Building Back Better Conference: The Church and Social Cohesion

The toxicity of the Brexit debate, a summer of Black Lives Matter protests, and the struggle to balance personal freedom with group responsibility throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have not only made clear how vitally important social cohesion is, but have also underlined that cohesive societies do not just happen by accident. Rather, time and effort are required to build up social capital over time – and this report particularly uncovers the many ways in which the nation’s churches are offering this time and effort in abundance.

The Church and Social Cohesion: Connecting Communities and Serving People is the culmination of a major research project commissioned by the Free Churches Group and prepared by Theos think tank, which has consulted with over 360 people in England to assess the churches’ social cohesion contribution on the ground.

Join us for the virtual launch of this report, hosted by FaithAction, to listen to a presentation from Theos on the findings of the report and participate in a panel discussion chaired by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP featuring:

• Hugh Osgood, Moderator of the Free Churches Group
• Madeleine Pennington, Head of Research at Theos
• Rev Dr. Joel Edwards CBE, formerly of Evangelical Alliance and Micah Challenge International
• Manmit Bhambra, Research Officer at the LSE’s Religion and Global Society Research Unit

*This event features as part one of FaithAction’s three-part conference – Building Back Better: The Role of Faith. See here for details of the rest of the day’s events.