A new deal with faith communities?
by the Venerable Ian Bishop, Archdeacon of Macclesfield and Chair of Transforming Lives Together Chester - June 2021
Ian Bishop explores a Conservative intention for government to covenant with faith communities as part of their levelling up agenda.
I only recently caught up with the Kruger Report [Kruger 2.0 Levelling Up Our Communities.pdf]. It was published back in September 2020 but didn’t really seem to make much headway at the time. It certainly didn’t attract great warmth from the charitable sector, one commentator describing it as ‘a mixed bag of old, new, borrowed and distinctly blue’.
But, as I read it, I was immediately intrigued, not least because in the introduction, the report refers to the brilliant work being done by St James, Southbroom, in the market town of Devizes in Wiltshire, the very Church in which I was christened and where I saw my fledgling faith begin. I also knew all about the way the Church had responded brilliantly to the pandemic because my parents, who are both in their nineties and still live in the town, had been the beneficiaries of Church volunteers delivering their medicines.
Danny Kruger is Conservative MP for Devizes and author of a report on how society might work better. At the launch of the report he suggests, “It all adds up to what I call a ‘social covenant’, namely ‘the mutual commitment by citizens, civil society, businesses and the state, each to fulfil their discrete responsibilities and to work together for the common good of all’. He goes on to say, ‘This is the gentle revolution we need: conservative radicalism for a time of crisis. I don’t think this agenda belongs to Left or Right and I would like to work with people of good will from across the political spectrum to improve these ideas and try and make them happen.’
For some reading this article, you will probably have one of two reactions, either ‘this is just the Big Society repackaged’ or ‘OK! let’s discuss how we can make it work’.
Much of the report is the sort of thing you might expect from progressive conservatism. It unquestionably expresses a social conscience and a laudable aim to level up economic and social inequalities but puts much of the responsibility for achieving that back on individual, rather than societal or governmental, conscience. So, you get appeals to entrepreneurs, global corporations and big tech to become the new philanthropists to lead us to the promised land of a better, more equal society and, bizarrely for a report that seeks to level up society, there is barely a whisper about taxation policy or benefits strategy. At which point it would be easy to dismiss the ideas as being utterly incredible and think this is just the unworkable dream of a utopian Conservative dreamer, because we all know ‘trickle down’ doesn’t work. But….
The report has got some worthy angles. Localism revived, power devolved, a culture of volunteerism, 100,000 young people deployed into social and environmental opportunities, a levelling up fund for communities drawn from dormant insurance payments and, most welcome for the purposes of this article, a new deal between Government and the Faith community.
The report says, ‘the estrangement of faith-based social action and the public sector is a very bad thing. Faith groups have an enormous amount to offer society but, too often, public servants are reluctant to partner with them, still less to formally contract with faith-based organisations to deliver publicly funded services. This reluctance can arise from ignorance about religion and about the contribution these organisations can make, especially in poor and immigrant communities - what we might call ‘faith illiteracy’ - but too often it arises from ‘faith phobia’: an active objection to the principle of faith communities working in partnership with government.’ It is clear that Kruger wants a proper partnership with the faith community and is willing to push this in a way that few have dared to do before.
He says, ‘My proposal is a straightforward one: a new deal with faith communities. The Government should invite the country’s faith leaders to make a grand offer of help on behalf of their communities, in exchange for a reciprocal commitment from the state. For each faith group, the offer would include the commitment to mobilise their congregations and commit their resources to tackling one or more besetting social problem in our society: problem debt, or children in care, or prisoner rehabilitation, or rough sleeping, or something else. This may be a national mission - to provide foster places for every child in care in England, for instance - or local places may be asked to choose, from a menu of missions, one that suits local needs and capabilities. Either way, the faith group would work with government to agree a way of working, including where appropriate a set of proven interventions and methodologies, which it would deliver with the permission of the relevant statutory agencies.’
Of course there is no Government money attached to this, it is clear that the faith groups are funding the proposed programmes – but then the Church is already funding work like this. The Church is amazing in what it achieves, mostly unnoticed, and what’s been missing for too long is the valuing and recognition of Government that faith is mostly a very good thing for society.
