EQUIPPING
MOVEMENT FOR RECOVERY
Movement for Recovery exists to:
- Bring faith organisations, charities, and civic leaders together for the common good.
- Coordinate efforts across the city to achieve greater impact in areas such as mental health, poverty alleviation, youth work, elderly care, and community support.
- Build a “Network of Networks” not to replace or compete with existing initiatives, but to support and amplify the work that already exists.
- Explore strategic collaboration across sectors by mapping local authorities to identify both unmet needs and the wide range of public services that churches and other faith groups are already delivering.
We believe the faith sector has a unique and vital role to play in the wellbeing of the city. By working closely with civic partners, we can ensure that resources are better aligned, efforts are not duplicated, and communities are served more effectively.
Movement for Recovery is connected nationally to Gather Movement and is endorsed by many faith networks and civic leaders.
FAITH-BASED SOCIAL ACTION MAPPING
WHY?
Local governments and health authorities across England are increasingly empowered by understanding where and what faith-based social action services are being delivered in their towns and cities.
“Mapping the services that Coventry churches provide to support children and families has been really helpful in our work with the VCFSE sector. It is enabling greater collaboration with the wider community partners who bring experience in service delivery and share our passion for giving children and families the best start in life.”
Jane Moffat, Operational Lead for Early Help at Coventry City Council
This mapping approach has emerged from conversations with civic and health authorities and church unity groups. Gather Movement provides this service at an affordable cost, helping to maximise potential relationships between civic, health, and unity groups.
What?
- A detailed report of social action activity across your region, delivered by faith organisations such as churches, other places of worship, and faith-based charities. Areas covered include food provision, mental health support, family support, homelessness, and more.
- Valuable data for civic and health authorities. Mapping is tailored to the specific needs of civic and health authority departments, enabling the development of targeted action networks led by skilled and experienced leaders in the local community. For example, faith-based parent and toddler groups reach around 50% of all families with young children.
- Faith Celebration events bring the wider faith community—not just leaders—together with civic and health organisations, catalysing connections between people and projects to enable cross-sector collaboration.
How?
- Initial consultation to understand and gather requirements
- System development, with survey questions tailored to specific needs
- Management of the data collection process
- Data analysis and reporting
- Presentation of findings or workshops with faith leaders and civic authorities
- Coordination of a Faith Celebration event to catalyse social action network development
Read the Mapping for family hubs Flyer
Get in touch about mapping
IT’S NOT JUST A PARENT AND TODDLER GROUP
‘I’m just …’ is a familiar way to start a sentence for parent and toddler leaders. ‘I’m just running a weekly toddler group.’ ‘I’m just putting out some toys.’ ‘I’m just doing craft.’ ‘I’m just …’ . We can often underrate and downplay the value of what we do. We may know that our group is worthwhile and that families enjoy it. But that’s not the whole story. Beneath the surface of our noisy, messy and chaotic sessions there is all sorts of hidden treasure. Children are learning how to interact with others, developing communication skills, gaining resilience, growing in curiosity and much more.
Before we know it, the children in our groups are leaving us and starting to put on a school uniform five mornings a week. We’ve helped them prepare for that. Our groups give children the opportunity to develop the skills they need to adapt to school life and thrive in their education. So, please, never say ‘I’m just …’ again. You’re doing more than you think.
Faith-Based Community/Family Hubs
Faith-based Community/Family Hubs deliver:
- Social action projects that help people start well, live well, and age well, equipping surrounding communities to meet local needs and demonstrate love in action.
- Ongoing wrap-around care, offering supportive relationships through the Community Hub.
- A vital presence in local communities, sustained through relationships, structures, and services.
For more information on Faith-based Community Hubs, see the resources produced by Gather Movement for the faith sector:
Faith-based Family Hubs are Community Hubs that support children and families to start well.
In a local authority with a population of 250,000, there are typically around 150 faith-based organisations delivering more than 400 services every week supporting children and families. Faith-based parent and toddler groups reach around 50% of all families with young children. It is estimated that over half of all schools either have a faith designation or maintain a formal link with local faith organisations and leaders.
