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This research systematically synthesizes the conceptual understanding, guiding theological, or denominational orientations, and the most promising pedagogical models for integrating faith and spirituality into social work education curricula. Accordingly, we reviewed published peer-reviewed journals in the last 35 years (1985-2020). This systematic review answers three main research questions: 1) What is the array of conceptual definitions of faith and spirituality integration in social work education; 2) Are there theological, and or, denominational orientations in!uencing the definitions, and integration, of faith and spirituality in social work education? and; 3) What are the available pedagogical models for integrating faith and spirituality into social work education? A conclusion is presented with implications for pedagogy, research, and policy in Christian social work programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work regulations require social workers to "encourage and support diversity" (Canadian Association for Social Work Education, 2014, p. 3) in all areas of social work from the classroom to the field. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explore the potential of an alternative framework, new to social work, to respond to this demand. The framework referred to here is drawn from Christian scholarship related to hospitality. By providing conceptual and pragmatic strategies for hospitably encountering diversity, this article adds to the wealth of social science approaches and frameworks that have been established for encountering diversity (Anderson & Carter, 2003; Baines, 2011; Constance-Huggins, 2012; Dominelli, 2002; Sheppard, 2006). This article also responds to the call by some (Hodge, 2011) for "new methods that foster inclusion and respect for difference" (p. 246). While this framework is theological in its nature, it offers conceptual strategies to all social workers (not just those who identify as Christian) for encountering diverse others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the concept of client self-determination has near unquestioned support within the social work profession. However, this support for client self-determination tends to overlook some perennial tensions and has not yet taken seriously some emerging problems. To explore these issues, this paper summarizes several major justifications for client self-determination and describes several factors that challenge or undermine it. Against this background, the paper considers limitations of the concept from a Christian perspective and provides an alternate basis for respecting decisions by people, including social work clients. To construct this foundation, we draw on several streams of thought within the Christian tradition: critique of self-determination as a sacred concept, the paradoxical nature of our relationships with God, and reckoning with human vulnerability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixty-two percent of food pantries are run by faith-based organizations. Urban food bank consumers from 74 households were surveyed in a pilot study to better understand the kitchen resources (e.g., supplies used to store, prepare, and cook food), and other barriers that may prevent food bank consumers from eating the food they received from a food bank. Findings from this research reveal that a notable percentage of food pantry consumers do not have essential home kitchen resources such as a freezer, sharp knives, can opener, electricity in the kitchen, running water in the kitchen, plates, or bowls. Nearly one third of respondents indicated they had received food from a food pantry that no one in their household ate for a variety of reasons. Uneaten food was most commonly given to friends and family members. For Christian social workers, NASW's ethical mandates to assist people in meeting their basic human needs are accentuated by biblical teachings that call Christians to alleviate the suffering of people who are hungry and poor. This research adds to the limited existing evidence on strategies social workers can use when designing food pantry delivery programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking, in which millions of children worldwide are trafficked annually, is the second largest organized crime superseded only by drug trafficking. This multibillion-dollar industry is a major issue throughout South Africa. The paper provides a brief history of the problem on trafficking throughout the world, but especially in Johannesburg, South Africa. It further shares a model for how one multicultural community church partnered with a grassroots organization, Dorah's Ark, to keep fifty orphaned children fed, educated and protected from human traffickers. The intervention was intentional and well-planned, but not without trials. The issues faced and how they were addressed are included. The paper presents the church's theology of caring for orphans and shows a way for social workers and faith communities/church leaders to work together to address important community needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conflictual relationship is present between Christianity and social work. This theoretical paper proposes a conversation between social work and faith that is emerging due to the shared experience of modernity and postmodernity through critical theory. The reader is invited to explore a possible intersection between social work and faith that allows for both to be changed in the encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the intersection between religion and spirituality in society and the emergence in social work. It discusses the use of autoethnographic research methods to engage and explore in the discourse of religious and spiritual with the personal experience of the author of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in North Spain.

