Comments of Tom Larson

Community Builder Award Recipient

What does community mean to me – it’s where we all live and work, where our faith calls us to be involved, and where we meet and respond to the needs of others.

In our increasingly complex world we find multiple causes for age-old problems of hunger, housing, health, employment, alienation.  The ideas on what we should do are equally many and diverse – what are the causes and what are the fixes, how should we fix it, who fixes it, who pays for it, who takes personal responsibility for getting it done.

One of the exciting parts of working in community building is I’ve learned that no one person has all the answers, but each of us may have some of the answer – and each of us can be part of the solution.

In working with The Council of Churches, I’ve been inspired by the many ways diverse communities can come together- if done properly – to address difficult issues.

One of the premier ways to bring people together is the Council-sponsored Leadership Breakfasts.  At these events, we bring together community, political, business, and religious leaders to learn about an issue of community importance – and to hear from each other our personal stories and our personal ideas from our different perspectives.  No one idea will solve everything, but many ideas, and the support of the larger group, will begin to generate answers.

Our Tent of Abraham series of conversations brings together followers of the three great Abrahamic faiths to explore how we recognize and celebrate important human milestones in our communal lives – events such as birth, death, marriage, the role of money, and religious journeys and observances.  Understanding how our respective faiths call us to respond to common human events helps us appreciate and value both our own activities – and those of others.

One important element of bringing people together is ensuring our conversations are productive and meaningful.  Learning and teaching how to facilitate group discussions is a key area of Council participation.  It is especially satisfying to me to help train young people to facilitate and encourage their own group conversations – both within their own circle of friends and among youth from very different backgrounds and histories.

Finally, The Council has a strong history of working to empower residents of distressed neighborhoods or those who feel they are voiceless in our society to express themselves and to advocate for change in a positive and meaningful way.  Through their advocacy, they address and work to resolve the issues and needs of their communities.  Building on personal connections developed in one-to-one conversations, and using the strength of common goals and numbers, we work to champion community building solutions.

In our community building efforts, I’ve learned that any meaningful, lasting change can be achieved only through joint efforts and common goals.

 I thank The Council for this Community Building Award and I look forward to working with each of you, and your congregations, in building a better community.

                Thank you.