BIVAR Seminar 2 - How do faith-based organisations differ from other kinds of voluntary and community organisations?
On 25 January 2012, we held the second BIVAR seminar of the 2011/2012 series. An audience of just under 50 gathered at The School of Pharmacy, University of London to hear presentations from Helen Cameron (Head of Public Affairs for The Salvation Army and founding Director of the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology) and Terry Connor (Chief Executive of Cabrini’s Children’s Society).
Helen Cameron began by providing a commentary on her own practice at the Salvation Army, reflecting in particular on the ‘faith-based’ rationale behind key elements of her work. For example, Helen talked about ‘hospitality knowing no bounds’ within her faith tradition as well as wishing to demonstrate the nature of God’s love, mercy and grace through social action. Helen then drew on the findings from a five year research project that aimed to help Christian organisations research their practice theologically. In particular, Helen talked about faith-based organisations having four different voices (normative, formal, espoused and operant voice) as a means to explore how these organisations justify/understand how their faith impacts on organisational practice. Helen concluded by stating that ‘faith based organisations have a living relationship with a tradition which is mediated through scripture, text and worship’; it is this that makes them a distinctive set of organisations.
View Helen’s handout
As Chief Executive of Cabrini’s Children’s Society (once known as the Catholic Children’s Society), Terry Connor was able to give a detailed account of the ‘drama’ that emerged in relation to the new legislation around adoption and same-sex couples. It was an example of how a group of faith-based organisations, who were of differing opinions, dealt with value-conflicts in relation to their practice. Terry gave a great account of the cast (the actors and stakeholders involved in the debate), the plot (where and how the debate was enacted) and the denouement (how the plot ended), which gave rise to an interesting debate about where (or to whom) organisations look for authority.
View Terry’s presentation
The evening was chaired by Margaret Harris, professor and academic adviser at IVAR. An engaged discussion followed the presentations exploring the extent to which faith-based organisations are distinctive (or not). The debate also touched on a range of other issues including the role of religion in philanthropy and giving, the role of ‘God’ in relation to the mission and strategic direction of an organisation and the social, political and economic ‘space’ in which faith-based organisations operate.
The next BIVAR seminar takes place on Thursday 1st March in London. The theme is: Measuring, managing or misleading? Impact and community-based organisations – the art of the feasible with speakers Professor Michael Power, Professor of Accounting and Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation at the London School of Economics, and Leila Baker, Research Manager at IVAR.
If you would like to receive information about future seminars, please email your contact details and key interests in the sector to: diana@ivar.org.uk