about us
The Centre for Faith and Community is a trans-disciplinary centre of engaged scholarship, based in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria. Our scholarship fuses action and advocacy research, contextualised educational programmes, and engagement in and with communities, as we work towards our mission.
Our MISSION
Doing evidence-based theology, that is change-making and life-affirming, in and with local communities.
Our VISION
The Centre of Faith and Community envisions healthy communities, through the formation of community- and faith-based leaders.
PAST & FUTURE
The Centre is the consolidation of two Centres in 2020 – the Centre for Contextual Ministry and the Centre for Public Theology. In 2023, the Centre for Contextual Ministry would have been 30 years old. We are asking what the next 30 years should be; and how/where we should position ourselves, 30 years into our democracy (2024), with all the challenges we face right now. What is the theological accompaniment we should offer; the prophetic utterances or actions we are called to; the appropriate agenda we need to embrace?
THE THREE PILLARS OF OUR WORK
WHAT WE DO
We contribute to healthy, life-affirming and transformed local communities – in ways that are measurable and sustainable – through engaged, action and advocacy research.
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HOW WE DO IT
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Our immersion is firstly in urban communities that display high levels of vulnerability and contestation; secondly in trans-disciplinary academic spaces; and thirdly in spaces where policies and strategies are shaped for urban change. We believe that vulnerable local communities hold the key to their own transformation – through engaged research, contextualised educational programmes, and strategic dialogues, we support communities to retrieve, develop and practice their own agency as they work for better futures.
WHAT WE DO
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We contribute to the formation of community- and faith-based leaders – to practice value- and evidence-based change-making – through contextualised and accredited short courses and one-year programmes
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HOW WE DO IT
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Our pedagogies seek to affirm own knowledges, decentre dominant knowledges, and co-construct new knowledges. We follow a praxis-based approach that places equal emphasis on immersion, socio-ecclesial analysis, critical reflection and imagination, and co-constructing actions, grounded in ‘lived faith’ / ‘embodied spirituality’. We seek to animate and nurture ethical, caring and prophetic pastoral and public leaders and change-makers.
WHAT WE DO
We contribute to evidence-based practices and policies – fusing research, capacity-building and advocacy – through participating in engaged communities and co-constructing solutions for societal problems
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HOW WE DO IT
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We bridge the gap between academy, church and society through innovative spaces of engagement and learning, focusing on neighbourhoods, people and systems We document good practices; contribute to policy, planning and strategy documents; and publish in academic and popular publications on related issues We design responsive capacity-building or educational processes and programmes, if and when required.
Our Partners
