Thinking Anglicans

Holistic Mission: Social action and the Church of England

on Thursday, 11 July 2013 at 8.16 am by Simon Sarmiento
categorised as Church of England

The think tank, ResPublica, has published a report, authored by Philip Blond and James Noyes, entitled Holistic Mission: Social action and the Church of England.

The report itself can be downloaded as a PDF file.

The survey data it uses can also be downloaded from the Research by Design website.

The press release from ResPublica is here. The report makes the following recommendations:

• The Cabinet Office should create a Unit to help involve the church in public service delivery, and to help explore alternative models of delivery.

• The Cabinet Office should bring forward a new White Paper to investigate a holistic and personalised vision of public service.

• The Church should set up a Social Action Unit to co-ordinate social action across dioceses and between Church and government.

• This Social Action Unit should in turn oversee the creation of diocesan Social Action Teams to work with community groups and local government to tackle local problems and deliver services.

• The Church Commissioners, Church of England Pensions Board and CCLA should set aside a certain percentage of the returns on their investment to invest in church-based social ventures.

• Local Churches should make use of the ‘community right to buy’ and the Public Services (Social Value) Act to help communities retain and expand their assets.