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Congregations throughout the nation are often the first responders when an individual or family needs extra support and care after a traumatic experience. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, church leaders were tasked with providing extra pastoral care in a unique way that kept every individual physically safe. A survey was completed to learn more about the educational preparedness of pastors specific to trauma, frequency of conversations about trauma before and during COVID-19, competency of church leaders before and during COVID-19, and experiences of collective trauma within congregations. This article focuses on the results of that survey to bring awareness to the lived experiences of church leaders and congregants when dealing with trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including Black Settlement Houses, which served as structural settings were activism emerged and developed.

Local congregations are vital resources within communities. They serve an important function in the lives of community members and especially those who have experienced trauma. This article examines current literature about the interaction between faith communities and trauma, the reasons why it is valuable for local congregations to understand trauma, and the role that faith and congregations can have in helping individuals who have experienced trauma. Rather than focusing on the role of faith in the healing of trauma (which is a separate area of study), this article focuses on the importance of positively creating congregational systems to be mindful of those who have experienced trauma. There is a significant gap in the current literature on how congregations can be trauma sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The questions of the reception of and role of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Plus (LGBTQ+) persons in the Christian faith and Christian church have increasingly called for churches and denominations to discern a position on membership, leadership, and participation in the sacraments. Individuals, families, congregations, and denominations are impacted by the differences in perspective, policy, and practice of affirming, including, or excluding LGBTQ+ persons. This article reports on a qualitative research study of 97 interviews in 20 congregations across three denominations exploring difficult conversations, decisions, and the impact of those decisions. The challenges and opportunities in both conversations and decisions are nested in faith perspectives. One significant finding is the role of individual and corporate faith in the resilience essential to both survival and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The start of the early Christian church is recounted in the book of Acts. In Acts 2 (NKJV), the author shares that after the outpouring of the Spirit of God, over 3,000 believers gather themselves together, where they held "everything in common," shared their resources, and that each person's needs were met (Acts 2:41-45, The Message). The following article takes a bird's eye view that assists us, as social workers, in understanding the importance of community practice. Community calls us to a sense of belonging and inclusion with a group of people. Community also calls us to consider again our shared values and resources. This article grounds us in the Biblical narrative, moves to our social work skills and knowledge base, and then concludes with thoughts that encourage us to address the "wicked problems" by being disruptive forces in the planned change process which is at the heart of community practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers who are Christians and work with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) clients may struggle with their own faith perspectives and how best to respond to their clients. Historically, there have always been examples of social workers who experience incongruence and even dissonance with their own competing values, with the values of the profession, and with the values of society or the culture. In those cases, the challenge and the opportunity is to maintain client self-determination, commitment to justice, and personal integrity. This paper explores the social work experience of value incongruence and dissonance, particularly for social workers whose religious values may seem to be incongruent with an affirmative approach to homosexuality. Included is a discussion of social work education in religiously-affiliated universities to address challenges in a polarized world, the integration of faith and social work practice, and principles and tips for working with value incongruence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic quarantines, stay-at-home orders, and other precautionary measures impacted the ability of individuals to engage in group religious practices associated with positive religious coping, a protective factor for community resilience following disaster. The aim of this cross-sectional survey of Christian congregations in the U.S. was to 1) assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on congregation members' coping strategies, and 2) evaluate any changes to Christian coping behaviors. Paired samples t-test identified changes in coping behaviors associated with avoidance, as well as resilience. Implications for Christian congregations and social workers in responding to these changes are discussed in the context of the ethical integration of faith and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work within a congregational context is still a developing field of practice. This analytical essay is derived from some of the results of a research study of 51 congregational social workers working in and with congregations. This article includes discussion, analysis, and implications of this research. We describe the roles and functions of these 51 congregational social workers, with whom we conducted exploratory, in-depth telephone interviews. Additionally, some of our own experiences are shared from our respective congregational social work experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the administrative practices of a national random sample of 773 religious organizations. Results indicated consistent use of some administrative practices such as policies/procedures (bylaws, mission statements, and finance policies) and sporadic use of other administrative practices such as fundraising, staff training, record keeping, and evaluation. Social workers are encouraged to understand administrative practices, examine how they contribute to the culture of organizations, and influence the role of evaluation when seeking to collaborate with religious organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the historical context in which current research on faith-based organizations (FBOs) is occurring and is followed by our discussion of a multi-year, multi-site study funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts to study promising and exemplary practices in social service programs operated by congregations and faith-based non profits. We focus on the challenges we have faced which include determining the unit of analysis, defining the types of programs to be studied, recognizing the diverse use of language in operationalizing terms, and managing the complexity of an interdisciplinary research team. Implications relate to the importance of recognizing the historical context and its accompanying political and definitional concerns; selecting units of analysis; ways to build teams across multiple sites and disciplines; and the political nature of "best practice" approaches. While the paper focuses on the research process, there are practice implications for organizations in this era of faith-based initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a qualitative study of 15 faith-based programs and their social service provision to the urban poor. Through the words of the participants, the following questions are discussed. What compelled participants to go to faith-based organizations to obtain social services? What were their experiences with these faith-based organizations? What impacted them in such a way that they chose to return, time and again,for the care that was provided by these faith-based organizations? The following reflections give voice to the simple and life changing, the challenging and mundane happenings that comprise participants' encounters with these faith-based programs. They felt cared for, treated as significant and valued persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]