Prophetic voices: Women on the front lines of church and community impact—Jess Gregory

An “aha moment” brought Jess Gregory to Baylor University. Now, the continuing revelation of what she learned in that instant is shaping the ark of her life and ministry.

Gregory completed her “dual degree” program at Baylor this spring, when she earned a Master of Social Work degree in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work and a Master of Divinity degree from George W. Truett Theological Seminary. 

Gregory grew up in South Africa and Pennsylvania as the daughter of missionaries and attended Lancaster Bible College, where she studied social work. During a college mission trip in Zambia,  she saw how the church met community needs and fell in love with the concept of collaboration between social work and congregations. 

Back home, her social work professor affirmed her insight and gave her a copy of Congregational Social Work: Christian Perspectives, written by Gaynor Yancey, professor of social work and Baylor master teacher and director of the Garland School’s Center for Church and Community Impact, and the late Diana Garland, then dean of the social work school.

“I came to Baylor because of the dual degree and because I read Congregational Social Work, and I was, like, ‘I love this, and this is what I want to do with my life!’” 

This past academic year, Gregory joined three other advanced Master of Social Work students as interns in the Center for Church and Community Impact. Fellowship Southwest and the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation collaborated to fund all four C3I internships this year and plan to continue the internship program at least three more years.

Gregory’s C3I internship ran on two tracks. She worked at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, continuing to expand the center’s “host church” model, which focuses on implementing social work in a specific congregation. She also collaborated with a regional network of five Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-affiliated mid-sized congregations. 

In her work with Calvary Baptist, she met weekly with Associate Pastor John Hunt, the church’s ministry intern and its first-year MSW year intern. Together, they completed a program evaluation of Calvary’s Samaritan Fund ministry. 

Through observation and assessment of the church’s benevolence and care model, she conducted a literature review and presentation that can guide congregations to wisely provide financial assistance and meet needs of local residents. 

“Most would say their congregants have a good way of dealing with the needs, but not in helping individuals from outside their churches,” she explained. “Most congregational leaders desire to (help) well and not just give without having a plan.” 

As Calvary prepares to welcome its new senior pastor, Hannah Coe, Gregory hopes the program evaluation, asset map of Waco resources near the five CBF congregations and the completion of Calvary’s self-study will inform the first few months acclimating Coe to Waco and to Calvary. 

Gregory also spent time creating partnerships and connections with individuals formally and/or informally in charge of mission-related efforts and outreach at each of the five CBF congregations in the Waco area. 

“One of the common themes I heard from the interviews with each congregation was either not having time, capacity or knowledge to best help people in crisis financially or mentally (with) basic needs, crisis management, etc.,” she said. 

Each congregation is composed of members who live across town from their church campus, Gregory noted. She collaborated with teams from each congregation to develop a map of resources for each church. Each of them received a list of updated resources as well as an asset map to help them feel more equipped to provide guidance, support and referrals to members and neighbors coming to them for assistance. 

One of Gregory’s most meaningful experiences was in leading a training series, “Healing Together,” hosted at Calvary but open to individuals from other churches. The series enabled people to talk about the spiritual trauma—hurt or abuse inflicted by the church or church leaders). 

“Getting to do this spiritual trauma series is super meaningful,” she reflected. “I started doing the research on spiritual trauma two years ago. And now, actually getting to sit with people and hear about the hurt they have experienced and giving them space to do that is already so impactful.”  

She hopes to document the “Healing Together” curriculum so that the center can distribute it to churches across the nation.

As Gregory concluded her C3I internship her MSW degree, she noted: “Ultimately, congregations have a lot on their plate. I’ve never met a pastor or church leader who said they wish they had more to do. 

“Congregational work is hard ,and there’s always need for resources. Congregational leaders want to have more knowledge about what works and how they could enhance what they are doing but do not have the time to set aside half their week to research and assess their impact. I see C3I as being able to do some of that behind-the-scenes work that congregation leaders may care about but don’t have time to do. 

“C3I can be that resource for congregations that aren’t connected to that larger body as well—and don’t have that lifeline and support that may exist within other denominational bodies. 

“Congregational work is important—the church can be such a place of hurt but also healing. … Getting to serve congregations in tangible ways, listening to them and learning from their methods of care made me wish every church had a social worker on staff. Serving in a consultation role this year ignited my passion for systems change alongside these institutions.”