ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the potential roles for faith-based providers of welfare services: providing services which meet the specific needs of religious communities; expertise in providing services for immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers; promoting social cohesion within the wider community; and modelling best practice in social work in responding to issues associated with religious or spiritual issues. Where migration has seen the arrival of substantial new religious communities, faith-based organizations have emerged to support these communities. Global migration increases the need for social and financial assistance; thus supporting immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, is a key role for faith-based organizations in many countries. In response to increasing social tensions and divisions among different religious and ethnic communities during recent years, policy-makers in the UK have explicitly sought to forge links with the faith-based welfare sector in the belief that this is an effective way of building social capital and enhancing social cohesion.
