Integrating Faith into Social Work    Author Note Clint A. Wilson, Huntington University Introduction to Social Work (SWX171-(EX16)-X1, SP-2017-UNDG) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Clint Wilson, Contact: clint@clintawilson.com     Integrating Faith into Social Work   The original question to ponder is why did I choose to enter into the area of social work as my ministry? All of my life psychology has fascinated me, and as I became older, I became more fascinated with seeing the dynamics and interactions within social groups as well as how to be an advocate for those struggling in these social groups. I struggled at first with rather to enter into the social work program or the psychology program. I spoke with a few Christian social workers and therapists alike, and the overall feeling coming out was social work was where I needed to be. Plus, it lines up with my Christian faith and beliefs, as well as my desire to fight social injustices in the world. I hold several personal values, some may seem controversial, and my stance may be looked down upon even from my denomination. However, these values are mine, and I will not compromise my values to make people appeased. I will look at a couple of my values that I hold and analyze how it can either benefit or hinder my work in social work. I used to be very conservative in nature, but in recent years my eyes have opened more, and I have become much more liberal. For example, in the past, I was very much against same-sex marriage, and now question if some of my thoughts were not pure bigotry. Now, I may still not agree with it; I do accept it and no longer have personal judgments against same-sex couples. Before my awakening, if I were supposed to have worked with a same-sex couple or anyone from the LGBT community, I would have had issues. Though I would still have followed the ethical guidelines, I would have been judging and do not believe they would have got 100% of my ability. I also wonder if I would have quit my position before I would have violated what I once considered against my values. With my eyes open, and more accepting of other lifestyles and even choices that people make, I can say that I feel I am capable of loving and having compassion for anyone I come in contact with. I am against war, military spending, torture, and believe in peace and harmony. I may not be a huge peace advocate like Father John Deer, or Desmond Tutu, but I support peace and those who advocate for peace. I believe most likely these values are held by most people in the social work profession. This is a primarily a positive in social work, but there could be some negatives. If I was assigned a client that had a military background and was involved in the torture of enemy combatants, then how would I react to that? It is quite probable that in the next few years to come that people involved in the supposed war on terror will be in need of some advocate from a social worker, how does someone who is against war deal with that? I choose to not look at the past except for therapeutic reasons, but to focus on the client their current needs. What can I do to help them best, what is the Christian response to their situation? These are the questions I would ask myself and formulate my answers so I can help those in need regardless of background. It is easy to deal with that when you realize the teachings of Christ is to love everyone.  The Bible is very clear in John 12:34-35 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this, all people will know that you are My disciples if you have a love for one another” (Holman Christian Standard Bible, John 12:34-35). This is the greatest commandment, and likewise, I feel that social work is in some way based off of this commandment. A person does not have to be a Christian or have faith to love others, but it sure doesn’t hurt. In the text So You Want to Be a Social Worker it discusses the nature of human beings and society. The writer discusses the concept that people as a whole are good. This theory is a philosophy that I always bought into until the author talks about the flaws in this argument. “People are not naturally good. As the Christian knows, it was in Paradise itself that they first got into serious trouble” (Keith-Lucas, 1992 pg. 9). This changed my entire view on a concept that I have written about in the past. I compared my views of evil and sin against that of William Buber and Saint Augustine, and in my opinion, I chose that man is born good and is always good until they decide not to follow God. Once they decided not to follow God, then their good started to change to evil. However, this theory is false and implausible when one takes into account Adam and Eve who was following God when they ate of the supposed fruit. How does this tie into social work? We have to be mindful, that not every client we will be working with is good per se, but it is not our job to judge or try to change them. Our job is to love, care, and find the resources they need to succeed. A person can best witness to someone who does not believe by living Christ-like. Sherwood summed this up fairly well I believe in Christianity and Social Work he states “It is always ethical and appropriate to demonstrate the gospel to our clients, but it is seldom ethical to proclaim the gospel to them in our professional role as social workers” (Sherwood, 2012 pg. 303). In the final chapter of the So You Want to Be a Social Worker text the writer speaks of obeying policies of a secular agency. He goes on to talk about not using religious language or to exhibit any signs of Christianity. I pondered that for a brief moment, and I asked myself what does religious language mean? Religion has nothing to do with being a Christian, and