Reflecting on Faith in Partnership: taking stock of opportunities to come – Faith in Partnership Week 2025
8th – 12th September 2025
For the fifth and final day of Faith in Partnership Week, we look to the future of partnership working in the UK and the new opportunities that are now arising.
As we come to the end of Faith in Partnership Week, we’ve seen some fantastic examples of where faith and statutory bodies have worked together, and where they could work together in the future.
From the Faith Covenant—which solidifies relationships between faith groups and local authorities—to Family Hubs and social prescribing—which both use the unique relationships of faith groups to link people into wider support, these opportunities, and many like them, provide faith groups the ability to do what they do best: support: build up those around them and those they serve.
We seem to be in a moment where these opportunities are expanding. As those of us who attended the ChurchWorks Commission webinar earlier in the week heard, the upcoming changes to the health system—with an emphasis around neighbourhood care and the expansion of family hubs—will give faith groups an opportunity to both demonstrate practical support and to bring some of what they already offer to a wider platform. There are also opportunities for faith groups to step forward to respond to wider challenges we face as communities, whether that’s the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the changes we need to make to our adult social care provision, or tackling the issues around community cohesion.
A tale of two Covenants: emerging opportunities
In July, the government launched the Civil Society Covenant, a new agreement to change the relationship between the government and the wider Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector. The Civil Society Covenant has many similarities to the Faith Covenant, developed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society over 10 years ago, with both initiatives focused on “resetting” relationships across sectors.
As part of our event on Monday to launch the evaluation of the Faith Covenant, Sir Stephen Timms MP, founding chair of the APPG on Faith and Society, suggested that the use of the word “Covenant” in the newest initiative may have indeed been influenced by the Faith Covenant, with its successes showing the way for local authorities, national government, and others within the VCFSE sector looking for the means to successfully build conditions for thriving partnerships.
As FaithAction’s National Executive Director, Daniel Singleton, noted at the time of its launch, we wait with bated breath to see how the Civil Society Covenant ends up being used in practice.
Moreover, with the launch of the first-ever comprehensive evaluation of the Faith Covenant programme announced on Monday, we are excited to see how an initiative which has already stood the test of time may be challenged and strengthened.
There are no shortage of opportunities for learning to be shared from ten years of the Faith Covenant and no shortage of opportunities for faith groups to increase their ability to partner with, and support, those in government as we tackle and face challenges and issues as a country.
One of our favourite sayings here at FaithAction is that faith reaches the parts nothing else can. Faith groups are uniquely placed to reach deep into our community and have assets and strengths that no other actors do. But this can only be done with sufficient resourcing and recognition. As we conclude the official celebrations, partnership working will continue to grow and thrive. Let’s continue to celebrate its success, challenge where it isn’t occurring, and look for opportunities to embed partnership in everything we do.
Want to share your story of working in partnership? Get in touch with the FaithAction team!
8th – 12th September 2025
Faith in Partnership Week celebrates cross-sector work taking place in the UK at a local and national level and encourages its expansion.
