Theos Report on the Church and Social Cohesion

A new report from Theos has recently been published:

Madeleine Pennington, The Church and Social Cohesion: Connecting Communities and Serving People (London: Theos, 2020).

Here are some paragraphs from the Theos website:

‘The Church and Social Cohesion: Connecting Communities and Serving People is the concluding report of an 18–month project which seeks to understand the impact of churches on the cohesiveness of our communities across England. It was commissioned by the Free Churches Group, and authored by Dr Madeleine Pennington, Theos’ Head of Research […]

‘The report begins with a brief overview of recent cohesion policy, particularly noting how it has often been directed in response to crisis rather than a sustainable consideration of community assets. It then notes that Christians have distinctive theological motivations for engaging with their communities, before considering churches’ community assets in turn. It notes six assets as particularly common features of effective church-based community engagement: buildings, networks, leadership, convening power, volunteers and vision. Finally, it assesses how effectively churches work with a range of other community stakeholders in pursuit of cohesion aims, through a more targeted consideration of churches’ working relationships with other faith groups, other churches, and local authorities.’

A pdf of the full report is available here.

Jonathan Tame and Luke Tame on Reimagining Social Welfare

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online (here, from where a pdf can be downloaded), this one by Jonathan Tame and Luke Tame:

Jonathan Tame and Luke Tame, ‘Reimagining Social Welfare: Lessons from Geneva’s Transformation’, Cambridge Papers 26, 4 (December 2017).

Here is the summary:

‘Britain’s social welfare system is facing a long-term crisis in sustainability, particularly due to the size of the government’s unfunded pension liabilities. On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation we look to Geneva as a case study in an approach to social welfare shaped by Christian principles. We examine how Calvin and the city-state set up an integrated system for welfare provision through the General Hospital, and poverty prevention by strengthening families and education. Five main themes are drawn out, which provide some historical distance to our own challenges regarding social welfare. The paper then considers how marriage and extended families could be strengthened, and local churches and Christian organisations can become welfare advocates in their communities.’