Family Hubs offer places where families can access face-to-face support and information from a range of services, making it easier for them to get the help they need. From parenting support and youth mentoring to practical assistance like food banks and advice services, Family Hubs provide both a physical and relational gateway to wider services, and a place where families can connect and grow in dignity and community.
Family Hubs, funded by the government, are composed of multi-agency boards and are guided by the Government’s Annex E Framework, which encourages:
- Considering additional locations that improve accessibility and offer settings familiar to families, such as faith-based buildings.
- Leading delivery confidently across local agencies, including the voluntary, community, and faith sectors as key partners.
“It has been invaluable to work with Gather Movement to map where and what church-based social action services are being delivered across Oldham local authority.”
Paula Healey, Head of Early Years, Oldham Council
See more about mapping the faith sector in your area, or learn more about how Gather Movement can help.
Movement for Recovery Map
Get in touch
Resources:
STARTING A CHURCH-BASED COMMUNITY HUB
DEVELOPING CHURCH LINK HUBS TO MAXIMISE IMPACT IN OUR PLACES
Also helpful are the resources on the ChurchWorks Family Hubs Toolkit
FAMILY HUBS TOOLKIT
Interfaith
Faith Covenants are being adopted by faith groups and local authorities across the UK as a set of principles that guide engagement. They are proving to be powerful tools for developing and shaping intercultural collaboration across cities, building trust and fostering cooperation. Resources on Faith Covenants, supported by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society, can be found online at faithandsociety.org/covenant.
Faith and Belief Advisory Panels act as a “network of networks,” bringing together representatives from various faith and interfaith organisations across both local and combined authorities. Its purpose is to strengthen partnerships between public services and faith-based communities, facilitating collaboration on shared missions and unlocking resources within the region.
Faith-based Social Action Networks are being developed across the country. Gather Movement has been commissioned in many local authorities, including the whole of Greater Manchester, to deliver social action network mapping of all faith organisations—such as churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and faith-based charities—to catalyse collaboration between the faith sector and public service delivery at a neighbourhood level.
See more about mapping the faith sector in your area here, or learn more about how Gather Movement can help here.
FAQs
Who is “the faith sector,” and who do we talk to?
The “faith sector” is a diverse network of religious institutions and faith-based organisations (FBOs). There are over 40,000 churches (Christians) in the UK and approximately 1,500 mosques (Muslims), 500 synagogues (Jewish), 200 Gudwaras (Sikhs), 190 Buddhist Temples and 161 Hindu Temples. Within in each group there can be many denominations but increasingly these are coming together in unity networks. For example, ChurchWorks brings together the national leaders of the fifteen major UK church denominations.
Often in ethnically diverse areas there will be an interfaith network or partnership in a local authority with representatives from diverse faith groups. Typically they work with others to celebrate diversity, to promote dialogue and activities to develop understanding, to achieve equality and justice.
The Churches Together networks across the four nations have developed since the 1980s and 1990s with officers in each county. More recently ChurchWorks and Gather Movement have supported churches (and other faith networks) to collaborate together and with civic and health organisations.
You might like to google the “denomination tree” to see how all the UK church denominations have developed over time.
In some ethnically diverse areas there may be a partnership of faith organisations who are working with others to celebrate diversity, to promote dialogue and activities to develop understanding, to achieve equality, justice and cohesion.
Forms of prejudice and hostility directed at people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality can lead to some faith organisations needing to take security precautions and measures inhibiting community connecting.
For help making introductions to local faith leaders and networks including interfaith, contact your local Churches Together organisation here.
https://cte.org.uk/about/whos-who/county-ecumenical-officers/
What services does the faith sector already deliver?
In a local authority with a population of 250,000, there are typically around 150 faith-based organisations delivering more than 500 services every week supporting children and families, food security, mental health and homelessness.
Faith-based parent and toddler groups reach around 50% of all families with young children. It is estimated that around 80% of all foodbanks are delivered by organisations or individuals from the faith sector.
