Faith and Society

The impression that I have often had of international development in terms of the UK is that mission agencies do their thing and quite separately government does its thing.  But should this division be accepted or are there ways in which meaningful partnership can be developed between the two groups?

I recently attended a meeting arranged by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation at Westminster under the title of ‘The Contribution of Faith Communities to Global Health’.  Several MPs were in attendance along with academics and development organisation and faith group leaders. I was encouraged by the wide recognition of the importance of government engaging with faith groups.  While accepting that the public profile of faith communities is often negative (indeed the meeting itself was held on the anniversary of 9/11), the story of both history and today is of faith communities often being at the forefront of community transformation for good.  The history of BMS itself is woven with stories of positive contribution to life across the world e.g. Carey leading a campaign to abolish the practice of widow-burning in India, and Knibb as a leading member of the campaign for the abolishment of slavery in Jamaica. 

Today people across the world are demonstrating God’s love in many society transforming ways.  Indeed often mission agencies such as BMS have a unique impact in terms of resources, staying power, the ability to change attitudes and the motivation of faith.  Mission agencies are able to view the ‘life in all its fullness’ that Jesus offers to give a more holistic response to need.  Western government can sometimes seek to separate faith from other issues in society, whereas in most of the developing world faith cannot be extricated from the whole of life like a segment an orange, but rather is like the juice that runs throughout.  An integrated response to human need across the world cannot ignore faith.

There are challenges in helping government see that we operate without ‘strings attached’ in terms of care being dependent on acceptance of the Gospel.  However my hope is that we can give a more effective voice to the voiceless, in government circles, as well as continuing to seek to demonstrate love in tangible ways to those in greatest need.