Religious Organizations In Community Services

This book explores the scope and breadth of religious organizations in social work practice. It begins by tracing the origins of the social work profession back to the earliest civilizations and their religious traditions, establishing the precedent for a fruitful commingling of religion and social welfare. The contributors propose that religious/faith organizations can assume responsibilities for social welfare in the 21st century, using the Korean Church as one example of an effective provider of social services. A 12-step model for religious organizations to use to develop community action programs is also presented.

Here three gerontological professionals have combined their diverse backgrounds in a timely and urgently needed study of how religious institutions interact with their communities to provide care for the elderly. In an easily accessible and well-written text, actual and potential services are described, and ways of enhancing religious/agency collaboration are suggested. Data are presented from studies in four communities and in a variety of provider settings. The book begins with an overview of aging in modern society, followed by a discussion of the vital importance of spiritual well-being for elderly women and men today. The authors show how church and synagogue can provide services for elderly persons, highlighting ways in which intentions can be translated into programs. A second section identifies diverse categories of elderly persons in the community and their physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs. It suggests opportunities for religious organizations to address these needs, particularly through collaboration with service agencies. Programs currently provided by synagogues and churches are detailed. A final section examines the benefits of institutions working together with service agencies on potential problem areas. It provides ways to enhance the partnership--from simple communication, to cooperation, coordination, collaboration, and even confederation. The book concludes with a useful model, developed from the authors' original research, that can enhance interaction between churches and synagogues, and service agencies.

Leading scholars examine how the church, community organizations, and the government must work together to provide for America's poor in the aftermath of welfare reform. . Who will provide for Americas children, elderly, and working families? Not since the 1930s has our nation faced such fundamental choices over how to care for all its citizens. Now, amid economic prosperity, Americans are asking what government, business, and non-profit organizations can and can’t do and what they should and shouldn’t be asked to do. As both political parties look to faith-based organizations to meet material and spiritual needs, the center of this historic debate is the changing role of religion. These essays combine a fresh perspective and detailed analysis on these pressing issues. They emerge from a three-year Harvard Seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life that brought together scholars in public policy, government, religion, sociology, law, education, and non-profit leadership. By putting the present moment in broad historical perspective, these essays offer rich insights into the resources of faith-based organizations, while cautioning against viewing their expanded role as an alternative to the government’s responsibility. In Who Will Provide? community leaders, organizational managers, public officials, and scholars will find careful analysis drawing on a number of fields to aid their work of devising better partnerships of social provision locally and nationally. It was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of 2001..

Religion, Welfare, and Social Service Provision: Common Ground delves deeply into the partnerships forged between religious communities, government agencies and nonprofits to deliver social services to the needy. These pages offer a considered examination of how local faith entities have served those in their midst, and how the provision of those services has been impacted by evolving social policies. This foundational volume brings together the work of more than two dozen leading researchers, each providing long overdue scholarly inquiry into religiously affiliated helping and the many possibilities that it holds for effective cooperation.

Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work practice, includes examples from different countries and a range of religious traditions and identifies challenges and opportunities for the sector. Social Work and Faith-based Organizations discusses issues such as the relationship between faith-based organizations and the state, working with an organization’s stakeholders, ethical practice and dilemmas, and faith-based organizations as employers. It also addresses areas of debate and controversy, such as providing services within and for multi-faith communities and tensions between professional codes of ethics and religious doctrine. Accessibly written by a well-known social work educator, it is illustrated by numerous case studies from a range of countries including Australia, the UK and the US. Suitable for social work students taking community or administration courses or undertaking placements in faith-based organizations, this innovative book is also a valuable resource for managers and religious personnel who are responsible for the operation of faith-based agencies.

"Serving Those in Need is a much-needed source of advice from both researchers and service providers in the field. It offers the practical, essential guidance leaders need to prepare for the rapidly increasing demands for their services.