Maintaining a Christian identity in social action 

From a Churchworks webinar featuring Jon Kurht, CEO of Hope into Action

For over 30 years, Jon Kurht has worked for a series of organisations formed to deliver ‘love, action and justice for the poor and the oppressed’.

But despite almost all his employers being charities formed by Christians and churches, there has been a consistent tendency towards diluting their faith commitment and travelling in a secular direction. As they grow, many charities end up splitting from the original motivation that sparked their start and which provided the buildings, finances and volunteers for their growth.

In a Churchworks webinar, Jon expands on this view and actions needed to reverse this ‘secularising trajectory’:

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Many well-known homelessness organisations have Christian roots, including Shelter, Centrepoint, YMCA, the Salvation Army and numerous local charities. Some retain a clear Christian identity, while others have become largely secular or separated from their founding faith traditions. This is a recurring pattern: unless Christian ethos is actively nurtured, it tends to fade, become fossilised, or be pushed to the margins.

Why Christian ethos can fade

Several reasons are identified for this drift:

• Organisations may begin with a strong missional purpose but gradually focus only on meeting practical needs.
• Leaders may fear that public funders, councils or partners will disapprove if the organisation appears too Christian.
• A symbolic church connection may remain, such as a vicar on the board, while having little practical influence.
• Concern about coercive or clumsy evangelism can lead organisations to avoid explicit faith altogether and simply “love people.”

Underlying these tendencies is often a lack of theological or missional confidence, especially when Christian leaders move from church settings into professional partnership environments.

The “milk” metaphor

To describe different levels of Christian identity, Jon draws on a “milk” metaphor from a Theos report. Organisations may be “full fat,” “half fat” or “low fat” in how they express Christian ethos.

This is not intended as a judgemental scale. Different contexts may call for different levels of explicitness. However, the key principle is intentionality: without deliberate choices, an organisation may move from a fuller Christian identity toward a thinner one until faith drops off the agenda altogether.

Jon suggests there are at least three reasons for maintaining Christian ethos:

• Practical reasons: Staying connected to the founding ethos helps an organisation remain true to its original purpose, sustain support from churches and donors, and avoid damaging disconnection between churches and the projects they established.
• Theological reasons: Christian social action reflects God’s concern for poverty, injustice, renewal and redemption. Work with vulnerable people is not separate from Christian faith but can be rooted in it.
• Human reasons: Faith may be relevant to the actual needs of people experiencing homelessness, who may need meaning, forgiveness, identity and hope as well as accommodation and support.

Faith, homelessness and holistic support

Jon cites the report 'Lost and Found', written by an atheist researcher, which found that faith and spirituality are often ignored, treated as private matters, or viewed with suspicion in mainstream homelessness services.

Yet the report concluded that religion can help people experiencing homelessness come to terms with the past, give structure to the present, and create a hopeful future shaped by fellowship and purpose. The speaker therefore stresses that homelessness is not merely “houselessness.”

Examples from Hope into Action illustrate this holistic vision. One tenant was housed through the church, welcomed into a supportive community, and later baptised. For the speaker, this captures three connected dimensions of Christian social action:

• Resources: the house met a material need.
• Relationships: the church community provided belonging.
• Identity: baptism expressed a new identity in Christ.

Not every tenant follows this path, and the organisation supports people regardless of whether they engage with Christianity. It also works respectfully with people of other faiths. Nevertheless, the example shows how practical support and spiritual transformation can be integrated when the relationship between church and project is strong.

Implicit and explicit faith

Jon proposes a model of integration based on the relationship between implicit and explicit expressions of faith:

• Explicit faith names God or Jesus directly through prayer, worship, theology, church connection or invitations to Christian activities.
• Implicit faith is expressed through care, hospitality, inclusion, justice, professionalism and love, even when Christian language is not used.

He argues that both are legitimate and necessary. Problems arise when explicit faith is squeezed out by regulation, funding and service delivery, leaving only a historical Christian connection. However, the opposite extreme is also unhelpful: if an organisation presents only explicit religious language while neglecting good practice, partners such as councils and funders may not understand or trust its work.

Healthy integration keeps Christian spirituality as the “heart” that pumps life into professional excellence and social impact.

Five concluding takeaways

• Conviction: leaders need confidence that faith is relevant to those being served.
• Clarity: organisations should be transparent about their ethos in recruitment, employment and public communication.
• Connection: faith should underpin best practice without hidden agendas or coercion.
• Creativity: Christian expression should avoid being clumsy or cringeworthy and should connect with people’s deeper longings.
• Confidence: secular opposition is often less substantial than Christians fear, and clear evidence, transparency and gentle assertiveness can help organisations maintain their ethos while serving others well.

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Watch a 37 min video of the webinar