Thursday 4 April 2019 1:51pm
Descriptions of the two reports are listed below.
How Faith-Based Organisations can contribute to social change
A new report has been published to accompany the launch of the new Master of Faith-Based Leadership and Management. The report by Richard Davis examines how Faith-Based Organisations (FBO) can contribute to social change. It presents the findings of interviews conducted in 2013 for the Bishop’s Action Foundation BAF through the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago.
The report explores how churches and faith-based organisations can achieve greater impact on policy and decision-making by ministers, officials, and Members of Parliament. Specifically, it seeks to ascertain the extent to which government currently takes churches seriously in public policy discourse, the distinctive contribution that a FBOs can make to the public square, the skills and capacity needed to build relationships with the policy community, and the information, data and research capacity needed to support recommendations or requests for action to government. It also explores how an FBO might become the go-to-body on specialist issues, and, importantly, addresses the question of how churches and FBOs retain theological integrity. How do they communicate a robust theological response to an issue of concern?
An historical and theological framework for reconciliation between mana whenua and later settlers in the Tauranga district
The other report is a paper commissioned by Te Kohinga and the Otamataha Trust and is a summary of a one-hundred-and-fifty-page report prepared for various parties, including local hapū, churches, and councils as a discussion document.
The aim of the report is to provide an historical and theological framework to undergird the longstanding need for reconciliation between mana whenua and later settlers in the Tauranga district.
The author, Dr Alistair Reese, is a Research Affiliate of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago.
It is available in both English and Māori.