House of Good
by Theo Sheridan-Watts - December 2020
Theo Sheridan-Watts reflects on the underlying motivation for Christian social action
During a debate on localisation on BBC Radio 4 one of the contributors made the comment that churches had “stopped being the House of God and were now the House of Good". This comment was made intending to celebrate the work of church communities across the UK in food banks, debt advice, homelessness support and much more. An incredible contribution that recently has been valued at £12.4bn a year in a report commissioned by the National Churches Trust and carried out by the social impact organisation State of Life.
But to draw this distinction or to see it as a transition from one to the other, fundamentally misunderstands the role of faith in Christian social action. An article publicising the report highlighted the work of St Stephen’s Church in inner city Bradford, a remarkable community whose work includes an advice drop in, clothing bank, exercise classes, food pantry and much more. And yet knowing the team there, their 'Good' is motivated, shaped and driven by their very real faith in their 'God'. In their own words “We believe we are called to follow God’s call and example in Jesus Christ; to actively engage with the world in which we live and to seek his kingdom.”
We must avoid the temptation to separate the two. As the letters from the Archbishops and Bishop of London on the announcement of the second national lockdown put it: “The sacramental life of the church cannot be seen as an optional extra. Nor can we separate out our worship from our service, it is always both and, not either or.” This should not be read as a comment about buildings per se but simply a caution that to separate the motivating force from the desired outcomes leaves us all poorer off.
This is true for local authorities and secular funders but also for churches and Christian charities.
One of the potentially long-lasting outcomes from the pandemic is an increased partnership between faith groups and local authorities. Research from Goldsmiths, University of London found three quarters of local authorities said that they expect their new partnerships with faith groups to continue after the pandemic. However, in order for these partnerships to flourish in the long term it will be vital for local authorities to both acknowledge but also seek to understand the motivating and formational role of faith. To fail to do so will, I fear, leave both parties frustrated, confused and disillusioned with one another in the longer term, an outcome we can ill afford with the challenges ahead.
This task of understanding will be a challenging one and will also require those of us working for faith-based organisations to articulate the deeply held convictions in ways that can be understood without watering them down or pretending they don't exist. Significant further questions will need to be asked about accessibility and legitimacy of public reasons, do reasons given for action need to be universally acknowledged or simply potentially acceptable to be truly public? What will the role of secular reason be in these discussions and what can honestly be expected in terms of shared consensus in a truly pluralistic society?
However, a further challenge for churches and Christian charities engaged in social action is that they too must not forget the necessary connection between “God” and the “Good”. As Bishop’s Adrian Newman’s opening reflection put it: “Our activism emerges from contemplation, from prayer, from worship, from drawing together God’s vision for the world as it might be, with our experience of the world as it is.” Our worship of the God revealed in Jesus is critical not simply as the motivation behind our social action but also as the activity which shapes us in our vocation and indeed that which paints the picture of the vision towards which we work.
The connection between our faith and service therefore is at least threefold. It is that which motivates us towards the good, that which forms us into people who might work towards it and that which shapes and describes the vision of the good.
We all, churches, Christian charities, partners of all faith and none must not accept the trade-off between the “House of God” and “House of Good”. To do so would be to the detriment of our society.
Theo Sheridan-Watts works at Wellsprings Together, a joint venture between the Diocese of Leeds and the Church Urban Fund, across areas such as community cohesion, food security and social inclusion linking people and resources together to build active and flourishing communities. Alongside this he works for Leeds School of Theology as a Tutor and a member of the Support Staff.