Toronto the Good Report April 4, 2008
Posted by yuling in Urban Issues.trackback
April is the month for Book Reviews, so I”ll just be posting reviews for this month.
In my daily blog reading, Darryl Dash pointed me to an impressive organization called Work Research Foundation. This group has come out with a great resource called ‘Toronto the Good’. I’m cheating in this first review because this is not a book perse, but rather a great report.
This study melds together two things that I find important: faith and urban issues. Are churches impacting the City? Are churches relevant in the City? In the words of the report,
This report is intended for both City and church leaders. Many of the suggestions and observations regarding city government in Toronto came from within the government itself. The usefulness of this report is to give fresh air to some of those ideas, encouraging government to look to faith-based partners to contribute meaningfully to the values of the City Plan. (p. 16)
Here are the 8 major observations offered by the report:
- Faith strategies are diverse and complex.
- City and public benefit most when the Church is freed to be the Church
- Church and organized religion are not declining
- Churches form a significant core of culture and heritage
- Churches cultivate positive social challenge and change
- Churches serve as mediating and mercy institutions on the front lines of city life
- Churches build and sustain social capital and civil virtues within neighbourhoods
- Toronto arts and culture are encouraged as part of church life
Not wanting to give the whole thing away, I highly suggest you read it. There’s a very practical conclusion section outlining Next steps for the Church, the City, and for further research.
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