This paper was written sometime in 1979. It was meant as an answer to people who criticized the People of Praise for not being concerned enough with the poor and needy. The paper describes how the community’s approach to social problems was environmental (personal) rather than institutional.
The People of Praise has, from its inception, always been committed to an active ministry in the area of social justice. We have evolved a method of social action which has been quite effective in dealing with the social and personal problems of hundreds of persons who have come to us for help. The key principle of our method of social action is that we use a total environment in ministering to the needs of those whom we are helping. We deal with a person’s problem by having them move into the community environment, where they can be cared for on a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week basis. We try to tailor the specific environment in which they live and the relationships they have to their particular needs. Thus, for example, if an emotionally disturbed person came to us for help, we would place him or her in a strong, stable family environment, in which those caring for them would have had some prior experience in dealing with this type of problem; or, an alcoholic might live in a situation where he could dry out for awhile and then be moved to other situations where he could receive different kinds of ongoing help from persons in the community who were skilled in other areas of need.Â
We have chosen the environmental approach rather than the functional approach because it seems to work better. We feel that the functional approach, although certainly not without merit, cannot effectively deal with the complex problems that most people face, and also, does not bring to bear enough resources to overcome the enormous obstacles which the people they are trying to help are confronting. For example, take the case of an unwed mother whom the government is trying to help. A functionally oriented group may give her money to live on. They may give her counselling to help her if she has emotional problems. They may offer day care so that she can work to support her family. But this is just the beginning of her problem. What about her personal loneliness? What about possible rejection from family and society? Who will replace the father in helping her raise her children? And so on. With regard to the example above, the community can and has done all these things and more for a number of unwed mothers, and we have done it through an environmental approach.
Another aspect of our social work is that we aim for total “recovery” for the person we are helping. We try to solve not only the specific problem that a person might have, but try also to get his or her whole life moving toward integration. We believe that usually specific problems are a symptom of deeper, more substantial difficulties, and that if we really want to bring about substantial progress, then we have to minister to the whole person. Thus, for example, if we are trying to help an alcoholic, we would also minister to his job situation, family life, etc.
We also would describe ourselves as working on a “non-medical model” when we help others. In other words, we do not look upon those we help as “sick” or as “cases,” but as brothers and sisters in Christ who need our services. We feel that, although the “medical model,” or whatever else one might want to call it, is effective in many situations, it does not fit an environmentally oriented ministry such as ours.
One aspect of our method which is perhaps unique is our ability to handle a wide variety of problems. This flexibility has developed over the years in response to the wide variety of problems that we were called on to help with. Different people came to us with different problems, and some people came to us, each of whom had a whole set of problems. Being located in many houses around the city, we were able to analyze different living situations and plug people into the ones which would be most helpful. Gradually, we have developed the capability to deal with almost every kind of social difficulty common in our society. We now minister to alcoholics, poor persons, retarded, those with mental or emotional difficulties, unwed mothers, divorced persons, orphans, children with only one parent, refugees, etc.
Our approach also gives each member of the community the opportunity to be directly involved in social work. The most a person can normally do in our culture is to give money to some agency which sponsors the work being done. Our method allows for active participation on the part of all. This has two major advantages. First, it brings more energy to bear on the problems being dealt with. Second, the lives of the members of the community are greatly enriched through the sacrifices that they make in their work.
Possible Criticisms
Often, the People of Praise is criticized by outsiders for not having enough concern for social justice. Part of the problem is that our approach is environmental, and therefore, is not as easily recognizable as most social action programs, which are functionally oriented. Another part of the problem is that we do not advertise what we do. We feel that, since the people we are helping are brothers and sisters in Christ, it would be wrong to encourage the viewpoint that they are “projects” that we are working on.
One difficulty with our method is that we are not able to reach a large number of people and do not do much to deal with “institutional” social ills. This is the price we pay for being effective. We have in the past, tried to help more people, and it has been too much of a drain on our lives. The only way we could increase significantly the number of people we help is to sacrifice the environmental method which, we feel, would render us ineffective. We also feel that the notion that the enormous social problems which confront the modern world will not be solved in fact, by grand schemes which sweep social ills away quickly, but rather by the difficult, painstaking, loving service which has such a good effect in our experience. Regarding “institutional” social problems, we have neither the time, the know-how or the resources for such projects at present.
Others might ask why we do not take in all who ask us for help. This is indeed the case. We would be caring for twice as many people if we took on all the requests that come our way. However, we simply do not have the resources. There are five hundred adults in our group, all of whom have full time occupations, and they can only care for so many people. We take in as many people as we can. There was a time in the history of the community when we did take just about anyone who asked for help, and it so overburdened us as a group that we did well to survive that period.
