2nd Opinion: Social workers & Christ’s mission

Posted: 8/31/07

2nd Opinion:
Social workers & Christ’s mission

By Diana Garland

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus said. Most of us learned the Greatest Commandment as children, and yet too many of our churches focus only on the first part. We want the most effective worship leaders our church budgets can afford. The time, energy and expertise we pour into planning worship speak to our love of God.

But what about the time, energy and expertise we pour into planning for the way we love our neighbor? Social workers educated as church leaders can help the church stand firmly on both legs of the Greatest Commandment. The congregational social worker is to community ministries and missions what the pastor and minister of music are to worship. Social workers can lead congregation members to pour themselves into the needs of the world and to do so effectively in ways that transform not only the people being served, but also those who serve.

Social workers communicate the gospel of hope in ways that empower. We help hopeless people find hope. We connect babies and children who have been orphaned or whose parents cannot care for them to families who will love them for a lifetime. We equip a couple with the tools to make or mend a marriage. We help those without a home find a home. We organize an impoverished community to develop economic resources. That’s powerful, and that’s the kind of power social workers bring to congregations—hope restored, lives changed, joy renewed.

Social workers also are heroes. When a social worker connects a high-school dropout with mentors in a congregation who encourage and support him through a job-training program, that social worker is a hero to that young man. When a social worker helps a church embrace community members who have special needs, or organizes a community to oust its drug dealers and attract businesses—these are heroes. That’s the kind of recognition in a community or city these social workers can bring to the church: The church—a place where people find holistic salvation. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s how our congregations were known and experienced—as places of salvation?

Social workers also are great spiritual coaches. The most important work of a congregational social worker is helping Christians find their places to serve in this world of need. Jesus took a child in his arms and taught his disciples, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me” (Mark 9:37). It is true: The most powerless members of our communities are the presence of God in our midst—both little children and grown-up children. When Christians come alongside powerless people, we see the face of God. When we work with people who are naked, stripped totally down by life’s tragedies, we are wrapping warm clothes around Jesus. When we help people who are thirsty for some sign of hope find a new way forward, we are giving a cold drink to a parched Jesus. When we reach out in love to people imprisoned by mental illness or addiction, we are visiting an enslaved Jesus and opening the doors of those prisons. As Dorothy Day said, “Those who cannot see the face of Christ in the poor are atheists indeed.” Social workers help congregation members see the face of Jesus in every man, woman, child and community they help.

For 100 years, Baptists have been educating those called to lead the missions and ministries of the church to be social workers—first at the Woman’s Missionary Union Training School in Kentucky, then at the Carver School of Church Social Work at Southern Seminary, and now at the Baylor University School of Social Work. Thank you, Baptists, for your vision, your support, and your perseverance. And as you plan for your ministry outreach to the community and the world, turn to a professional for help: Get a social worker!

Diana Garland is dean of the Baylor University School of Social Work.