Politics, spirituality, and fundraising in churches’ critical development education

Abstract

This study examines the development education policies of the Commission on the Churches’ Participation in Development (CCPD), a program of the World Council of Churches, to consider the how critical development education began then changed in the faith-based organization in the 1970 s. The findings were analyzed based on literature on theories of development and types of development education, characteristics of faith-based organizations, and traditions of Christian social thought. Discussions and events examined in publications and archival records show the CCPD perceived development as less about charity or harmonious interdependence on the liberal humanist approach, and more about liberation based on dependency and postcolonial theories, but given context of political tensions and debates on the extent of social involvement by churches, the emphasis shifted from the radical to the less confrontational. Based on the shifts in development concept, their development education approach was defined as conscientization, but also included fundraising, awareness raising, and mobilization for action. In the process CCPD wrestled with authentically reconciling critical development education with fundraising, and considered the potential for development education as the purpose of development. The CCPD’s development education program was a faith-based organization’s experiment in constructivist and critical development education.