Family Hubs Toolkit

4. Building Partnerships

Overview

Local authorities and faith groups are increasingly collaborating to improve outcomes for children and families. Faith-based organisations, especially churches, are well-positioned to be effective partners in delivering local support services. This section explores how churches and faith groups can build networks of collaboration with local authorities, health services, and community organisations to create integrated Family Hubs. It also provides practical steps and insights for identifying faith-based partners for those operating in the civic space, to help establish trust, and foster long-term collaboration.

Essential Reading

Building partnerships between churches and public sector organisations is a key strategy for developing effective Family Hubs. Relationships take time and don’t happen overnight. 

Steps to Build Partnerships 

  • Identify Partners – As a Local Authority, establishing a network of local churches and faith-based organisations is crucial. Church social action projects can compliment  public sector priorities, particularly those that address children and families.
  • Building Trust – Local Authorities engaging with faith leaders, recognising the value of inclusive partnerships, and addressing concerns around proselytism are vital for successful collaboration.‍
  • Developing a Shared Vision – Workshops can help identify shared aims between the church’s mission and local authority goals, ensuring that services are community-led and responsive to the needs of families.

Deep Dive

Identifying Partners

Churches and faith groups can form a vital part of a local authority’s Family Hub network, but it’s essential to approach this collaboration strategically. Below are steps churches can take to build a robust network of faith-based action:

  1. Make Initial Contact
    • Start by reaching out to local authorities to introduce your church or network.
    • Connect with the Director of Children’s Services or the Family Hubs Lead to begin discussions about collaboration.
  2. Identify Your Local Authority Area
    • Use online tools to identify the boundaries of your local authority and understand the civic landscape where you can collaborate.
      1. https://mapit.mysociety.org/
  3. Create a List of Local Churches
    • Ask local church leaders to provide lists of churches from their denominations.
    • Search for independent churches online and ask for contact details.
  4. Map Church Social Action Activities
    • Survey churches about their ongoing social action projects, such as youth groups, addiction support, and food banks.
    • Align these activities with Family Hub Service Expectations to enhance the value of your network.

Optional Extra Steps

  1. Present Your Findings
    • Create a geographical map to show church locations and the services they provide.
    • Hold meetings with faith leaders to explore unity and city transformation.
  2. Include Other Faith Communities
    • Ensure that minority faith groups are involved to create inclusive representation within your network.
  3. Connect with Umbrella Groups for Support
    • Engage with ecumenical groups like Churches Together in England and networks like the Gather Movement for resources and training.
  4. Explore National Partnerships
    • Partner with organisations like Spurgeons, Home for Good and Safe Families, and Kids Matter, to enhance the network’s capacity to support children and families.
  5. Host a Vision Event
    • Facilitate a celebration event to connect faith communities with civic and health organisations, catalysing wider partnership efforts.
  6. Appoint an Enabler
  • Consider hiring a part-time Enabler to coordinate projects and foster collaboration between churches and civic organisations.

‍

Building Trust and Respect

Effective collaboration requires mutual trust and respect. Here are key principles to follow when engaging with faith leaders:

  • Listening to faith leaders’ priorities and understanding their community’s needs.
  • Listening to Local Authority leaders and Officers – ask them what problem they wish they could solve; ask them what keeps them awake at night.
  • Addressing inclusivity concerns and clarifying the church’s social action intentions, which are focused on love and care rather than proselytism.
  • Partnership with humility, prioritising the common good and social change.

‍

Recognising the Role of Faith in the Community

Churches and faith groups are deeply embedded in every neighbourhood. The Faith Covenant (APPG on Faith and Society) recognises faith groups as equal partners in community development, acknowledging their significant contribution to volunteer hours and local support.

Please see the Faith Action guide for adopting a faith covenant for more information.

Fostering Faith and Civic Literacy

It’s important for both faith and civic sectors to understand each other’s context, especially when it comes to language, goals, and approaches. Building faith literacy among civic leaders and civic literacy among faith groups strengthens collaboration. See this Faith Language guidance for more insight into how understanding church language can help local authorities and churches work together for the benefit of families. Churches can refer back to Section Three for Local Government terminology and Family Hubs terminology. 

You can also familiarise yourself with Local Government Terminology or Family Hubs Terminology here.

Addressing Inclusivity and Proselytism

Faith groups should clarify their motivations for engaging in social action, driven by a desire to serve and love others, not to convert them. Faith groups should be willing to enter agreements that ensure their activities remain non-proselytising, especially in sensitive areas like mental health support and community outreach. Local Authority teams should be willing to listen and learn from faith communities about the impetus for their local ministry, and particularly recognise where this leads to positive impact, being genuinely committed to evidence-based policy.

Love God. Love others.

Maintaining Strong Governance and Safeguarding Principles

Churches must ensure that they meet UK Charity Commission requirements and have appropriate safeguarding policies in place. This includes safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults, whistleblowing procedures, and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion within the church’s outreach efforts.

Developing a Shared Vision

Facilitated workshops can help Local Authorities and churches better understand each other’s mission and coordinate social action initiatives more effectively. These workshops create opportunities to bring various stakeholders together to create a shared vision for Family Hubs.

  • Aligning Goals – Work with local authorities to ensure the church’s initiatives align with Family Hub Service Expectations.
  • Using Tools Like the Risk and Resilience Matrix – This shared tool can help local authorities and faith groups better understand and address the needs of families in the community.

Outreach and Collaboration Templates

To help churches connect with local organisations and build lasting partnerships, consider using tools such as the examples in the appendix:

Useful Links and Resources

Find below a list of Christian charities who can help support partnerships between churches and Local Authorities and equip churches to support children and families.

  • Churches Together in England: access to most church denominations across the UK, organised into regional and local groups
  • Gather Movement: access to self-organised ‘Unity Groups’ of local churches collaborating together, and resources to help those groups address local issues such as family support and wellbeing
  • Spurgeons: support for families and churches supporting families, they are also contracted to deliver Family Hubs by local authorities 
  • Home for Good: support for Christians providing fostering, supported lodgings and adoption
  • Safe Families:early intervention befriending and short-term residential support for families with children at risk of going into care.
  • Kids Matter: therapeutically-informed parenting course appropriate for all families, designed to be run by churches.
  • Care for the Family: Parenting and relationship courses and resources for individuals, organisations and schools. Include faith-explicit resources, and resources appropriate for all but based on Christian values.
  • TLG (Transforming Lives for Good): Christian charity running volunteer-based early intervention support for kids through churches, including in-school mentoring and lunch clubs
  • The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Family Hubs: New APPG set up in February 2025 by Spurgeons to champion the work and impact of Family Hubs in Parliament and with decision-makers.
  • The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society Faith Covenant: A covenant agreement explicitly designed to facilitate formal partnerships between faith groups and Local Authorities
  • Good Faith Partnership’s report on Faith and Social Prescribing: provides useful case studies where strong partnerships have been created, and will be particularly helpful if you want to include local social prescribers in the design and network of your Family Hub. They have also produced two ‘How To Guides’ to help Faith Leaders and Social Prescribing Link Workers to partner with each other. You can also explore NHS guidance on social prescribing.

‍

There are many other national faith based organisations offering resources and equipping on more general topics that are still very relevant to Family Hubs, like debt advice and wellbeing. For a full list of Christian organisations, see ChurchWorks’ partners.

Contents:

    h2
    Example H2

    This is a div block with a Webflow interaction that will be triggered when the heading is in the view.

    h3
    Example H3
    h4
    Example H4
    h5
    Example H5
    h6
    Example H6
    Switching Script
    Contents Script + CSS
    Table CSS