a Christian is called to love everyone equally. Granted the Bible does say to go out and make disciples of all nations. Can we not witness to our clients just by our actions? Can we not show love and compassion without stating boastfully I am a Christian? Faith is the cornerstone of Christianity as a whole, and as we know, we are commanded as Christians to love everyone. The Bible is clear in many areas that we are to take care of the sick, homeless, widows, and children. There seems to be more emphasis placed on widows and children, the two that are most vulnerable. So why is faith an integral part of the practice of social work? It is my belief that part of being a Christian is to take care and help our brothers and sisters regardless of background. With this belief, everyone that is a Christian is, in essence, a social worker, just not in the credentialed sense. “integrating faith and practice is not just a Christian thing. It is a human thing” (Sherwood, 2012 pg. 328). What a powerful statement, it is true though. This entire assignment is about faith integration, but I challenge anyone that is in social work to not have some faith. How can one do this kind of work and not have faith in something? The assignment is not about Christian Faith Integration, even though it is the perceived meaning. So I once again question how a person can be a social worker and not have faith? Just because we have faith and believe in Christ does not give us an ethical right to spread the gospel as a social worker. I would love to be able to spread the gospel everywhere I am, but there are ethical guidelines that must be followed. “I would stress that it is a violation of Christian ethics as well as social work ethics. But deliberately avoiding spiritual and religious issues is professional incompetence” (Sherwood, 2012 pg. 329). This sentence from Sherwood, is a bit confusing as it appears to say spreading the gospel is against Christianity but by not spreading the gospel is incompetence. I am taking liberties on the meaning I understand. However, I want to analyze that based on that assumption. The Bible is very clear in many places that we should not impose our beliefs on others, or become a stumbling block for them. “But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak” (Holman Christian Standard Bible, I Cor. 8:9). What does it mean to become a stumbling block? It is my opinion this is imposing our beliefs on someone who is either not ready to hear them, or in a way that would not be prudent as in unethical. By imposing upon them, we do more harm than good as they begin to turn from Christianity and turn towards something else. The issues are not just for clergy, in all facets of social work one would not just withdraw or send the client to another person. How can a social worker claim to deal with the entire person’s environment and overlook one vital part of people’s lives? We should not ignore any spiritual or religious issues but must maintain a perspective of client-focus and client-led  (Sherwood, 2012 pg. 329). So it is our duty to be Christ-like as long as we maintain a certain code of ethics and do not infringe on them. The six values of social work are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the individual, importance, and centrality of human relationships, integrity, competence. Are all values of Christianity as well and are biblically supported. We can find a prime example of the value of service in the story of the good Samaritan which is found in Luke 10:25-37. In Isaiah 58:6 it speaks of setting the oppressed free giving social justice. “Do don’t be afraid, therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Holman Christian Standard Bible, Mat. 10:31), is about the worth of the individual, by showing it has greater value than sparrows. Once again the greatest commandment in Matthew 12:31 to love one another shows the integrity called to all Christians. Finally, we can see competence as an example in Proverbs 3:21 “Maintain your competence and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them”. (Holman Christian Standard Bible, Pro. 3:21). I trust that by seeing how all of the social work values, are seeded in Christian principles, one can understand why faith is important in social work. To summarize, I feel faith is not only integral for the profession of social work but a requirement. Throughout this paper, several keys have been learned. I realize and now grasp that people are not always good, that there are some real evil and corruption in the world. In the Lucas book  it spoke of on page 32, that if faced with a decision that needs to be made that goes against our values, then we have two options, quit or refuse. The refusal fits well with Church of the Brethren and their history of defiance. The biggest keys to take away from this paper is the learning that we are called to be Christ-like without clients. To be Christ-like can simply mean that we can evangelize without using words or actions. Christian social workers are not to place stumbling blocks in front of our clients, but to be there if and when they need that spiritual guidance. Finally, we learned that every core value of social work is biblically sound, further validating social work being for those of faith.       References   Keith-Lucas, A. (1992). So You Want to Be a Social Worker: A Primer for the Christian Student. St. Davids: North American Association of Christians in Social Work. Sherwood, D. A. (2012). Christianity and Social Work. In T. L. Scales & M. S. Kelly (Eds.), Christianity and Social Work: Readings on the Integration of Christian Faith and Social Work Practice (Fourth, p. 407). Botsford: NACSW. Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (2004). Nashville: Holman Bible .