As a follower of Jesus, I wanted to discover what role faith could play in social innovation. What I’ve come to find out is that for God’s people, innovation is indeed a process: eg. faith based social action that is shaped by a love for both God and neighbour. But it is also an outcome: worship of God and redemption of humanity. Gary W. Oster, in his article titled Christian Innovation: Descending into the Abyss of Light, says
“Scripture and the personal experience of Christians worldwide show that God uses innovation for humans to know more of Him, to communicate with Him, and to ultimately accomplish His earthly will for mankind…Innovation is Christian when it ultimately [aligns] with God’s purposes and methods.”
A Christian approach then to innovation is reflected in the Great Commandment where love (agape) is consistently focused on how to benefit others. As Osler puts it: “all innovation begins and ends with the needs of end-users.”Faith based social innovation is one way in which to help bridge the gap between the church and the community. But to get there the church needs to ‘do good better’.In a recent report – Doing Good Better: A Case for Faith-based Social Innovation – U.K’s leading religion and society think tank Theos noted that,
“faith based social innovation depends on getting the right combination of … [Christian organizations and/or churches] that understand the need for and champion … social innovation, a greater willingness to monitor and evaluate impact so as to access different kinds of financing and partnerships, and greater support for [faith based] social innovators.”
The report concludes with a helpful challenge regarding who makes a good ‘social innovator’:
“The appropriate analogy for a [faith based] social innovator would not be the CEO of a tech start-up, but a craftsman or woman who having inhabited a long heritage of practice continues to practice it in a different environment meeting contemporary needs and aspirations.”