Andy Flannagan gives thought to what brings true change

It is acceptable to speak of faith in the public square as a motivator for "good works". Any motivation that "gets the job done" is to be encouraged. In fact without these contributions, the societal fabric may have worn even thinner than it already has. For example, the church is the biggest provider of youthwork capacity in the UK.

It is also acceptable to speak of faith as a necessary cultural understanding when working with people of faith. This is especially understood in the area of community development in developing world contexts, where many people have deeply-held belief systems. However there is a perception that it is still taboo to discuss the role of spiritual regeneration in those with whom faith-based agencies work. There is a perception that the preferred option would be for people of faith to keep quiet in word and deed about the faith that is motivating them to be involved sacrificially in others' lives.

This ignores what most people understand about community change in any context. Sustainable, meaningful change occurs not simply through improving a community's socio-economic context, but also through internal worldview changes that bring hope and purpose.

A young girl on a council estate in East London may have state of the art multi-media facilities at her disposal, but if her chronic problems with self-image and self-worth are not addressed, then lasting change in her life and the lives around her will not be achieved. A community in south-east Asia where the land-owners oppress the other members of community needs more than legislation. Both owners and workers need to know that they have inherent value as unique human beings. The workers need to know that they should not be owned, that they should not be slaves and that this is not simply their "station in life". The root causes of poverty are tied up in identity issues and relationships going wrong, as oppressor or oppressed. These do not change unless people have a sense of their worth or hope triggered by a change in worldview, which is often caused by faith.

CSM has found in many settings across the country that faith-based projects succeed precisely because of the spiritual regeneration occurring in peoples' lives. If this dynamic is neutered, endless amounts of money will be spent facilitating external short-term change. No-one suggests that worldview change only comes through faith, but few other agencies could volunteer the thousands of stories of young people making the transition from trouble-maker to positive role model that we hear in churches across the nation.

As one example of how this plays out, that's why Christians involved in community transformation often want to employ Christians. Not because it's "jobs for the boys" or because we are trying to exclude anyone, but because we see people transformed, when they spot their place in the big story. They either pick it up, or someone actually tells them the story. Therefore we want people around who will be happy to tell and live that story.

So let's start speaking about this holistic transformation, which trumps the world's partial transformation. It's about whole regeneration, not putting new clothes on a corpse. It is invisible transformation as well as visible transformation. This is substantive long-term transformation rather than superficial short-term transformation.

Let's get on the front foot, rather than hiding our light...