Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
3.7 Conclusion 15
4.1 Documentation 16
4.2 Translation 17
4.3 Implementation 17
We hope it is also of interest to others in the sector who are interested in the particular
potential and contribution of faith-based organisations, including advisors, consultants and
funders.
We have also added some discussion points throughout the text, to stimulate response and
make it easier to use with a group and even with a board of trustees.
Finally, there is a section giving two particular practical perspectives: the first is a Faithworks
perspective on how the relationship between faith and governance leads to particular
commitments in one type of Christian organisation. The Hub is seeking further examples and
perspectives from other faith traditions to enable dialogue and debate. The second is the
Hub’s questions about faith-based organisations and governance.
Reflection points
• In your experience, how are faith-based voluntary organisations viewed?
• Do some faith-based organisations get treated differently from others?
Which, and why?
1 www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/press/briefings/index.asp?id=2388
• concern for the health, well-being and economic opportunity of our neighbour in a
different community
He goes on to say that ‘it is no coincidence that all the values and aspirations that I’ve just
listed are those found in our different religions’.
Faith and charity is therefore a powerful mix. That is not to say that faith-based organisations
have or should have a monopoly on delivering a cohesive and contented society. However, it
is simply to say that at the basis of faith-based organisations there is a natural source of
motivation for this kind of work.
Dr Singh continues ‘But there’s a problem. Today religion itself is in the dock as a major
source of prejudice and conflict between human beings. It is also considered as irrelevant
by much of secular society. In looking to ways in which our different religions can work
together to tackle common concerns it's important to examine how religion has got itself
such a bad press’.
What Dr Singh is arguing for is authentic religion and thus, it is reasonable to argue, authentic
faith-based organisational leadership. By contrast, what society simply and, at times, painfully
experiences are the symptoms of religion that is not authentic. As a result, many parts of
society find it difficult to trust the role of religion in society. Consequently, there is a lot of
ground to recover.
Where an organisation has a faith basis, there are certain questions to come to terms with:
What difference does the faith basis make? How should it relate to the governance role and
to what extent does it influence direction and strategy? And should the faith basis simply be
about the faith motivation of a number of key individuals?
If a faith-based organisation is to be authentic, its faith basis should make it different to and
distinctive from other organisations that do similar work. There is a spectrum of ways in which
organisations relate to their faith basis, ranging from those that have a very strong link and clear
identity, to those that acknowledge inspiration, or tradition, or value particular support.
Whatever the relationship to faith, what matters is that it is a real commitment and a careful
choice, and that whatever the organisation claims about its faith basis, it is alive and active.
Reflection points
• How do you see the distinctiveness of faith-based organisations?
• What role do you think trustees or management committees play in maintaining the
faith basis of an organisation?
Reflection points
• What do you see as the risks for faith-based organisations, arising from
their faith basis?
• What are the issues you see as likely to challenge the faith basis?
Reflection points
• What challenges have you faced when applying your faith basis to particular decisions?
• What connections between beliefs and organisational behaviour do you think are
most difficult to make?
3.7 Conclusion
The key point is that if an organisation has a faith basis, the faith basis has to be seen and
understood as the absolute basis of the organisation, from which everything else flows. If it is
not, the organisation will never be fully aligned. It will say it is one thing and behave like
something else, it will fail to ‘practice what it preaches’, and it will disappoint itself and others.
If, however, the faith basis is understood in this way, the organisation has a strong basis on
which to develop not only its governance but also its structure and strategy.
This checklist flows from the simple formula expounded in the previous chapters: namely that
the faith basis must be recognised and understood for what it is – it must be part of the key
documentation referred to by the organisation; it must then be translated into the life and
value base of the organisation – in other words it must be given ‘legs’; after that, those values
must be implemented by applying them to the organisation’s policies. It is only in this way that
the faith basis can be authentic.
4.1 Documentation
• The place to start is the purpose or mission statement of your organisation. Many
organisations review their mission statement on a three or five yearly basis. However,
the statement referred to here is what is understood as the original purpose of the
organisation.
• Another helpful tool at this point is the existence of any statement of faith. Again many
faith-based organisations may have started out with one of these but it may not have
kept pace with changes made more recently.
• These documents together embrace those things that are permanent about the
organisation – its purpose, the reason why it exists. The strategy or renewable mission
statement are documents that describe what the organisation ‘does’, not ‘why’ the
organisation exists. What the organisation ‘does’ in terms of activities will change to
reflect changing needs and priorities – it must keep updating at this level otherwise it
will grow stale.
4.3 Implementation
• Translating the faith basis into ethos and values means that the faith identity of the
organisation can be more credible as a distinguishing feature of the organisation. A faith
basis left on an old piece of paper or in a plaque on the wall soon becomes obsolete.
Implementing a faith basis requires more work than simply the writing of an ethos
statement. The ethos statement needs to be developed into the values of the
organisation and the values then applied to the organisation’s policies and procedures.
This is how the faith basis gets implemented.
The first step is to translate these Christian beliefs into values that have meaning today:
• Creator God – people matter to God so much so that he made them in his own image
but all different; we need to treat people with respect and dignity.
• Jesus as the Son of God – God wanted (and still wants) to relate to us as humans so he
sent his Son to be born and live as a human being. Relationships matter to God. God
is interested not only in how we relate to Him but how we relate to others and those
whom we serve.
• Resurrection and eternal life – life here on earth is not the sum total or the end of
everything. Through the resurrection God gives us reason and grounds for hope, even
after death. He wants us to be agents of transformation, in our work and in our
relationships.
The final step is to consider how these organisational behaviours relate to governance behaviours:
• Governance committed to equality and diversity will ensure that the senior staff understand
the need for a policy for this, will ensure that finance is available to train its staff and
volunteers to implement it, will monitor equality and diversity within the staff/volunteer
structure as part of the board agenda and will be committed to operating within the
requirements of equality legislation.
• Governance committed to relationships and a relational way of working will ensure that the
board works in a relational way, that there is a board member who has organisational
development skills and that the Chief Executive Officer or staff leader operates with a high
level of relational skills.
• Governance committed to hope and transformation will be committed to change and will
promote it as a way of life, will commit time to board development and will put a high priority
on good quality change management in the staff team.
In summary
The purpose of this example is simply to demonstrate how faith does relate to governance. These
examples show how three core beliefs of the Christian faith can be applied. Faithworks has worked
with five other major faiths in the development of their ethos and identity statements.5
5 To obtain guidelines on how to develop your religious ethos statement, please contact Faithworks.
Faithworks
Faithworks is a movement of thousands of individuals, churches and organisations motivated
by their Christian faith to serve the needs of their local communities and positively influence
society as a whole.
www.faithworks.info
Contact: 020 7450 9031