Blog
What brings togetherness?
As we look beyond the pandemic, much discussion centres on how we keep the community togetherness that’s emerged through the crisis. The pandemic has brought strangers and acquaintances together, finding creative solutions to meet immediate needs in terms of food, medication and loneliness throughout the […]
Faithful Leaders: Shermara Fletcher
For Faithful Leaders this week, Daniel speaks with Shermara Fletcher, Principal Officer for Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations at Churches Together in England. Shermara speaks about her own journey with faith, how different faiths can co-exists, how to form relationships across communities, and how recent […]
All together now… or are we?
Have you ever had a song that you can’t get out of your head, a brainworm that will not go away? All Together Now by The Farm has been that song for me. It was a Christmas hit about solidarity in the First World War—the […]
“Freedom Day”: a time for faithful neighbours
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that from 19th July 2021 most of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted. Once we get past the predictable political back and forth, which forms the theatre of any government announcement, we see that the mismatch of […]
Community Champions Programme – What did we learn?
For the last four months, FaithAction were commissioned by Strengthening Faith Institutions to run our Community Champions programme, to encourage people within certain high-risk communities to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19 and to keep themselves COVID safe, and to gather insight on the major issues […]
Sajid Javid—What now for the new Health and Social Care Secretary?
The arrival of Sajid Javid as the new Health and Social Care Secretary could signal a new opportunity for the government’s approach to health inequalities. At a Parliamentary event celebrating Creative English, Mr. Javid recalled attending doctor’s appointments as a child to interpret for his […]
Faithful Leaders: Lord Greenhalgh, Minister for Faith
Lord Greenhalgh was appointed Minister for Faith on the eve of the initial lockdown in March 2020. One year on, Daniel asks what his first year as Minister has been like: what lessons he has learnt, what has surprised him most, and what role his own personal faith has played throughout the crisis.
The power of inter-faith partnership in Tower Hamlets
FaithAction have worked with Coventry University and Tower Hamlets Inter Faith Forum (THIFF) for the past three years. We were pleased to recently commence another year working as secretariat to THIFF and wanted to highlight to our members the important work being done through this […]
Tackling loneliness together this #LonelinessAwarenessWeek
It’s Loneliness Awareness Week in the UK, and we’re keen to hear from you: what does loneliness mean to you and your organisation? How have you been tackling loneliness this past year? What challenges do you see in the weeks and months ahead? The background: […]
One year on: findings from our Faith COVID focus groups
On this very day last year, 10 June 2020, we held our first virtual focus groups. At that time, we were emerging from the first lockdown, with the new ‘rule-of-six’ permitted for outdoor meetings, and the first pupils returning to schools.
We completed six other single-faith focus groups that week, along with one women’s multifaith group, and though we slowed the frequency later in the year, we kept these focus groups running consistently throughout the entire year.