Faith in the City
Encyclopedia
Faith in the City was a report published in the UK in Autumn 1985, authored by the Archbishop of Canterbury
’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas. The report created a large amount of controversy when it was published, as one of its conclusions was that much of the blame for growing spiritual and economic poverty in British inner cities was due to Thatcherite
policies.
, and 23 to the Government and Nation. The church was asked to identify its "urban priority area" parish
es, according to Department for the Environment
indicators relating to 1981 census data. The six indicators were: levels of unemployment, overcrowding, households lacking basic amenities, pensioners living alone, ethnic origin, and single parent households.
It was to pay attention to clergy staffing levels; to adequate training programmes for ordained and lay leaders; to liturgical needs; to styles of work with children and young people; to the use of its buildings. It was also to look at its work in industrial mission, social services, social responsibility
, church schools and education.
The Recommendations to Government and Nation were specific — taking in the Rate Support Grant, the Urban Programme, levels of overtime working, Community Programmes, Supplementary Benefit, Child Benefit
, the taxation system, ethnic records and housing availability and allocation, homelessness
, "care in the community
", Law Centres and law enforcement.
, a Methodist
, told her friend Woodrow Wyatt
that "There's nothing about self-help
or doing anything for yourself in the report" and lamented that the report focused on state action. According to the late Bishop of Liverpool
, David Sheppard
although the report was loudly "rubbished" by some senior Conservative
politicians, these attacks had the benefit of making "Faith in the City famous"(1)
The Chief Rabbi
of Britain, Immanuel Jakobovits, published a response to the report titled From Doom to Hope: A Jewish view of "Faith in the City". Jakobovits argued that the Jewish contribution to eradicating poverty "would lay greater emphasis on building up self-respect by encouraging ambition and enterprise through a more demanding and more satisfying work-ethic, which is designed to eliminate human idleness and to nurture pride in "eating the toil of one's hands" as the first immediate targets". Jakobovits also said blacks should not look to the state but instead to themselves and take responsibility for their poverty. He argued that they should learn from the Jewish experience of working themselves out of poverty, educating themselves and building up a "trust in and respect for the police, realising that our security as a minority depended on law and order being maintained".
The report triggered extensive public and media debate regarding Thatcherite ethics, urban decay
, the modern role and relevance of the Church, and the perceived growing divide between rich and poor in 1980s Britain.
One of the most visible legacies of the report followed its recommendation number 25 which stated "A Church Urban Fund
should be established to strengthen the Church’s presence and promote the Christian witness in the urban priority areas." The Church of England
created this fund in 1988, subsequently raising and distributing more than £55 million to faith related initiatives across the country.
According to The Right Reverend George Henry Cassidy
, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
, in a speech to the House of Lords
a less immediately obvious legacy of the Faith in the City report can also be ascertained. He opined that although the report focused on urban areas, the message of the report "was, and to a great extent remains, universal" - prompting the Church of England to make similar work in looking at problems in non urban areas. The successful model for links, dialogue and cooperation between faith organisations and urban local communities in the wake of the report and the establishment of the Church Urban fund were mirrored later in rural areas following the recommendations in the subsequent report " Faith in the Countryside" According to the Bishop, in the same speech, this "...enabled, for example, parish-based ministry, working with others in local communities, to respond quickly and by all accounts effectively when many such communities were traumatised by blows such as BSE
, foot-and-mouth disease
and swine fever".
Furthermore "The substantial body of evidence and commentary drawn together 20 years ago in the Faith in the City report...continue to be the subject of work and engagement right up to the present day."
A tribute to the positive results of the Faith in the City report was also provided by
The Dean of Norwich The Very Revd Graham Smith in a civic service in June 2005:
In 2003 the Commission on Urban Life and Faith was established to report on the twentieth anniversary of Faith in the City on the new contexts and challenges that exist in our towns and cities. The report Faithful Cities
was published in May 2006.
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas. The report created a large amount of controversy when it was published, as one of its conclusions was that much of the blame for growing spiritual and economic poverty in British inner cities was due to Thatcherite
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
policies.
Origin of the report
According to the report's authors, the Archbishop's special commission was established with the following aim:
"To examine the strengths, insights, problems and needs of the Church's life and mission in Urban Priority Areas and, as a result, to reflect on the challenge which God may be making to Church and Nation: and to make recommendations to appropriate bodies."
