Celebrating 40 Years of Faith in the City
Added about 4 weeks ago by Joseph Forde
Faith in the City is one of the most substantial documents on welfare provision and urban mission and ministry in England to have been published in the post-war period. Issued by the Church of England in the autumn of 1985, it was highly critical of the negative effects its authors believed the economic and social policies being pursued by Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative government were having on the poorest members of British society. Robert Runcie (Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991) had instituted the Commission on Urban Priority Areas in 1983, to undertake the review that resulted in its publication. This was partly out of a concern that the government’s free market (deregulatory) economic and social policies may have contributed to bringing about the inner-city riots that had broken out in some of Britain’s poorest areas in 1981/82.
Unemployment, in part the consequence of increased deindustrialization that occurred under the Thatcher government’s first term, had reached a level not seen since the interwar depression, topping 3 million in January 1982. This was putting a strain on the welfare state and causing significant financial hardship for those who had lost their jobs. Runcie was keen to know how the Church of England could best contribute to meeting some of the social challenges that the country now faced, as well as how to advise appropriate bodies on the most appropriate ways of tackling them. Accordingly, the Commission’s core terms of reference were: “To examine the strengths, insights, problems and needs of the Church’s life and mission in Urban Priority Areas and, as a result, to reflect on the challenge which God may be making to Church and Nation: and to make recommendations to appropriate bodies.”
The report that followed made a series of recommendations to the government and the Church of England about how they might improve matters. It was a report that resonated with many of its congregants and is still regarded as being a landmark publication in post-war Church/State relations. While it had only a limited impact on changing the direction of government policy, it did result in a new emphasis being placed within the Church of England on the importance of urban mission and ministry. In 2025, we celebrate the fortieth anniversary of its publication.
Sacristy Press is delighted to announce that it will be publishing a book called Celebrating 40 years of Faith in the City, edited by Terry Drummond and Joseph Forde, in July 2025. It has chapters by several experts in the field, including one from The Revd Dr Alan Billings, who was a member of the Commission that produced Faith in the City. We hope it will add to the celebrations.
There will be more information appearing about the book in the coming weeks. There are also a couple of day conferences in the process of being organised to celebrate forty years of Faith in the City. More information about them can be obtained from Terry Drummond at terry.drummond@hotmail.com.
Celebrating 40 years of Faith in the City is available in paperback and on all e-book platforms. Order your copy now!
Please note: Sacristy Press does not necessarily share or endorse the views of the guest contributors to this blog.