of all there is the shift of focus, the megachurch is actively focused on trying to make the person feel welcomed and included as part of its core ethos. If there is an agenda, the agenda is hidden behind issues that are meant to serve the people in the community.
Activist groups are often focused on trying to make progressive change and as a result are usually focused not on the people that are joining the cause but on trying to change a power structure. Learning from the megachurch the activist groups should need to take a different approach and look to try to serve the people who are joining the cause and not simply look for people to join their cause. It's a significant difference.
A core part of this is the ethos of some of the activist groups, the ethos is about trying to change a system to serve the people they are advocating for, vice building a system that is actively serving the people they are advocating for.
As a result a lot of left-leaning activism can become a bit disembodied and become overly cerebral in its approach causing an impact with the relationality. The megachurch does the exact opposite though, it focuses heavily on trying to reinforce relationality but individuality is what is sacrificed in the process.
I think in order to really learn lessons from megachurches there is a need to really develop an ethic of showing care to the people who are part of the effort and not just advocate for state-based systems that will do the care on their behalf.
Churches serve as an under-appreciated reservoir for politically like-minded people. They meet every week (at least) and so they maintain ties between people who wouldn't ordinarily get together. Plus, they are very well-funded -- none of this chipping in a buck like we see at activist spaces!
I do attend something called Fired Up! for my county, and our meetings are pretty darn well-attended. We started after an election in which there were NO dems on the local ballot. Now we have three dems running for the county board, among other successes. We are taking our county back from the far-right.
Reminds me of the saying, "Justice is what love looks like in public." I agree, and also want us to remember to cultivate the love you want to see reflected in public. The cliche Corinthians verses actually apply quite well here.
Be it small congregation or political org, I've been convinced for a really long time that we need to bring back the sociogram. Identify the neighborhood or social groups. Connect at a 1:1 level with the gatherers/influencers. Find out what they want/need, would hang out at with friends and set it up for them , getting their commitment to come with friends so that they ARE comfortable. Have fun ice-breaker activities that connect a couple groups at a time and be prepared to say join me rather than we need for you to.... Initially it takes more time, but it's so much more effective than blanket outreach, cuz even with all the right cues, most of us don't show up alone. Depending on age, offering rides, offering food, having activities and support for kids, having the kids perform, and partnering with local community groups may also help. OTOH, if I'm going to show up for anything political, I DO want to know ahead of time what the candidate(s) or organization(s) stand for and what they have done well. Clearly activism is what I do when I really believe in something rather than as my primary portfolio, so not sure how applicable all of this would be for a high activism-oriented group.
As someone who does communications work professionally, this is SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE. So often, organizations fail to center the audience in the way they approach these things - too much inside baseball language, too many assumptions that if people are motivated by the mission, they'll just figure it out and it will all be fine. (As you point out, it definitely will not all be fine).
This has also given me a lot to think about as I just today agreed to join a group that is planning our community's response to potential ICE raids (I live in a heavily Hispanic community in the NY suburbns, so this feels somewhat imminent) and I want to figure out how to engage as many people as possible in this incredibly important but also, if we're being honest, scary work. I would love to hear from others who have done this successfully in other places that have been pushing back against ICE - feel free to DM me if that's more comfortable.
I don't know. Reading this makes me realize that there is a big gulf of divergence of what is occurring at a megachurch and what is occurring in activist political groups.
First of all there is the shift of focus, the megachurch is actively focused on trying to make the person feel welcomed and included as part of its core ethos. If there is an agenda, the agenda is hidden behind issues that are meant to serve the people in the community.
Activist groups are often focused on trying to make progressive change and as a result are usually focused not on the people that are joining the cause but on trying to change a power structure. Learning from the megachurch the activist groups should need to take a different approach and look to try to serve the people who are joining the cause and not simply look for people to join their cause. It's a significant difference.
A core part of this is the ethos of some of the activist groups, the ethos is about trying to change a system to serve the people they are advocating for, vice building a system that is actively serving the people they are advocating for.
As a result a lot of left-leaning activism can become a bit disembodied and become overly cerebral in its approach causing an impact with the relationality. The megachurch does the exact opposite though, it focuses heavily on trying to reinforce relationality but individuality is what is sacrificed in the process.
I think in order to really learn lessons from megachurches there is a need to really develop an ethic of showing care to the people who are part of the effort and not just advocate for state-based systems that will do the care on their behalf.
Churches serve as an under-appreciated reservoir for politically like-minded people. They meet every week (at least) and so they maintain ties between people who wouldn't ordinarily get together. Plus, they are very well-funded -- none of this chipping in a buck like we see at activist spaces!
I do attend something called Fired Up! for my county, and our meetings are pretty darn well-attended. We started after an election in which there were NO dems on the local ballot. Now we have three dems running for the county board, among other successes. We are taking our county back from the far-right.
Reminds me of the saying, "Justice is what love looks like in public." I agree, and also want us to remember to cultivate the love you want to see reflected in public. The cliche Corinthians verses actually apply quite well here.
Be it small congregation or political org, I've been convinced for a really long time that we need to bring back the sociogram. Identify the neighborhood or social groups. Connect at a 1:1 level with the gatherers/influencers. Find out what they want/need, would hang out at with friends and set it up for them , getting their commitment to come with friends so that they ARE comfortable. Have fun ice-breaker activities that connect a couple groups at a time and be prepared to say join me rather than we need for you to.... Initially it takes more time, but it's so much more effective than blanket outreach, cuz even with all the right cues, most of us don't show up alone. Depending on age, offering rides, offering food, having activities and support for kids, having the kids perform, and partnering with local community groups may also help. OTOH, if I'm going to show up for anything political, I DO want to know ahead of time what the candidate(s) or organization(s) stand for and what they have done well. Clearly activism is what I do when I really believe in something rather than as my primary portfolio, so not sure how applicable all of this would be for a high activism-oriented group.