On December 2nd 2003, changes to UK employment law will require churches and other Christian employers to justify the recruitment and employment of Christians to their workforce. This marks a change from the freedom religious organisations currently enjoy to employ people who subscribe to the faith-basis of the organisation without the possibility of a legal challenge. From December of this year, that practice will become unlawful.

Some exemptions to the law
While churches and Christian organisations’ employment practices will need altering, the legislation will permit exceptions to the law if the church or organisation can demonstrate that:

1. The job in question requires a Christian to do it and why this is the case.
2. This requirement is in accordance with the ethos of the organisation.

These occupational requirements would need to be well documented in a job description and clearly stated in the advertisement so that the reasons for wanting Christians are clear to all prospective candidates. Otherwise, there is a danger that an unsubstantiated request for a Christian could lead to a challenge by a potential candidate on the grounds of discrimination.

In some cases it may be straightforward, e.g. a project leader whose task is to develop and deliver the Christian purpose of the project, or a youth worker whose main task is to help young people with their Christian faith. In both these cases the jobs require Christians because the roles require the post holders to represent, promote and lead others in the Christian basis of the work.

Role
In the case of, say, a receptionist, it would depend on whether you see the job as not just about answering the phone and connecting people, but more about carrying and promoting the Christian message of your organisation. If the role of the receptionist is key to maintaining the Christian ethos. If that’s the case, it needs to be well documented in the job description and the advert, etc.

Challenge
This is all fine until you are challenged either by a potential candidate or an employment tribunal about what exactly you mean by the Christian ethos. You know what you mean and you know it’s crucial to employ someone who understands what you are trying to achieve in your project. But how do you explain this to someone who thinks they are qualified to do the job you are advertising – perhaps could even prove they are functionally qualified to do the job – but is not a Christian? How do you quantify what you mean about the Christian ethos in order to justify your requirement for a Christian?

The starting point is to state what you understand by your ethos. And this exercise does actually require you to return to your foundations as an organisation or project. To describe your organisational ethos obliges you to revisit your organisation’s purpose and constitution and clarify on paper what the shared beliefs and values are. This is a process that will identify what the shared motivation is.

Evidence
Once the ethos and values are in place, it will be important to ensure that, where appropriate, these are linked to the jobs that carry them. And of course, the big point here is that for the ethos to be valid this cannot simply be a paper exercise. If these Christian values really do make all the difference to your project, it’s crucial that you can show how.

So, if you are saying that you want a Christian because the post holder’s relationship with God is important to the work of the project, you need to be able to demonstrate that this relationship is a feature of the job, for example by showing that Christian and spiritual development is a part of the work review process.

Time to act
It’s time for all of us to reflect on ‘not what we do but who we are’ as a project, and how we operate as Christians

Joy Madeiros (Faithworks Executive Director)