Report Recommendations
The Report made 61 recommendations: 38 of them to the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and 23 to the Government and Nation. The church was asked to identify its "urban priority area" parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es, according to Department for the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
indicators relating to 1981 census data. The six indicators were: levels of unemployment, overcrowding, households lacking basic amenities, pensioners living alone, ethnic origin, and single parent households.
It was to pay attention to clergy staffing levels; to adequate training programmes for ordained and lay leaders; to liturgical needs; to styles of work with children and young people; to the use of its buildings. It was also to look at its work in industrial mission, social services, social responsibility
Social responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual or organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the...
, church schools and education.
The Recommendations to Government and Nation were specific — taking in the Rate Support Grant, the Urban Programme, levels of overtime working, Community Programmes, Supplementary Benefit, Child Benefit
Child benefit
Child benefit is a social security payment disbursed to the parents or guardians of children. Child benefit is means-tested in some countries.-Australia:...
, the taxation system, ethnic records and housing availability and allocation, homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
, "care in the community
Care in the Community
Care in the Community is the British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution...
", Law Centres and law enforcement.
Reaction and Legacy
When the report was published it caused immediate controversy. An unnamed Conservative Cabinet Minister was reported as dismissing the report—before it was published—as "pure Marxist theology" and another Conservative MP claimed the report proved that the Anglican Church was governed by a "load of Communist clerics". Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, told her friend Woodrow Wyatt
Woodrow Wyatt
Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt of Weeford , was a British politician, published author, journalist and broadcaster, close to the Queen Mother, Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch...
that "There's nothing about self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
or doing anything for yourself in the report" and lamented that the report focused on state action. According to the late Bishop of Liverpool
Bishop of Liverpool
The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.The diocese stretches from Southport in the north, to Widnes in the south, and from the River Mersey to Wigan in the east. Its see is in the City of Liverpool at the Cathedral Church of...
, David Sheppard
David Sheppard
David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool was the high-profile Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth...
although the report was loudly "rubbished" by some senior Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politicians, these attacks had the benefit of making "Faith in the City famous"(1)
The Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Britain, Immanuel Jakobovits, published a response to the report titled From Doom to Hope: A Jewish view of "Faith in the City". Jakobovits argued that the Jewish contribution to eradicating poverty "would lay greater emphasis on building up self-respect by encouraging ambition and enterprise through a more demanding and more satisfying work-ethic, which is designed to eliminate human idleness and to nurture pride in "eating the toil of one's hands" as the first immediate targets". Jakobovits also said blacks should not look to the state but instead to themselves and take responsibility for their poverty. He argued that they should learn from the Jewish experience of working themselves out of poverty, educating themselves and building up a "trust in and respect for the police, realising that our security as a minority depended on law and order being maintained".
The report triggered extensive public and media debate regarding Thatcherite ethics, urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
, the modern role and relevance of the Church, and the perceived growing divide between rich and poor in 1980s Britain.
One of the most visible legacies of the report followed its recommendation number 25 which stated "A Church Urban Fund
Church Urban Fund
The Church Urban Fund is a charitable organisation set up by the Church of England in 1987 designed to assist in deprived and impoverished areas of the country...
should be established to strengthen the Church’s presence and promote the Christian witness in the urban priority areas." The Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
created this fund in 1988, subsequently raising and distributing more than £55 million to faith related initiatives across the country.
According to The Right Reverend George Henry Cassidy
George Henry Cassidy
George Henry Cassidy is a British Anglican bishop and the most recent Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham.The son of Joseph Abram Cassidy and Ethel McDonald, Cassidy was educated at Belfast High School and Queen's University, Belfast, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in politics and...
, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.The diocese covers including the whole of Nottinghamshire and a small area of South Yorkshire...
, in a speech to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
a less immediately obvious legacy of the Faith in the City report can also be ascertained. He opined that although the report focused on urban areas, the message of the report "was, and to a great extent remains, universal" - prompting the Church of England to make similar work in looking at problems in non urban areas. The successful model for links, dialogue and cooperation between faith organisations and urban local communities in the wake of the report and the establishment of the Church Urban fund were mirrored later in rural areas following the recommendations in the subsequent report " Faith in the Countryside" According to the Bishop, in the same speech, this "...enabled, for example, parish-based ministry, working with others in local communities, to respond quickly and by all accounts effectively when many such communities were traumatised by blows such as BSE
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
, foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids...
and swine fever".
