Compound Growth
Compound Growth:
Communities First Association is a professional association. Just as the NACSW is the professional association for Christians in Social Work, so CFA is the professional association for Intermediary level Christian Community Development leaders. An Intermediary level Christian Community Development leaders. An Intermediary organization is a training and coaching organization operating in a specific region. It is an equipping organization, equipping community leaders in how to transform their neighborhood using Asset Based Community Development principles and practices.
Currently there are two primary means for growth:
- A Current CFA leader raises up another multiplying leader.
- God directs a person who is a multiplier to CFA, someone who is looking for a training and coaching resource, a learning and training group to affiliate with. They typically call for more information. That leads to a site visit and the beginning of a new relationship.
CFA currently has 14 members, and soon there will be 18. How does CFA grow? CFA currently has two program staff. One (George Montoya) works with any potential partners West of the Mississippi, and one (Jay Van Groningen) works with partners East of the Mississippi. "Working with" implies discovering, training and coaching until we agree that there is common mission, vision, and strategic approaches to transforming neighborhoods.
All CFA members share common commitments to:
- Contribute and learn with CFA colleagues in shared association venues.
- Plan their work using an individualized Results Based Planning process which is made transparent among the members (web based).
- Asset Based Approaches to Community Development (ABCD).
- Growing additional leaders in their regions (training and coaching in Faith-Based, Asset Based, Community Development).
- Growing the number of communities/neighborhoods in their region being transformed using ABCD principles and practices.
The two newest members found CFA. One found CFA at a Christian Community Development Association conference where CFA had a track of workshops that this leader found captivating. Another found CFA via a web based connection, a discussion group of sorts. In both cases they have been building a relationship with CFA for some time and now are ready to be members of the association, giving and receiving with their peers.
These 14 members are currently coaching a total of 270 leaders nation-wide; Their network of partners are transforming 140 neighborhoods and over 400 congregations are engaging in the work of community transformation. God is drawing these leaders into significant, impactful ministry! To view the current members, go to: http://www.communitiesfirstassocation.org/Members.html.