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Religious entities play a vital though limited role in our social safety net. The majority of congregations engage in community-serving activities, though their commitments tend to be shallow. Four currents in the broader political and social setting have particular implications for understanding faith-based social services: devolution, faith-based initiatives, changing norms for religion in public life, and ambivalence toward evangelism. Shifting patterns in church-state relations have generated both opportunities and uncertainties. This dynamic context invites a fresh conceptual framework for interpreting churches' public engagement. In particular, new language is needed to describe the “faith factor” that has meaning outside of the religious community, but does not reduce faith to a product of other social variables

Research on the “faith factor” in solving social problems should take into account the complexity of the religious dynamics of social action. More nuanced understandings of the role of religion in public life are needed for accurate assessments of the risks and rewards of faith-based initiatives—shifting the focus from whether to how government should partner with faith-based social services. Well-crafted public policy can expand the civic contributions of religious groups with a public mission to serve society. As some Christians emphasize social service as a vehicle for evangelism, it is important to learn whether conversionist, socially engaged churches represent a growing movement. The “both-and” paradigm of a holistic mission orientation bridges the conservative-liberal dualism that has long characterized American Protestantism.

Many supporters of faith-based initiatives claim that a religious approach is better at solving social problems. Without purporting to evaluate these claims, this chapter describes the ways Christian activists explain a link between faith and social efficacy, in the form of five postulates: Being faith-based expands social service program capacity; people of faith serve more effectively; a religious perspective enhances program content; spiritual conversion empowers beneficiaries to achieve socioeconomic goals; and church-based programs offer beneficiaries the support of the faith community. While ministry practitioners disagree whether faith is necessary to social outcomes, seldom do they claim it is sufficient. The potential of faith-based approaches may be limited by a disconnect between the ideals of religious practitioners and actual praxis.

Some faith-based social service programs incorporate specifically religious content, intended to expose beneficiaries to religious resources, messages, or activities. Religious program elements include religious references in program self-descriptions, religious objects in the program environment, invitations to religious activities, prayer, use of sacred texts, worship, sharing of personal testimonies, religious teachings, and invitations to a personal faith commitment (proselytizing). Seven variables further describe the style or format of these religious elements, particularly whether they are mandatory, and how they are structured into the program methodology. From this follows five general strategies for incorporating a religious dimension into social services: implicit, invitational, relational, integrated-optional, and mandatory.

Acts of compassion are not unique to people of faith, but faith makes these actions uniquely meaningful. Even ostensibly secular good works may be saturated with personal religious significance. The ascription of spiritual meaning to social action is part of the larger religious enterprise that Peter Berger refers to as “world-building”. Among Protestant Christians, these meanings fall into four domains: religion mandates social action; divine agency empowers social change; social activism reflects or enhances one's inner spiritual state; and social ministry is intended to enhance the spiritual life of others. It is the selection and combination of these four modalities—dutiful, empowered, devotional, and evangelistic—that gives a faith-based social service program its distinctive character.