Furthermore "The substantial body of evidence and commentary drawn together 20 years ago in the Faith in the City report...continue to be the subject of work and engagement right up to the present day."
A tribute to the positive results of the Faith in the City report was also provided by
The Dean of Norwich The Very Revd Graham Smith in a civic service in June 2005:
"At one level it provided the churches of the inner city with a voice, and the voice was to articulate what was being felt and experienced by some of the poorest and most dis-advantaged communities in Britain...
Faith in the City began a movement which was partly political (with a small p), partly theological and partly spiritualSpiritualitySpirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
. In all three senses, it was a beacon of hope to a lot of people: local authorities felt that the dilemmas that they faced with limited resources in the face of overwhelming deprivation were being recognised; the churches on the ground felt that the rest of the Church was waking up to the realities of inner city ministry; and, most important of all, people who were locked into the poverty trapPoverty trapA poverty trap is "any self-reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist." If it persists from generation to generation, the trap begins to reinforce itself if steps are not taken to break the cycle.-Developing world:...
of deprived inner cityInner cityThe inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
communities began to feel that perhaps there could be a national understanding of the paralysis which gripped them. Faith in the City began a discussion across the nation and a movement within the Church. It showed that our common concerns could be harnessed in the common good."
In 2003 the Commission on Urban Life and Faith was established to report on the twentieth anniversary of Faith in the City on the new contexts and challenges that exist in our towns and cities. The report Faithful Cities
Faithful Cities
Faithful Cities was a report on urban life by the Church of England, produced by the Commission on Urban Life and Faith. Its findings were launched by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, and Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Michael's Church, Camden Town, London, in May 2006. It was...
was published in May 2006.
Authors of the report
- Sir Richard O'Brien (Chairman)
- The Right Reverend David SheppardDavid SheppardDavid Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool was the high-profile Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth...
(Bishop of Liverpool) - The Right Reverend Wilfred WoodWilfred Wood (bishop)Wilfred Denniston Wood, KA was Bishop of Croydon from 1985 to 2003, the first black bishop in the Church of England. He came second in the 100 Great Black Britons list in 2004.-Life:...
(Bishop of Croydon) - The Reverend Alan BillingsAlan BillingsCanon Dr Alan Billings is a member of the Youth Justice Board and is a retired Anglican priest. Alan Billings is also the director of the Centre for Ethics and Religion at Lancaster University. He contributes regularly to the programme Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. Active in local government,...
(Vicar of St Mary’s, Walkley, Sheffield and Deputy Leader, Sheffield City Council) - David Booth (Executive Director, BICC plc)
- John Burn (Headmaster of Longbenton High School, North Tyneside)
- The Reverend Andrew Hake (Social Development Officer, Borough of Thamesdown)
- Professor A. H. Halsey (Director of Barnett House and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford)
- The Reverend Dr Anthony Harvey (Canon of Westminster)
- Ron Keating (Assistant General Secretary, National Union of Public Employees)
- Ruth McCurry (Teacher in Hackney; Clergy wife)
- Professor R.E. Pahl (Research Professor in Sociology, University of Kent at Canterbury)
- Professor John F. Pickering (Professor of Industrial Economics, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology)
- Robina Rafferty (Assistant Director, Catholic Housing Aid Society)
- The Reverend Mano Rumalshah (Priest-in-charge, St George's, Southall)
- Linbert Spencer (Chief Executive, Project Fullemploy)
- Mary Sugden (Principal, National Institute for Social Work)
- The Reverend Barry Thorley (Vicar of St Matthew's, Brixton)
- Secretary: John N. Pearson (HM Civil Service, seconded from the Department of the Environment)
External links
- Faith in the City Report
- http://www.cuf.org.uk/The Church Urban FundChurch Urban FundThe Church Urban Fund is a charitable organisation set up by the Church of England in 1987 designed to assist in deprived and impoverished areas of the country...
] - http://www.culf.org.uk/files/Faithful%20Cities.pdf