There are parallel views emerging all over the place at the moment. For example the recent Churches, COVID-19, & Communities Project | Churches and Covid, published by the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture (University of York), also demands a greater understanding and recognition of and participation by the Faith community in recovering from Covid 19. The ideas have been further researched in ‘Keeping the faith – Partnerships between faith groups and Local Authorities during and beyond the pandemic’ researched and published by the All Party Parliamentary Group – Faith and Society [APPG_CovidReport_Full_V4.pdf]. This in turn builds on the Faith Covenant [Home - APPG on Faith and Society] that has currently been signed by 13 Local Authorities who are committed to working seriously with and sharing with local faith groups.
But Kruger demands a ‘New Faith Deal’ that Government, local and national, talk to the faith community and work with them with an open hand to see what can be done better together.
The outcome from the Kruger report so far has been the formation of the New Social Covenant Unit, formed by Kruger and fellow Conservative MP Miriam Cates. The Unit is a campaign and a discussion space within which ideas and proposals can be shared and considered. The material on the website The New Social Covenant Unit is worth reading and well researched and hints at an energy to make something happen – we will see.
I spoke to Imogen Sinclair, Director of the New Social Covenant Unit. Imogen was brought up in a Church of England vicarage and saw the potential of the Church as an agent of social transformation.
She spoke warmly of the response of the Faith community to the pandemic who got on with what was needed in the crisis but equally recognised that it took that crisis to open many hearts and minds in national and local Government to the potential of what the Faith community can offer. She spoke of how stories emerged of Local Authorities delighted that help was there and how residents accepted the help given by the known and trusted folk from the local Churches. So why not use this volunteer army in the rebuilding of society?
Sinclair said that what is needed for progress to be made is for ‘Government to step toward the faith based organisations (FBO’s) and not the faith based organisations to step toward Government.’ That may mean developing an ‘FBO-friendly’ standard, a lowering of the bureaucratic high bar to allow paperwork appropriate to their resources, she passionately appealed, ‘don’t make them wear lanyards’ and bring an end to faith illiteracy and faith phobia in Government.
What next? Imogen hopes that government will respond to the new ‘Faith Deal’ proposal very soon. There are encouraging signs from ministers and a recognition that if the holy grail of a levelled society is to be made a reality, then it will take a change in the mind-set of Government. Imogen has ambition to ‘shift the imagination of the Conservative Party to see richer, fuller and more human goals,’ and ‘to end the obsession with what is measurable over what is good as a measure’ to bring a ‘broader and more substantive vision of the good life.’ It was as if John 10:10 was being proposed for the Conservative manifesto.
Imogen is unapologetic about her faith and equally unapologetic at the way this report and ongoing work is couched in the language of covenant. The religious language of covenant is interesting and layered with biblical imagery from Genesis 12 and elsewhere. It’s a helpful word because it suggests partnership, relationship and shared values. It suggests mutual responsibility, common goals and equal commitment and, if this is going to happen, Church and State have to find a new working relationship based on shared trust. The title of the New Social Covenant Unit of which she is the Director is deliberately chosen as a means of banishing the fear of faith. She is, with the Christian group operating within Parliament, actively, imaginatively and determinedly claiming that they do do God.
Time will tell as to whether there is anything here that gives reassurance that there is a genuine change in the valuing of the social capital created by the Church and other faith groups. Time will tell whether this is a real attempt to acknowledge the Faith community as an agent for social change and social action. But it is an acknowledgement that the Church is still a major force for the common good.
On my optimistic days, I like to see this as a surge in the force of the Holy Spirit creating the early signs of a wave of transformative power, rising up to crash over the injustices and inequalities we all witness and hate. I hope this is something to start to truly level society, socially, educationally and economically and to bring greater opportunities for the powerless, greater support for the vulnerable and greater hope for the weakest.
The formation of a covenant gave Abram the confidence that, as he stepped out in faith, he would be encouraged, protected and given purpose. I rather hope that this new found Governmental faith in faith groups expressed in the idea of covenant might equally encourage the faithful, protect us as we serve God and revive our purposes to love - especially those who experience anything but a level playing field.
Ian has chaired the Chester Diocesan Committee for Social Responsibility for 10 years and is now Chair of the new Outreach Committee that has merged Social Responsibility and Mission Committees. He is passionate about welcome and our Churches being places of hospitality.