If you’re ready to stop talking about changing your community and actually do something productive, this is the perfect book to read. Robert Linthicum knows how to write clearly. In fact, I’d say there are times when the book almost reads like a textbook just because he is so thorough. And, Mr. Linthicum has the authority to speak on this issue. In urban ministry circles he is well known as a forerunner in transforming communities. At the time of the book’s publishing, he was the president of Partners in Urban Transformation, a ministry dedicated to empowering urban churches and communities. Prior to that, he headed the Office of Urban Advance for World Vision International, working with community organizers and missionaries all over the world.
Knowing all of this, one might assume this book might consist solely of stories from his experience and a “how to” based on those experiences. But refreshingly, that is not the case. In fact, Linthicum spends the majority of his book building what he calls a “Theology of Power” and provides ample Biblical discussion of why we should engage the powers of this world in the first place, centered on the principle of what he calls Relational Power.
He begins with a brief discussion of the three main systems of society: political, economic and religious, or values-creating systems. He then dives into Deuteronomy and how systems were intended to work in ancient Israel. Then he enters a discussion of the book of Luke and how Jesus interacted with the systems of His day. The next chapter dissects a passage in Jeremiah as an example of how God’s people can live transformationally in a world of violence and injustice. Then there is a wonderfully in-depth chapter on Nehemiah, who gives us the most sound example of community organizing in the Bible. Then follows a look at Paul and is own perspective on the powers.
The second part of the book moves from biblical foundation to implementation, with very practical and applicable information for real time transformation of our communities today. He covers everything from how to conduct a meeting with a member of the community, to how to develop those connections into a relationally powerful network with real potency. He ends with a brief discussion of spiritual transformation through this process as well.
As someone who feels like she needs to know the purpose in everything she does, I deeply appreciated Linthicum’s respect for the word of God as the basis for his strategy: “Nowhere in Scripture will we find a text that reads, ‘thou shalt do community organizing.’ But the principles of community organizing are woven through the warp and woof of Scripture as it presents a theology of relational power” (p. 161).
This book has left me with a lot to keep wrestling with. I particularly appreciated his discussion of the powers in Deuteronomy and how God intended them to work. This is helpful to hold up as a mirror against the complex and fallen systems of our day. But I will continue to wrestle with what that means for the Church today, whether or not our first purpose is to “bring about the changes that need to occur in our…systems so that they might increasingly become the systems God created them to be,” as Linthicum establishes from Paul on p. 120. Can we convert the systems and powers? If we are not living in a theocracy like Israel, should this be our goal? Or is it simply enough to engage in dynamic interaction with the systems of our world as we live by a different value system: the kingdom of our God rather than the kingdom of this world?
Regardless of conclusion on that particular matter, this book is one I will likely go back to again and again, to remind myself of why we seek justice, how to seek justice, and what this justice should mean to a fallen world.
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