Three reasons to collaborate, ten things your organization can do to play nice with others.

THREE PLACES WHERE COOPERATION CAN HELP

1) GIRTH: no one umbrella organization exists as the obvious rallying point for all progressive Christians, and each organization, in each of its events, efforts, and campaigns can always benefit from the presence of more supporters.

2) SPECIALTY SUPPORT: each organization has certain weaknesses and strengths. The group without media expertise needs help in getting published. The established institution could benefit from advertising new voices. The small think tank needs congregations where it can send its publications.

3) FUNDING: Kathleen leRoy of the Christian Alliance for Progress points out that *funders* are concerned about how much small and medium-sized organizations reduplicate each others work. By working together, each of us stands to make a better case to funders about the legitimacy, efficiency, and necessity of our work.

TEN THINGS TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP COORDINATE

1) action alerts. Weekly action alerts originate from every denomination and from many institutions. Many of them are compatible across platforms. Let us compile and redistribute action alerts to all subscribers of all alerts.

2) rapid response. Sojourners and many other produce regular "talking points" for candidates and famous speakers, in the hours after any political event. Those who organize action alerts (letter/petitioning) and media action (letters to the editor, editorials) can benefit from the rapid response of others.

3) events calendars. This one is too obvious. I also want to encourage calendar sharing, not only of conferences and marches, however, but also of major leadership functions, historical anniversaries, saints days, book releases, documentary releases, movie releases, and cultural events, so that when leaders plan their future years' work, they can do so within a broad array of cultural, political, and church events, and so increase the impact.

To stage the Progressive Christian equivalent of the evangelical mass-viewing of Mel Gibson's Passion, we need to know when a movie is coming out. There ARE progressive Christians in Hollywood. Just something to keep in mind. The aim is to gather rich calendar information on a regular basis. Ideas like this one can help convince organizers of how important it is to think *with* us about our collective, movement-wide calendar, in all its details!

4) news. Every denomination and organization releases reports on its action. Hundreds of Progressive Christian bloggers write regularly about current events. Sharing this message is important to providing a steady interpretation of American current events from a Progressive Christian Movement.

5) resources for churches. Many groups have developed specific packages and information for Sunday Schools, sermon-writing clergy, and small groups meetings. These groups *might* do better to work together. They also could theoretically coordinate church "teach-ins" with other kinds of political action.

6) information about churches. Many groups have developed lists of churches and affiliates. A movement-wide list of liberal, moderate, and "traditional conservative" churches would help us all to understand who we speak for and to reach our targets more effectively.

7) jobs/opportunities sharing. Most groups need volunteers and interns, many offer jobs. With a common bank for jobs, volunteers and interns, we can recruit people to the movement more fluidly, and recruit the best and most motivated for each role. That job bank should be publicized especially among seminarians.

8) movement-wide discussion boards. From time to time, all progressive Christians affiliated with whatever movement may need to come together to discuss a specific event or issue. A central place where these discussions can be hosted would be useful.

9) directory of organizations. The movement needs central database of strengths, needs, and contact details for each organization.

10) think tanks. Three progressive Christian think tanks launched this year. Progressive Christian experts need to go in front of the media; their material can go to church pews and Sunday schools, their voices to the publications and websites that exist. aggregating their podcasts, sermons, and papers under one directory (for instance, the Pacific School of Religion) could allow education and grass-roots organizations easy access to relevant, new, and solid content.

11) affiliation sharing. http://del.icio.us/ and other websites help activists readily advertise web links, papers, and other useful pieces of information, which any reader can find by looking under the appropriate directory term, or "tag". Our movement-wide tag is "PROCHRIST."

You can see what others have already put together here: http://del.icio.us/tag/prochrist . To add your own, you must set up an account (which is free), and regularly add things you see on the web (which takes about 10 seconds a site).

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Want to find out how your organization can join CrossLeft in learning to play nicely with others?

Write to CrossLeft's Collaboration Coordinator, Rev. Jarrod Cochran