This prayer, nailed to a Habitat house under construction, wishes health and happiness to the family who will live here.

3. Partners in the Pulpit
Faith Groups, Habitat Share Common Mission of Service

By Rebekah Daniel

Three or four weekends after construction began on his house, one of the homeowners of Habitat for Humanity of Berkeley County (S.C.) gave executive director Tom Chamberlin a surprise.

"I went to church last Sunday," he said. "You did?" Chamberlin asked. As far as he knew, the man did not attend church regularly. "I did, and I gave a testimony," he replied. "What did you say?" asked Chamberlin, curious about what might have impressed the homeowner enough to speak in church.

"I told them I never believed there was a God before, but for three weeks I've watched complete strangers come and build a house, and if that doesn't prove there's a God, I don't know what does."

As an organization committed to putting into practice the love and teachings of Jesus, Habitat for Humanity often finds faith as much a part of its work as hammers, building permits and paint. Churches make natural partners in Habitat's house-building work.

"Partnerships with churches allow both parties to let their light shine," says Rebecca Hix, Habitat for Humanity International's associate director of U.S. Church Relations. "They let Habitat be accountable for our Christian identity; in the same way, they let churches give witness to their light in the community."

Pursuing partnerships with faith communities falls under the jurisdiction of an affiliate's church relations committee, though sometimes a development or volunteer committee handles it instead. Committee members serve as liaisons between the church and the affiliate, making presentations to congregations on Habitat's behalf and passing along information on groundbreakings, volunteer workdays and house dedications.

At Flower City Habitat for Humanity in New York, the church relations committee has divided the affiliate's service area into thirds, with coalitions representing the faith communities in each area. Each year, a different coalition builds a house, using the "off" years to fund raise. Church relations committee members keep in touch with "their" churches throughout the process.

	Habitat participants can reinforce their faith through prayers at house dedications. Volunteers and homeowners formed this prayer circle during the 2003 Jimmy Carter Work Project in Valdosta, Ga.

"The price of our houses up here is $65,000," says Jan Horton, co-chair of Flower City HFH's church relations committee. "Initially, coalitions wonder how they're going to raise that much money, but in every single instance so far, they've exceeded the limit and had money left over."

As some have noted, however, churches also are volunteer organizations, and reaching out can prove to be an ongoing task requiring patience and persistence.

"'No' to us is not rejection," Chamberlin's wife, Bonnie, says. "It just means 'not now.' We're constantly praying for the Lord to soften the hearts of some churches, and he's constantly amazing us."

Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County in Texas discovered another method for involving churches during Building on Faith week in September. Skilled construction volunteers put together kits containing all the necessary components to build one wall of a Habitat house. The kits are delivered to participating churches, which assemble the walls in their own parking lots. When the walls are complete, the affiliate delivers them to the build site, where the congregations gather on a Saturday and erect their wall when their name is called out.

"It's not a fund-raiser," affiliate manager Barbara Smith says. "We don't ask for any contributions. We just ask them to pray for Habitat at church."

At its heart, church relations is about getting people of faith involved, Hix says. And in the years since September 11, 2001, more and more affiliates are motivated to reach out to people they may not have worked with before.

"Practically speaking, if we're going to eliminate substandard housing, it's going to take everybody," Hix says. "We've got to involve people of other faiths and no faith. And we've got to do it thoughtfully. It's as complicated as centuries of not getting along; and it's as easy as picking up the phone and saying, 'We want to work with you.'"

This broader perspective on community and faith is one of the benefits of working with Habitat, says Horton. She remembers an autumn day when the impact of Flower City HFH's work, made possible because people of faith confronted the problem of substandard housing, became clear to her.

"There was a street that was pretty bad, and we had about six houses going up at once in various stages of completion," she says. "You could hear hammering going on in rhythm all down the street. There were people laying cinder block, people hanging siding, people doing roofing. It was really quite a sight, to see all the people working and learning how to construct a home. And to think that by the time the snow was ready to fly, all these houses would be lived in and people would be celebrating Christmas in their own home. It was special."