The Building on Faith conference was planned by a small group of people taking an initiative on behalf of communities of faith. UMTP provided the administrative back up and UMTP staff members were involved in focusing and planning the initiative. We were all inspired by a report published by the Church Urban Fund in 2002 which demonstrated very clearly that faith groups made significant contributions to regeneration in local communities and shared common goals and values in doing so.
At the invitation of the Newcastle Religious Leaders Group, over 130 people gathered on 21 October 2003 in the Civic Centre at Newcastle. We came mainly from faith communities in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, other parts of Tyne and Wear and from further afield in the North East region. This report is designed to be accessible to two main audiences. First of all, it is for members of faith communities themselves – those who attended the conference, as a reminder of a successful event, and those who were not able to be there, so that they might gain a sense of what was discussed and achieved. However, this report is also written for local and regional decision-makers who require a broader picture of the involvement of faith communities in the task of social and economic regeneration at the neighbourhood level.
In the North East region Councils of Faith are in the process of being formed and we hope that this report will be of practical interest to them. In that respect, this report attempts to indicate some next steps for the faith communities to consider together. The conference was simply the beginning of a process which the steering group hopes will continue.
The conference was sponsored by Church Urban Fund, Money for Change (Newcastle upon Tyne), the Community Foundation, Community Champions, the Diocese of Newcastle and the Northern Synod of the United Reformed Church. The faith communities of the North East are grateful for this financial support. The steering group is also grateful to the Faith Based Regeneration Network UK and to the Inner Cities Religious Council for their encouragement and contributions. The conference was written up by Sue Scott, the Bishop of Newcastle’s Communications Adviser.
Building On Faith Report
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