Faith to Engage

What is Faith to Engage

Faith to Engage is a project which works to strengthen the voice of churches and faith groups in policy-making across the nine English regions. Funded by the National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund, it is delivered nationally by leading Christian social action movement Faithworks in collaboration with nine regional partners.

Faith to Engage aims to support a strong, effective and inclusive faith sector in the nine regions of England.

East Midlands Capacity Building Event

North West Capacity Building Event

Get involved

Join the Faith to Engage project:

Click here to enter your details if you would like to find out more about Faith to Engage in your region

East of England Capacity Building Event

As part of the project capacity building events are held in each of the nine English regions at least once a year.

This year East of Enlgand had an event in February in Ipswich on the issues of Mental Health and it was held in partnership with NHS. To find out more on what has been happening in each region, please go to News & Events page and see the newsletter from different regions.

What will happen in my region?

Faith to Engage will be delivered by a regional partner who has strong relationships with existing faith networks in their area and is already based within the region.

Faith to Engage will look different in each region, because every region has its own character and history. However in each region Faith to Engage will give you the opportunity to take part in:

* Networking with other faith groups and regional
agencies Policy consultations and discussions
* Training and capacity building events
* Practical work with others to serve your region

What will Faith to Engage achieve

Faith to Engage will support all faith groups to work together and with others, to make purposeful partnerships, to share information and to use their knowledge and practical experience of serving their communities to influence regional decision making.

Faith to Engage will aim to achieve the following:

1. Increased participation by the faith sector in regional
     policy making.
2. More effective and inclusive consultation and
     representation mechanism for the faith sector in
     each region.
3. More service delivery partnerships.
4. More cross-sectorial and interfaith networking and
     partnerships.
5. More faith-based organisations accessing support from
     non faith-based infrastructure agencies.
6. Increased understanding by regional voluntary sector
     consortia and government of the distinctives of faith
     based service delivery.

Partnership

The key to the success of Faith to Engage is working with individuals and organisations already active in the regions.

We aim to enhance and support the existing work undertaken in the regions by Faith Forums and existing networks.

Our hope is that Faith to Engage will help to develop the reach and effectiveness of existing networks by drawing new people into partnership together in social action.

As leading providers of
voluntary and statutory services,
faith groups have a vital role to play
in regional policy making.

Why should I get involved?

The faith sector represents a large segment of our communities and is already a leading provider of voluntary and statutory services. Therefore it is vital that we are involved in regional policy-making, consultation and service delivery partnerships.

Moreover, faith groups have the ability to reach those ‘hard-to-reach’ pockets of society and communities which government often can’t. Society as a whole benefits from churches and faith groups being involved in policy making and service delivery.

Traditionally there has been misunderstanding and suspicion on the parts of both government and faith groups, but this is changing for the better and we hope this project will contribute to further significant improvement in this area, ultimately leading to positive change on the ground.

Contact us

Faith to Engage National Support Team
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0845 070 3571