For a more detailed look at what the faith sector delivers, service by service, see our Completed Reports
Can we trust faith groups to deliver public services fairly which are inclusive, non-discriminatory, and aligned with statutory requirements?
The all-party parliamentary group on Faith and Society have produced the Faith Covenant as a template for faith-sector collaboration with civic and health organisations.
Faith groups comply with the UK Charity Commission to ensure good governance covering monitoring impact, safeguarding, complaints, whistleblowing, equality, diversity and inclusion policies and ensuring relevant training is provided.
Faith groups willing to collaborate with civic and health organisations agree not to proselytise or create any health promotion conflict.
Cross-sector collaboration in delivering services to communities builds understanding and confidence on both sides of the public and faith sector relationship.
How do we engage faith groups without favouring one faith over another?
Almost all faith groups have a reach into marginalised communities and those facing inequalities in-line with civic and health priorities.
How can the faith sector support our priorities like social prescribing, family hubs, mental health, poverty reduction, and healthy ageing?
Gather Movement survey over 50 specific ways faith groups can help achieve public health and wellbeing goals. For a more detailed look at what the faith sector delivers, service by service, see our Completed Reports
What’s the evidence or track record of working with faith groups?
Trussell provided 3 million food parcels in the last year, most of which is delivered through faith groups. Holt-Lunstad et al. (2010) show significant health benefits from been rooted in community; faith-based parent and toddler groups reach around 50% of all families with young children.
Numerous university studies show the impact of faith-based projects that deliver relief from poverty and wrap-around support for the wider social determinants of poverty.
To learn more about how faith organisations are collaborating with local councils and Integrated Care Partnerships and the difference they are making to communities get in touch with Gather Movement here.
How do we practically collaborate with faith groups?
- Relationships, relationships, relationships! Making time for a coffee with faith leaders is invaluable for building trusting relationships and then getting connected with wider introductions.
- The all-party parliamentary group on Faith and Society have produced the Faith Covenant as a template for faith-sector collaboration with civic and health organisations. This provides a very positive framework for inviting collaboration.
- Best practice seen around the country involves building a network of networks that brings faith leaders together regularly to get to know each other and hear from civic and health leaders about suggestions for collaboration. These faith-based networks work well where a steering team is recruited to represent the network and an enabler that coordinates action and administration a few hours per week.
- Faith and Belief Advisory Panels act as a “network of networks,” bringing together representatives from various faith and interfaith organisations across both local and combined authorities. Its purpose is to strengthen partnerships between public services and faith-based communities, facilitating collaboration on shared missions and unlocking resources within the region.
- Faith-based Social Action Networks are being developed across the country. Gather Movement has been commissioned in many local authorities, including the whole of Greater Manchester, to deliver social action network mapping of all faith organisations—such as churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and faith-based charities—to catalyse collaboration between the faith sector and public service delivery at a neighbourhood level. Mapping is also key to coordination that avoids duplication or competition across the faith sector.
See more about mapping the faith sector in your area, or learn more about how Gather Movement can help.
Are there risks in collaborating with faith groups?
It is important to talk about issues like safeguarding, proselytising concerns, or different cultural norms in discussions about collaboration with local faith organisations and networks. Best practice will usually involve an advisory panel or faith leaders steering team representing the network that can advise on faith and belief issues.
The all-party parliamentary group on Faith and Society have produced the Faith Covenant as a template for faith-sector collaboration with civic and health organisations.
Faith groups comply with the UK Charity Commission to ensure good governance covering monitoring impact, safeguarding, complaints, whistleblowing, equality, diversity and inclusion policies and ensuring relevant training is provided.
Cross-sector collaboration in delivering services to communities builds understanding and confidence on both sides of the public and faith sector relationship.
How do we fund or commission services from the faith sector?
Where can we get help mapping or connecting with faith groups in our area?
Gather Movement exists to offer consultancy, resources and training to help civic and health organisations to understand the local faith landscape.
See more about mapping the faith sector in your area, or learn more about how Gather Movement can help.