From Service to Communion 

From a keynote presentation by Jenny Sinclair, Together for the Common Good

When did care for one another become more like a transaction than a relationship? How did that happen, and why does it matter? In a keynote for the Social Action Conference at the Archdiocese of Liverpool, Jenny Sinclair argued that provider models, however well intentioned, can weaken agency and hollow out community. 

Christian social action should be about more than simply providing services. It should be about building real relationships, strong communities and shared responsibility. Christians need to to “stay human” in a time of big change, including the rise of artificial intelligence.

We are all thankful for the many people who work or volunteer with those under pressure: families, people who are homeless, refugees, offenders, disabled people, children in distress and communities facing poverty, loneliness, addiction and violence. This work is often generous and difficult, but she says good intentions are not enough. Christian organisations also need to ask whether their ways of working have been shaped too much by the wider culture around them.

The Christian view of the human person sees people as made in the image of God, who is relational. This means human beings are not meant to live as isolated individuals. We are made for family, friendship, community, responsibility, love and belonging. We need one another, and each person has something to give.

However, the story told by much of modern Western culture focuses strongly on the individual: my choices, my identity, my rights and my freedom. Although rights are important, but they can become unbalanced if responsibility, family, place, faith and community are pushed aside. When this happens, people can become more lonely, families can become weaker, work can lose dignity, trust can break down and communities can become fragmented.

People working on the front line see these problems every day. They see not only material poverty, but also poverty of relationships and meaning. Some people have no reliable family, no trustworthy adult in their life, no secure work and no sense that they are needed. Christian organisations can also be affected by this culture. Funding rules, professional language, targets, policies and management systems can all shape how people are seen. They can quietly make organisations more like service machines and less like communities of care.

Christian social action needs to examine itself in three ways:

1. It may have become too focused on dealing with the results of poverty and not enough on the causes of poverty. Food banks, advice centres and support projects matter, but Christians must also ask harder questions about low wages, insecure jobs, family breakdown, poor housing and the loss of local institutions.
2. The service-provider model can sometimes make people passive. Words like “clients” and “service users” can create an “us and them” feeling, where one group gives and another group only receives.
3. Christian charities may have lost some of their Christian identity, becoming good at strategy, outcomes and risk management but less rooted in prayer, formation and trust in God.

The answer is to move “from service to communion”.

This means moving from doing things for people to building relationships with people. She suggests four things to recover:

1. A true understanding of the person. In an age of AI, the key question is not only what technology can do, but who it serves and what kind of people we are becoming. Some things should stay deeply human: listening, caring, forgiving, judging wisely, taking responsibility, praying, eating together, knowing neighbours and helping people through grief.
2. Vocation. Every person has gifts, responsibilities and a calling from God. Social action should not divide people into professionals who provide and vulnerable people who receive. The person at the food bank, the refugee, the homeless person, the tired parent and the volunteer all have something to offer. The question should not only be “What do I need?” but also “What has God given me to do?”
3. Reciprocity. This means asking, “What can we do together?” rather than only, “What can we do for you?” People may need support at times, but the long-term aim should be participation, shared responsibility and friendship. Jenny gives the example of a homelessness charity where staff, volunteers and people who have experienced homelessness cook, eat, work and take responsibility together. The divisions between helper and helped become less important.
4. Communion. Christians need to rebuild local relationships and local institutions: families, parishes, schools, charities, small businesses, sports clubs, trade unions and community groups. These are places where people can know one another, belong, act together and solve problems. Without them, people are left alone between the power of the market and the power of the state.

Christian Social Teaching offers a broad vision of the common good. It brings together rights and responsibilities, justice and family, care for strangers and care for local communities, and concern for life at every stage. The task is not just to run better services. It is to rebuild human relationships, one organisation, one parish, one neighbourhood and one relationship at a time.

Read the full keynote here.

Or listen to the 43 min keynote here.

See also these articles:
The future of Christian social action
Moving upstream to tackle root causes
The Church of the Table