ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the faith-based organizations playing at most a minimal role in the welfare state, as well as arguments for faith-based organizations having a legitimate role in the provision of non-core welfare services, and working in collaboration with the state in the provision of essential welfare services. The relationship between religious welfare organizations and the state may vary considerably between countries, including the size and scope of the state's involvement in welfare and the level of political debate about the involvement. From the late nineteenth century, there were a growing number of people within England's churches who believed that their organizations no longer had the capacity to provide for the health and welfare needs of the nation's poor. As to how faith-based organizations can be involved in both service delivery and play a leading role in welfare reform is demonstrated in the case study of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, in Melbourne, Australia.
