If you are, as a church, group of churches or Minster Community, considering a social action project in your area, this page and accompanying guide should help you get started.
These pages aim to help you build up the necessary knowledge, skills and
expertise, by signposting you to good sources of advice and information:
- Knowledge of local area and current service provision;
- Knowledge of policy (local and national), funding and likely impact of any changes;
- Church community buy-in, awareness of Christian imperative and how ideas fit in with other church activities;
- Capacity at least to set up viable initial steering group;
- Audit of what the church can bring to the project – premises, volunteers, skills…etc..;
- Prayerfulness;
- Stickability!
The next stage is development of expertise and capacity building:-
- Awareness of potential partners;
- Awareness of expertise of other (church) groups working in similar field (perhaps in other areas);
- Skills in project management, especially in setting up a new project, fundraising etc.;
- Source of expert knowledge in the field you are thinking of moving into;
- Networking capacity.
You should then be able to articulate and develop the following:-
- A clear vision of what you want to achieve and why;
- An evidence based strategic plan, costed and with a time line;
- Procedures for monitoring, evaluation and judging success (crucial if seekingexternal funding)
In the video below, Sian Rigby, one of our lay ministers, talks more about how to get involved in community action: