TAP

I am getting more and more involved in TAP, which is Transforming Action through Power.  This is a Gamaliel project active in South Bend.  I am active in their clergy caucus and have met several times with their organizer.  TAP is faith based community organizing, building on the principals developed by Saul Alinsky.  Interestingly, what I learned with Hopeful City is coming in handy as are some of those relationships.

This Saturday there was a big gathering of TAP clergy folks at Indian University South Bend.  We started the day off with a drum circle lead by RythmWorks of South Bend.  This group group was awesome!  They will do all sorts of things around team building and I would recommend them to any group or organization.  A rhythmically challenged white guy, even I was able to take part in the drum circle.  This exercise was used to demonstrate the importance of all the parts in an organization and emphasize both the wealth of diversity and the strength of individuality.  The drumming set the stage for the rest of the day and was a good way to ease into what turned into a long meeting.

The goal of the meeting was to build cohesiveness and remind the group that there is a lot of power in organizing.  There were about seven congregations represented by both clergy and lay folk.  We talked about what the organization is and how we can meet our goals.  We also talked about funding, increasing membership and future training opportunities for TAP members.  A lot of ground got covered.

One thing the conference did not touch on was the issues.  To me, there is no clearly defined issue in front of the group.  There is talk about education, but the issue is not cut in a way that it can be clearly stated.  I am attempting to form a coalition around the vacant and abandoned housing issue.  This situation is very obvious and so far I have gotten several folks on board with the issue.  Most everyone I talk to is disturbed by the situation and now I have to do my homework, cut the issue and develop some alternatives, as well as the alternative that most speaks to the TAP group.  I'm further challenged to get folks from Memorial and Westminster churches involved.  These are primarily commuter churches and so they don't have the investment in the neighborhood. 

A challenge of my position is the development of a congregation or following.  Without a church or home base this is harder to do than a traditionally called clergy.  There are people in the neighborhood upon which I can call, but TAP is more used to working with congregationally based groups and my more unorthodox group throws them off.