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A university education professor invited an urban middle school principal to "give me 50 of your most academically challenged students who need additional support to be educationally successful." What followed is an ongoing lesson in how achieving educational success is a family and community affair. One community-based middle school's attempt to build family legacies and transform its surrounding geographic community through academic enrichment for students and English as a Second Language (ESL) for their parents is described. (Contains 6 figures.)

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.

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]

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 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]

Counselors practice with older adults whose religion and spirituality may be factors in assessment and treatment. TheDSM-5includes religion and spirituality as part of pathology or culture. This approach is supported in counselor education. Religion as a cultural derivative only reflects the human aspect of religion, not including a client’s perception of divine actions possibly beyond the human experience, i.e., a miracle. How does the clinician discern if a client’s experience reflects pathology or the possibility of some sort of miracle? This article includes strengths and limitations of a cultural definition of religious and spiritual experience with case applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent attention to human spirituality, research on congregationally-related practice, and growth in employment within religiously-based organizations energize the creation of educational initiatives to prepare future professionals for competent social work practice within these settings. Internship experiences with congregations and religiously-affiliated organizations (RAOs) play a pivotal role in delivering the competencies required by the social work accreditation body. Conceptual tools are needed for understanding congregationally-related practice, for navigating potential conflict between faith and professional practice, and for delivering effective internship experiences. This article, written from the faculty's perspective of a Christian, religiously affiliated social work degree program, offers a framework for conceptualizing social work with congregations and RAOs and a beginning discussion for sorting out dilemmas in the integration of faith and practice in these settings. Two models, individual placement and rotational model placement, for congregationally-related internship experiences are presented and evaluated. Recommendations for enriched internship learning and future research are offered. [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]

The earliest days of social service in American history included elements of religion and government, working together in efforts to address human needs. In recent years, with devolution, privatization, and an overall reduction of public spending on human services, government entities have acknowledged their shared role with religious organizations in efforts addressing human needs. Recent social policies, known as faith-based initiatives, have emphasized these relationships, calling for more involvement from religious organizations and more public support of these organizations. This paper offers initial analysis of qualitative data that focuses on the nature of relationships between government entities and religious organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

The question of LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches is rapidly becoming an open conversation in congregations and denominations seeking answers in policy and practice. As society is engaging the question of LGBTQ+ rights in the courts, denominations are addressing LGBTQ+ inclusion, and as increasing numbers of LGBTQ+ Christians come out in their faith communities, church members and their churches, with their religious structures, are called on to take positions, often in the absence of agreement. In background research and 97 interviews with leaders and members of 21 congregations in three denominations, a research team discovered processes, models for conversation, and resources to address the risks of division and changes in membership and finances. In the following article, the authors include findings and resources from congregations, process models, and suggestions and possibilities for families of faith considering how to move forward in addressing one of the more pressing and divisive issues in the church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the years, people of faith and their congregations have encountered social issues without easy answers. From racism, women's rights, and poverty to the current divisions over abortion and human sexuality, the church has wrestled with difficult subjects impacting policy and practice. In the United States of America (USA/US), the question of LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches is an increasingly frequent conversation, point of decision, and sometimes point of division in congregations. As these challenging social issues in a politically polarized USA culture impact the church, there is also a focus in the literature on methods for civil conversation. This article reports on models for conversations that provide guidance for congregations engaging in difficult conversations including that of LGBTQ+ inclusion. In this article, congregations and others are provided with resources and models for discernment. Models covered include those developed by individual Christian leaders, those developed in congregational processes, and those developed for public and educational discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]