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Partnership principles
Our partnerships > Partnership principles
In the words of Martin Luther King, “As long as there is poverty in the world, I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars … I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.”
● “The most radical thing we can do is to introduce people to one another!”
CMM brings people and congregations together from different religions, races, communities, socioeconomics and ethnic backgrounds who might never have had an opportunity to meet if not for CMM. Longstanding partnerships and collaborations form from our work.
● “The relationships must precede the resources”
For people from different backgrounds and beliefs to work together, they must take time to get to know and trust one another. They must also be willing to travel freely into each other’s communities. Only after the relationships have formed, can authentic partnerships form.
● “Connect the head, the heart and the hands”
This highlights the importance of educating ourselves about a social problem, allowing ourselves to respond emotionally and spiritually, and then implementing an effective action to address the issue. All three are interdependent.
● Take a Leap of Faith,
even if you have reservations about partnering with people who come from different backgrounds and belief systems. What may seem “different” and difficult at first, can soon become exciting and inspiring.
● “Partnerships are reciprocal.”
Both sides of the partnership have gifts to share and lessons to teach.
● Get out of your comfort zone.
Don’t always decide what to do based on the status quo – or what makes you comfortable. Getting out of your comfort zone is a true peace-building tool that opens the way to new ways of understanding and experiencing “others”.
● The Fabric of Our Lives
is a term that demonstrates an experience two members of CMM’s original Urban-Suburban Steering Committee”, one black and one white, had when attending a training together in the South. There were cotton fields on the grounds where the training was held. The white person was overwhelmed by the beauty of the sight of fields of white cotton against a clear blue sky. The person of color experienced pain and envisioned the faces of her ancestors as slaves picking cotton for their white masters. The experience challenged the relationship yet led to new understandings. Try substituting the following image of the “fabric of our lives”: a beautifully woven, colorful and complex tapestry that reflects the diversity and richness of our greater Boston community.
● Moving Beyond Tolerance
is the title of a program developed by Rev. Victor Kazanjian, Dean of Religious Life at Wellesley College. He says, “ Tolerance as a goal is an enemy – suspended ignorance- that really says I won’t hurt you, but I don’t have to know you. The work of partnership is impossible if it asks people to give up their identities”. This is a principle that guides CMM’s every move.
● “You can’t know me until you know what hurts me”
is another litmus test for authentic and sustainable relationships that cross boundaries of difference.
● “Money runs out, relationships don’t”
Congregations must not limit themselves to writing checks to alleviate social problems.
● “Keep Raising the Bar.”
Look for ways to keep growing partnerships, deepening the dialogue, and addressing root causes of social problems together.
● CMM builds bridges of understanding, not bridges of agreement.
In faith-based partnerships, differences of theology and ideologies can be significant. It is Important to have a serious conversation about these differences at the outset, agree not to try to change one another's beliefs, and then move on to areas of common interests.
● "We are all pieces of the puzzle.”
Partnerships are a piece of the puzzle, but they alone, cannot save the world! Each of us must take a piece of the justice work that needs to be done and do it as best as we possibly can.
CMM 474 Centre Street Newton, MA 02458 Phone: 617-244-3650
email:
info@coopmet.org Alexander Levering Kern, Executive Director:
akern@coopmet.org
© 2008 Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries. All Rights Reserved.