Church World Service leans into ‘covenantal’ future with partners

Andrew Long-Higgins has fond childhood memories of Church World Service (CWS), a faith-based organization that for the past 78 years has been responding to the needs of the hungry and the displaced worldwide.

His father, the Rev. Dave Long-Higgins, now conference minister for the Heartland Conference United Church of Christ, would don a blanket like a superhero’s cape, illustrating to the children in the congregation how CWS’s Blanket Program gave them the superpower of providing warmth and comfort to those who are cold and desolate.

“It was quite a sight,” said Long-Higgins, who joined the UCC national staff in June as Global H.O.P.E. team leader.

Mention CWS to a UCC congregation and chances are there are stories like Long-Higgins’ to be heard — be it that of collecting blankets, participating in a CROP Hunger Walk or gathering items for one of several CWS kits, from Emergency Cleanup Buckets to Period Packs. (Global H.O.P.E. offers congregations $250 CWS kit matching grants. You can apply here.)

On a national level, the stories are just as many with the UCC and CWS partnering to help refugees, advocate for gender and sexual justice, fight global warming, and walk alongside those rebuilding after a disaster.

“The UCC works collaboratively with CWS in multiple places and multiple ways, supporting their work both in the U.S. and throughout the world,” said the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, general minister and president of the UCC.

Covenant membership created

The national staff recently welcomed CWS executives to Cleveland, Ohio, to “celebrate the long-standing relationship,” said Thompson. The July 23-24 gathering also marked a pivotal moment in CWS’ history, as it introduced its move to covenant members.

“The world is always changing. How do we stay true to our mission and who we are as we lean forward?” said Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO. “Every decade has always brought change in how we carry out our work,” he added.

Seeking to strengthen its ties with church partners, CWS embarked on a year-and-a-half discernment process, listening to local congregations on what the challenges and opportunities were — and “where the gaps we needed to fill were,” said Santos.

What emerged was the decision for CWS membership to be a covenantal one. It’s a concept not only biblical, echoing the promise made between God and God’s children to be in relationship with one another, but it is one at the heart of UCC polity.

For Santos, the covenant membership begins answering the CWS’ question of how to walk and learn together, acknowledging that “we were stuck in a formula that was pretty much stuck in the past.”

Soon after the decision was made to be in covenant with its members, CWS noticed something amazing.

“We started hearing from members who we haven’t heard from in a while,” said Santos.

Toward the end of the two-day visit, Santos and Thompson, who is a CWS board member, signed the new CWS covenant, reaffirming the partnership between the two organizations.

Belonging and convening

The framework of CWS covenant memberships consist of three parts — Belonging, Convening, and Governance — with the emphasis on “building a sense of belonging” and “convening many tables for people to sit at,” said Jeff Whisenant, CWS’ interim vice president, business development and advancement.

Whisenant added that plans are currently underway to convene one such table this September focused on “building bridges in the pre-electoral period.”

This is just the first at what CWS hopes to be many tables to come.

“Convening is about bringing community together. How can we convene many tables for people to sit at?” said Santos.

The Rev. Shari Prestemon, acting associate general minister of the UCC and co-executive of Global Ministries, the shared witness of the UCC and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), praised CWS leadership for being “attentive to the distant feeling being felt among some of the organizations members.”

“Your discernment led you to the right place. It is abundantly clear that day-by-day we must be collaborative to create the world we want to create,” she said. “Belonging and convening are vital to that collaborative work.”

Danielle Hickman, minister for volunteer engagement, Global H.O.P.E., agreed with Prestemon.

“A lot of people are looking for belonging,” said Hickman.

Hickman shared with CWS’ leaders the enthusiasm youth, recently attending a UCC Regional Youth Event, displayed while participating in a CWS Period Pack service project.

“Together they assembled 500 kits in just two hours,” she said.

Community takes intentionality

While belonging and convening are CWS main foci in the covenant membership, Thompson queried how they would be carried out. She also asked a “the lingering question”: How will churches be invited to the convening tables?

To facilitate open and healthy dialog among its covenant members, CWS is creating a new position of a relationship manager, said CWS leadership. This would be the point person for congregations seeking information, asking questions or raising concerns.

As CWS leans into its future, Santos shared the excitement he and his team have.

“We are re-enlivening,” he said. “We are asking, ‘What is meaningful belonging? What is meaningful convening? How do we make it real in this moment?’”

Thompson added that “this moment” is not a beginning or an end, though.

“This is a moment in the middle where we are continuing to seek a just world together,” she said.

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