More cash is welcome - but not the whole answer. Faithworks responds to the Budget (21/3/07)

06 January 2009

Our poorest communities will only be helped by a rethink of our approach
Church and government need to recognise the contribution of faith groups

Faithworks welcomes the announcement in today’s Budget that there will be greater investment in tackling the multi-faceted problems of child poverty in the UK, through education, training and family tax allowances and benefits. There will also be new funding available for community organisations, and a drive for more charities to take up the Gift Aid Scheme.

The recent UNICEF report that ranked Britain last in the world’s 21 leading industrialised nations for child wellbeing was a wake-up call to us all. We simply cannot ignore the report’s findings, and praise the Government’s commitment to building a better world for our nation’s children.

However, our neediest communities need more than just a cash injection. We need to rethink our whole attitude and come up with an altogether more participative approach to community life and democracy. The Government needs to recognise the central role the church can play in rethinking the delivery of vital youth and parenting services, and the Church needs to re-imagine the scope of its mission and purpose. We therefore welcome the Chancellor's statement that he and the Culture Secretary will examine the help they can give to churches, which are at the heart of so many of our communities.

The establishment of the Welfare State in the early 20th Century created a division between government and the voluntary sector. The church, which had played a major role in the provision of services like education, healthcare and children’s and youth services, was in many ways made redundant.

Yet still, in communities across the UK, thousands of Christians, churches and organisations are working together, day-in day-out, motivated by their faith, to see lives changed and transformed. Our members unconditionally serve all people, and do not seek to convert, but to work for a fair and just society, where diversity is celebrated.

It is Christian faith which has contributed to a diverse culture in Britain, and it is Christian faith which played a central role in abolition, penal reform, and overcoming some of the evils of industrialisation – not to mention the strengthening of universal education, and the importance of strong family ties and support. It is Christian faith that can play a key role today in improving opportunities for our young people.

If all the faith groups currently working for inclusive and just communities to give our young people the best start in life, ceased their work tomorrow, we would be in a sorry state. Schools, youth clubs, healthcare centres, housing initiatives and countless other community projects up and down the land would simply shut down. We need to celebrate and encourage the contribution that faith makes to our communities, not just to endure it.

At the heart of the re-settlement of the Welfare State lies a recognition of the contribution of faith to the social fabric of Britain. The church is an agency of social activism – we need to be allowed to live that out. We need a new social contract that celebrates the provision that faith communities can make to the welfare of fellow citizens and enables people of faith to engage wholeheartedly whilst remaining faithful to their values and convictions. A welfare state is not the answer – a welfare system is.