When you picture a corporation or kingdom, what image comes to mind? You may picture a logo or a physical city or a brick-and-mortar building. However, when Daniel in the Jewish and Christian holy books had a vision of the kingdoms of the world, he saw a statue of a person. Daniel envisioned kingdoms in relational terms.
We may find it challenging to think relationally with institutions such as kingdoms, governments, corporations, and businesses. The idea of relating with them feels abstract. However, it is possible. Sometimes, it just requires an object and an imagination.
Think of all the relationships represented by this impersonal statue. The Statue of Liberty represents Edouard de Laboulaye and his relationship to the French government, proposing the gift to the United States of America. It represents the relationship between two artists: the French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and the architect Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. The statue represents two nations: the United States of America and France and the interplay of the two nations' artists creating the statue (in France) with the pedestal (in America). It represents history and the interplay of relations between groups during the Revolutionary War. It represents President Grover Cleveland who dedicated the statue in 1886. It represents the immigration process. It represents liberty. It represents freedom. It represents the Americanization of immigrants, like my coworker's family who emigrated from Italy and changed both their first and last names to better fit in when Italians were viewed as inferior to other European peoples who were settling in the US.
Part of seeing an urban community flourish in all areas of life as God intends, requires approaching its institutions and stakeholders on a relational level. It requires seeing the interplay of relationships and our roles at micro, mezzo, and macro levels.
Some of these terms might be familiar, but I always like to make sure we are all on the same page. So, let's define some terms around community stakeholders and relationships, using the interplay of these levels when considering a topic like social work. The following are amended from Mariah St. John's article with Forbes Advisors.
Macro-level relationships would include people who steward things like program development, community-based education initiatives, administration, policy analysis, government proceedings, legislation, and budgets.
Mezzo-level relationships would include people who steward things like community groups, classes, group therapy or counseling, and advocacy of macro-level choices that impact mezzo-level relationships: neighborhoods and precincts within a whole community.
Micro-level relationships would include people who steward direct intervention and one-to-one support of individuals, families, and small groups navigating personal and social challenges.
Just as a body has many cells with various functions, a community is an interrelated network of stakeholders, who are directly or indirectly impacted by the choices and behaviors of others. Stakeholders also exist within the community’s institutions (local government, religious institutions, businesses, etc.). The more we accept with humility the need for all types of stakeholders in a community, the more value we add to the role of institutions on the spectrum of community flourishing.
Life is complicated, and it is only more complicated in the multilayered relational environment in cities. Part of community change, well-being, and shalom include transformation through stakeholders. Who are the stakeholders in your community?
At the Resilient Communities Center, our team of coaches and facilitators love to work with leaders at every level of community life. We believe that change happens best in community, so we curate learning environments where you can explore topics like stakeholders and leveraging community capacity to discover solutions to the relational holdups in your personal, neighborhood, and team life. Connecting with us is simple and takes just a few minutes to begin a conversation.
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