| Throughout many communities in the United States, churches and synagogues have worked cooperatively to provide direct services for and advocacy on behalf of the impoverished. This project describes and documents the process of reorganizing and incorporating a local human services agency in Hebron, Connecticut. This reorganization and incorporation process was accomplished by an ecumenical task force comprised of individuals from five churches and one synagogue in Hebron. The successful completion of the project is documented chronologically from the inception of the ecumenical task force to the incorporation of the new human services agency, Hebron Interfaith Human Services, Inc. The significant contributions of the ecumenical task force, which included (1) a socio-economic analysis of Hebron; (2) the composition of a Constitution and By-Laws necessary for incorporation with the Internal Revenue Service; and (3) an analysis of state and federal welfare programs available to residents of eastern Connecticut, are documented and discussed. The Church and Community Planning Inventory (CCPI), designed by the staff of the Center for Church and Community Ministries at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, was utilized to evaluate the impact of the project on the author's church. Utilizing Roozen, McKinney, and Carroll's approach to classifying congregations in terms of the dominant way each congregation defines its relationship to its community (Varieties of Religious Presence. New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1984), the theological identity of the author's church is classified as evangelistic. The pretest and post-test administration of the CCPI demonstrates that participation in such a project can help evangelistic churches facilitate stronger ecumenical relationships and build on the direct services approach to poverty by developing strategies for advocacy and investment on behalf of the poor. |
