FAITH IN THE CITY, published in the autumn of 1985, was a report that resonated with many congregants in the Church of England, and is still regarded as being a landmark publication in post-war Church-State relations. It is difficult to think of any publication from within the Church of England that has received the level of intellectual and political hostility that it encountered from some government ministers, including the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
It was a report that had been commissioned by Archbishop Robert Runcie out of a concern — widely held within the clergy — that the economic and social polices being pursued by Mrs Thatcher’s government were having a damaging impact on inner-city communities, and had contributed to the cause of the riots that had broken out in several English cities in 1981.
Runcie was keen to get to the bottom of what had been taking place, as well as for the Church of England to be in a position to influence matters in ways that were intellectually — as well as morally — credible, and to be able to contribute on a practical level to improving conditions for those who had been worst affected.
For this, he knew that the report would have to be based on an assessment of a wide range of opinions, including from some of those who were living in inner-city areas that were experiencing high levels of social deprivation and poverty. He, therefore, gave an 18-member commission, drawn from a variety of backgrounds, the task of producing an evidence-based report along these lines.
The commission spent two years gathering evidence from a range of urban contexts. Its report made several recommendations to the Government on how it could intervene to improve matters in policy areas such as unemployment, policing, housing, education, and urban regeneration. It also made a number of recommendations on how the Church of England could contribute to bringing about improvements to the lives of those living in urban contexts.
THE hostile reception that the report received from government ministers meant that it had little influence on shaping social and economic policy, famously being described by Mrs Thatcher as “that wicked report”, and by an anonymous minister as “pure Marxist theology”, owing to a small number of references that it made to liberation theology.
It had considerable influence on shaping the agenda for the Church of England in the two decades that followed its publication, however. In this regard, one of the report’s most important recommendations was a need for the creation of the Church Urban Fund. The fund was launched in April 1988, with an initial payment from the Church Commissioners of £1 million.
In the period since, in its support of a range of poverty-alleviation initiatives and mentoring schemes for urban clergy, the Church Urban Fund has made an important contribution to supporting urban mission and ministry across the Church of England, and it continues to perform that function today. Furthermore, post-ordination training for stipendiary clergy on the pastoral challenges that urban mission and ministry entails was given a new priority, as were efforts at recruiting more ordinands to inner-city parishes.
During the past 20 years or so, however, less emphasis has been placed on urban mission and ministry in the Church of England, as new challenges have arisen in response to the decline in affiliation and religious observance. This has resulted in new “mission” attempts to reverse that trend, which have focused more on increasing the number of personal conversions to Anglican Christianity, and on novel approaches to church-planting.
Sadly, however, in 2025, high levels of economic and social inequality, deprivation, and sometimes even mental despair are still being experienced by many in towns and cities. This raises the question of how far we have come since 1985 in improving matters.
IT WAS with this purpose in mind that we decided to commission a number of essays written by some of those who were involved in the publication and implementation of the report itself, and others who have been engaged in urban ministry and community-organising since then, which evaluate the importance of Faith in the City for the present day, and seek to open a debate on urban policy, theology, and practice.
This collection of essays examines the impact that the report had at the time of its publication; the changes that have taken place in the political landscape in the period since; the changes that have taken place in English society in the period since; and the changes that have taken place in the Church of England, including in its approach to urban mission, ministry, and welfare provision.
The result is a book that underscores the importance of the Church’s commitment to local communities, particularly in urban priority areas. A renewed focus is needed on urban mission and ministry — for the Church to be a beacon of hope and a catalyst for social change. There is a need for a recovery of the report’s radical challenge, rooted in incarnational theology — and the strong links between the Church, faith, and society — as the best way of ensuring that the Church of England remains connected to urban communities. A new commitment to urban mission and ministry is needed.
On the 40th anniversary of the publication of Faith in the City, an opportunity now exists for the Church of England to remember and reflect on the positive part that it played in the 1980s, when, in Faith in the City, it spoke truth to power.
It did this by challenging the government of the day to rethink its approach in policy areas that it believed were adversely affecting urban communities in cities and towns up and down the country. Hence, this should be a time to celebrate all that is good about urban mission and ministry in the Church of England today (and other Churches, too), as well as to reflect on any lessons that we can take from Faith in the City and the impact that it had, then and since, on shaping our understanding of urban mission and ministry for today.
Celebrating Forty Years of Faith in the City, edited by Terry Drummond and Joseph Forde, is published by Sacristy Press at £19.99 (Church Times Bookshop £17.99); 978-1-78959-394-5.