This paper concerns an under-explored dimension of international social work and social work's relationship to religious belief. The paper reports a descriptive and analytical study that sought to assess the perceptions of social work educators relating to the standards of social work education programs across national borders in the Arab universities of the Middle East, Arab Gulf States, and North Africa (MENA). The four dimensions used to define standards were: the programs' relationship with professional practice institutions, societal recognition of the profession, quality of social work graduates, and the interaction of profession with social issues. A survey was conducted using a non-probability purposive sample of faculty members (n = 178), who were geographically distributed among faculties and departments of social work at 22 universities in eight Arab countries: These are Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco and are collectively referred to as MENA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the fact that there are beneficiaries of social work with spiritual concerns, the training of specialists who are able to adequately respond to such concerns or needs is appropriate. Thus, the present paper aims to signal the existence of educational programs, at university level, oriented towards the above‑mentioned area, namely specific disciplines addressing the relation between social work and religion or spirituality. More specifically, the paper intends to present that a successful Master's program, “Values Focused Social Work Practice”, organized at the West University of Timişoara, is a good practice model in the field of social work education, with interdisciplinary and with spiritual components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploratory, cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the motivation of Christians to become foster parents and to better understand three personality characteristics (empathy, humor and flexibility) that were associated with Christian foster parent's intentions to continue fostering. Data collected from this study were obtained from a survey provided to Christian foster parents contracted to a Midwestern, statewide, faith-based child and family welfare agency. Participants included 115 currently licensed foster parents. The study found that Christians were motivated to foster due to their desire to help others in need. The results of a multiple regression indicated that empathy and cognitive flexibility were significant predictors of Christian foster parent's desire to remain foster parents, but humor was not. Directions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work courses at all levels are filled with young women and men who aspire to join the profession to put their Christian faith into practice. For them, the profession is a noble calling in which they can deliver the love of God to their clients through knowledgeable, caring and evidence-based services to address the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual needs of the people they feel called to serve. Such an understanding of the social work profession is not outside the bounds of ethical practice. Unfortunately, these same passionate students are all too often told by professors and supervisors to suspend their religious beliefs while working with clients. This advice from professors is in the interest of promoting ethical practice and client self-determination. However, it is possible to professionally connect with clients through well-honed beliefs about faith without imposing religion on clients. This paper shares the characteristics of six mental health professionals who ethically integrate their faith into their practice of helping women leave the sex industry at a faith-based, nonprofit agency. Interviews were conducted by three of the authors from this study. Phenomenology guided the interview process to describe and explore participant's lived experiences and what these experiences mean to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the North American Association of Christians in Social Work first began in 1950, religion in social work practice was a topic that received mixed responses. Findings from the current study suggest this has changed. A total of 444 randomly selected licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) across the United States responded to an online survey containing the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale and various demographic items, including one item assessing respondents' religious affiliation. LCSWs reported extremely high levels of self-efficacy with integrating clients' religion/spirituality into practice, and there was no difference between Christian and non-Christian LCSWs with regard to attitudes or perceived feasibility. However, both groups reported less frequently engaging in behaviors related to integrating clients' religion/spirituality. This discrepancy between LCSWs' views and behaviors is worth further exploring; however, the fact that many feel confident including this topic in their practice is encouraging when considering their openness to future training opportunities to ethically and effectively integrate clients' religion/spirituality in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Council on SocialWork Education (CSWE) prescribes competencies and professional behaviors for social work educational programs. Respective, individual programs may add program competencies and practice behaviors specific to their schools and universities. The study examines one program's field education measurement of the additional competency: The ethical integration of faith and practice and behaviors related to clients, students, and practicum sites. More than 600 BSW and MSW students' final field evaluations over a five-year period were examined for grades and for evidence of each of the faith and practice behaviors. Findings include students' emphasis on their own ethics including use of supervision and honoring clients' faith perspectives, students' recognition of faith as strength and resource for clients; and students' recording of the importance of agency context policies in the integration of faith and practice. Grades on the faith and practice competency were essentially equivalent to final field evaluation overall grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamophobia describes the racism, exploitation, and violence experienced by Arabs, individuals of Arab descent, and Muslims. Although social workers are meant to challenge social injustice, social work codes of ethics and the literature are without guidance for unlearning Islamophobia. Arguing that one’s ability to interrupt Islamophobia is strengthened by an understanding of the historical record and theoretical tenets of Orientalism, we offer social workers explicit linkages between Orientalism and Islamophobia and engage with the idea of Islamo-racism. In this article, we attend to the ways in which Orientalism is used to “other” individuals while strengthening white hegemony, and we link those processes with Islamophobia and Islamo-racism. We conclude with some strategies derived from postcolonial theory to disrupt Islamophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a tribute to David Sherwood, editor-in-chief of the "Social Work & Christianity," a journal of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW). Topics discussed include his various contribution to the NACSW as board president, his influence on the aspects of integrating faith and social works, and the gratitude and his influence to several key members of the organization.

