Faithworks Conf. and charter...

... so last weekend we went down to London to the Faithworks conference and had an amazing time. It was great to find that loads of other people had ideas very similar to ours and were on the same journey as us. There's lots more to post about this ... taking time to process it all really but I thought I'd give you a starter for ten... This is the charter that sets out how Faithworks Affiliates work ... whatever we end up doing I think we'll probably be signing up to this... I'd appreciate your thoughts...

The Faithworks Charter

Principles for Churches and local Christian agencies committed to excellence in community work and service provision in the UK

Motivated by our Christian faith we _________________________________ commit ourselves to the following standards as we serve others in our community work and seek to model trust.

Signed________________________________ Date __________________

Position______________________________________________________________________

We will provide an inclusive service to our community by:

1. Serving and respecting all people regardless of their gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental capability.

2. Acknowledging the freedom of people of all faiths or none both to hold and to express their beliefs and convictions respectfully and freely, within the limits of the UK law.

3. Never imposing our Christian faith or belief on others.

4. Developing partnerships with other churches, voluntary groups, statutory agencies and local government wherever appropriate in order to create an effective, integrated service for our clients avoiding unnecessary duplication of resources.

5. Providing and publicising regular consultation and reporting forums to client groups and the wider community regarding the effective development and delivery of our work and our responsiveness to their actual needs.

We will value all individuals in a way that is consistent with our distinctive Christian ethos by:

1. Creating an environment where clients, volunteers and employees are encouraged and enabled to realise their potential.

2. Assisting our clients, volunteers and employees to take responsibility for their own learning and development, both through formal and informal training opportunities and ongoing assessment.

3. Developing an organisational culture in which individuals learn from any mistakes made and where excellence and innovation are encouraged and rewarded.

4. Promoting the value of a balanced, holistic lifestyle as part of each individual’s overall personal development.

5. Abiding by the requirements of employment law in the UK and implementing best employment practices and procedures designed to maintain our distinctive ethos and values.

We will develop a professional approach to management, practice and funding by:

1. Implementing a management structure, which fosters and encourages participation by staff at all levels in order to facilitate the fulfilment of the project’s goals and visions.

2. Setting and reviewing measurable and timed outcomes annually, and regularly to evaluate and monitor our management structure and output, recognising the need for ongoing organisational flexibility, development and good stewardship of resources.

3. Doing all we can to ensure that we are not over-dependent on any one source of funding.

4. Implementing best practice procedures in terms of Health and Safety and Child Protection in order to protect our staff, volunteers and clients.

5. Handling our funding in a transparent and accountable way and to give relevant people from outside our organisation/project reasonable access to our accounts.

© Faithworks (administered by the Oasis Charitable Trust) 2002