Understanding Faith as a Community Asset - Leadership
Crisis, Challenge and Normality
Interfaith Unity
Religion by nature separates us. The difference between belief systems, moral and ethical codes, practices and rituals and even our fundamental worldviews create divides that are clear to see. So when religious leaders come together over issues, people take note.
Following the events of the Southport tragedy in 2024, faith leaders and politicians through their interfaith group started a unity walk through town to show their solidarity and desire to bring the community together sharing their united stance against the hateful crimes that took place. Members of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian community walked together with local elected members to demonstrate their solidarity against hate. In May of this year faith leaders from the Church of England, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities, alongside numerous media, sport and charity organisations signed a statement of solidarity supporting the Jewish community who were being openly persecuted through antisemitic attacks in the UK.
This public leadership in times of crisis or challenge speaks volumes to communities, it provides reassurance, visible solidarity and can in some cases be the mouth piece of change for local residents. These leadership moments are valued across communities from statutory bodies to local residents but they also form the basis of the argument for where faith could play a more active leadership role.
The Evolving Role of Faith Leaders
Having faith leaders appearing in public during moments crisis or challenge demonstrates their absence at other times. There has been a slow decline in faith’s central presence within communities in the UK over the last 80 years. The rise of affluence in post war Britain, the establishment of state welfare and the NHS, the shift in social charity moving away from faith based institutions to the secular. Through each decade since the 60’s there have been changes in cultural values, family dynamics and a shift to modern belief systems. Older faith leaders may still remember a time when everyone knew the local priest or vicar by name, not because they did more than they do now, but because the presence of faith leaders were embraced differently.
This shift has meant that for the centuries prior faith leaders had the understanding that people should and would come to them. We are now in a society where there is no pressure or encouragement to come and, in some case, no knowledge that it's an option. There is still optimism though because as demonstrated above when looking at crisis or challenge, faith leadership is still valued, communities are still ready for local for faith leaders to work with them, to support them and to advocate for them.
When exploring this though it is important to recognise that with the change in culture and society, local people’s expectations of faith have changed. They do not want the old authoritarian leadership models where there was an expectation that what a faith leader said was done. The best examples of faith leadership in communities now come from meaningful relationships built with communities, where faith leaders work quietly and diligently to show love and support to those around them.
Redefining Faith Leadership
To loop back for a moment to an earlier point, the shifts in culture haven’t changed the workload of faith leaders. Especially since COVID, there seems to be a sentiment that faith leaders are as busy as they have ever been if not more. It’s all well and good to suggest it is the responsibility of faith leaders to go out and make connections with communities but it’s not always feasible for one person to be everywhere at once. Faith leadership is a community asset but should not be wholly on the shoulders of the ordained. A worshiping community is more than just a faith space, they are part of the community they support and have an equal stake in it.
To see more instances of consistent, impactful faith leadership within communities there needs to be a change in the way we consider who are faith leaders. There are many faith based organisations on the Wirral, from homeless provision, to food banks that are not led by the ordained but rather a collection of faithful people with servant hearts that lead in their environments. The same can be true the worship spaces themselves often delivering a myriad of community initiatives themselves and to use a quote;
‘If leadership is fundamentally about “taking initiative in relationship”, a community with more proactive leaders of this kind will have more people taking the initiative required to champion community concerns.’
G. Lakey, ‘Powerful Beyond Measure: Trusting the Call to Leadership’, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 4 February 2016, - The Church and Social Cohesion: Connecting Communities and Serving People
Faith leadership is an asset for our communities, in times of crisis providing reassurance and unity, Challenging the wrongs in our society as the voice of our communities, and in normality being in relationship daily. Faith leadership however does not just fall on the shoulders of the ordained. Faith leadership is a community power to champion communities.
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