Social Work - Theses

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Reaching out beyond itself: a framework for understanding the community involvement of local church congregations

Bedford, Ian Alexander ( 2004-01)

Historically, religious congregations and other church organisations have had a long involvement in the provision of community services in English-speaking societies. Nonetheless, despite the development since the 1950's of extensive government provision, the growth of large church-sponsored agencies, and the advent of secular community services, there is reason to believe the trend for congregational involvement persists. However, there is also reason to believe that provision of services by congregations is not well understood, an issue of more significance in view of recent policy shifts, especially in the US and UK, promoting an increasing emphasis on government support for welfare service delivery by these “pervasively sectarian” groups. Within the Australian setting little is known about the contribution of local religious congregations to the provision of local community services, although limited data from the 1996 National Church Life Survey indicates in excess of 65% of congregations claim some local community involvement. (For complete abstract open document)