Statistical Analysis
Alcoholism: In the case of alcoholics, we do a variety of things. We have several men who are reformed alcoholics who work with anyone who gets involved with us who has this problem. We have houses where a person can spend as much time as it takes to dry out. Some have stayed in houses up to six months. During this time and afterward we also work with the family giving the wife (or husband) as much support as she needs and helping to stabilize the home life. This might entail having a family move into different houses. We also try to get the person’s job situation worked out. We have successfully rehabilitated 25 alcoholics all of whom had families, and all of whom are now functioning well.
Mental and/or Emotional Disorders: By this category, we mean severe neurosis and psychosis which has required substantial treatment by a psychiatrist and also oftentimes, hospitalization. The method of service is similar to the one we use with alcoholics. We utilize the skills of persons who have had experience in the area who are members of the community, and find living situations which are suitable for them. Usually these situations are ones in which the persons will have someone there at all times and where there is a warm familial setting, so as to give maximum support and healing. Often, the remarkable progress which persons helped by us make is pointed out by the professionals in the field who worked with them previously. Twenty-five people who are part of our community have been brought to full psychological health through our efforts.
Welfare Cases: We have, for varying periods of time up to two years, financially supported 30 persons who would have otherwise had to resort to welfare. This has not only involved financial support, but somehow has involved the person living in some house of the community.
Drug Abusers: This category includes serious drug abusers who were involved with drugs such as hallucinogenics, heroin, and the like, and does not include persons who might be regular marijuana users. We place them in houses where they will be supported in their intention to abandon drug use, and provide them with a peer group which can effectively replace the group in the drug culture from which they formerly drew support. We have successfully rehabilitated 20 persons who had had serious drug problems.
Marital Difficulties: This is an area where we have helped many couples, but those included in the category of social action situations are ones in which the community has been the prime reason for the repair and survival of the marriage. We work long hours in counselling. We care for the families of persons in these situations while the matter is being worked through. We have had the two parties stay in separate households if the only alternative is divorce. And we do a number of other things to help people hold such marriages together. Twenty-five couples who were in this type of situation have had their marriages saved through the community. Most of them had several children.
Unwed Mothers: This involves a great deal of work, as was mentioned above. The financial situation must be stabilized, the child must receive sufficient love and care, the mother must be protected from any stigmas which society might attach to their situation, and so on. The community has done all this for fifteen unwed mothers.
Serious Physical disabilities: We provide full care situations for six persons who are seriously disabled and need a substantial amount of physical care.
Divorced Men and Women: Persons in this situation do not necessarily need the same kind of care as the people mentioned thus far. But, living in the community and in houses of the community, they are spared much of the loneliness and isolation that they might otherwise encounter, and are able to live a rich, full Christian life. There are twenty-two divorced men and women in the community.
Widows: The widows in the community are given special care and concern, according to the command of scripture. Most of them would be able to survive on their own, but the community provides a setting in which they are not cast offs, as they might be in society, and can make valuable contributions to the community life, along with having the opportunity for strong Christ-centered relationships with one another. Some widows are financially supported. There are twenty-four widows in the community.
Children Without Fathers: Divorced persons, widows, and unwed mothers in the community have children who need to be raised in Christ. The community cooperates with the parent in all aspects of this training. Usually, the child or children and the parent live in a community house and become part of the familial setting.
Retarded Children: Some of these persons are simply children of members of the community who have a better life because of greater acceptance by and contact with normal society. Others are persons whom we have taken in because we felt called by the Lord to do so. Whatever the case, the persons are able to live and move in a normal situation, rather than being separated from the normal society, as is the case with most other types of programs which care for the retarded. There are ten retarded children cared for in the community,
Refugees: Families in the People of Praise care for about a dozen Far Eastern Refugees under the supervision of Phil Niswonger, a member of the People of Praise.
Final Note: This description of what the People of Praise does in the area of social justice falls short of what is actually happening. It would take much longer to paint a true picture of the enormous personal sacrifice that is involved in taking people into one’s home and caring for them, as one would for one’s own family, until they are well. This is what we have done over the past few years for over two hundred persons.
One other statistic worth noting—of the persons in the community who have regular jobs of one kind or another, 18%, or about 55 persons, work in some direct form of social service, either in nursing, work with the aged, employment counselling, welfare, work with the retarded, etc.
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