This essay explains and defends both a welcoming and accompanying approach to LGBT people and also a comprehensive rejection of gender ideology as false, an attack on marriage, families, and especially children, and incompatible with Christian orthodoxy and the Judeo-Christian tradition. The article explores the challenge to Christian social workers of being truthful, patient, and present in working with clients who identify as LGBT while rejecting gender ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers who are Christians and work with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) clients may struggle with their own faith perspectives and how best to respond to their clients. Historically, there have always been examples of social workers who experience incongruence and even dissonance with their own competing values, with the values of the profession, and with the values of society or the culture. In those cases, the challenge and the opportunity is to maintain client self-determination, commitment to justice, and personal integrity. This paper explores the social work experience of value incongruence and dissonance, particularly for social workers whose religious values may seem to be incongruent with an affirmative approach to homosexuality. Included is a discussion of social work education in religiously-affiliated universities to address challenges in a polarized world, the integration of faith and social work practice, and principles and tips for working with value incongruence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the role of non-legalistic Islam (Sufism and popular Islam), this paper aims to provide an explanation for the distinctness of Morocco defined by increasing political stability and decreasing group grievances, contrasting with the situation in other countries of North Africa. Based on fieldwork carried out in March 2015, this study employs segmentary theory and the "Governance of Religion" approach in constructing an analytical model explaining cohabitation between the Moroccan monarchy and actors of non-legalistic Islam. Results of the research reveal that 1) actors of non-legalistic Islam in Morocco, though representing a variety of organizational structures and political orientations, can be divided into two groups: traditional vs. reformed non-legalistic Islam. 2) This religious distinction is important politically. For example, actors of traditional non-legalistic Islam can provide social services in the Moroccan periphery or create a background for regional "religious diplomacy". However, they are not able or willing to include members of the wider society. In contrast, actors within reformed non-legalistic Islam aim to mobilize new followers for political causes. 3) Consequently, the Moroccan monarchy seems to apply various governance tools in regulating or co-regulating these actors; these tools include, among other things, direct funding, the co-optation of leaders, and sanctions. Analysis shows that actors representing non-legalistic Islam are engaged in the social life of the country and that this engagement results in cohabitation with the Moroccan monarchy. As this paper argues, this cohabitation facilitates political stability and prevents an increase of group grievances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the aspects of ethics, religion, values and the development in China. Topics discussed include the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in the social development in the country considering their roles in providing social services, the growth on the social and political spaces for FBOs, and the contributions of Chinese scholars in promoting the role of religion.

The article deals with spirituality and religiousness in social work and presents techniques, which serve to explore it in the client-centred approach. Spirituality and/or religiousness are presented as important dimensions of human life and as such can be a part of holistic social work, even in secular or post-secular societies. Especially in personal crises existential issues urge us to pay attention and explain. Broadly perceived spirituality can be resilience, support or recovery resource and can enhance the human understanding between the client and service provider. Three conditions are necessary when dealing with spirituality: the social worker has learnt his/her own spirituality/religiousness, he/she avoids assessing or changing clients values and it is the client's wish and autonomous decision to involve spirituality/religiousness in the social work as a potential improvement to his/her situation. Main stress is laid on qualitative verbal and nonverbal-creative techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent attention to human spirituality, research on congregationally-related practice, and growth in employment within religiously-based organizations energize the creation of educational initiatives to prepare future professionals for competent social work practice within these settings. Internship experiences with congregations and religiously-affiliated organizations (RAOs) play a pivotal role in delivering the competencies required by the social work accreditation body. Conceptual tools are needed for understanding congregationally-related practice, for navigating potential conflict between faith and professional practice, and for delivering effective internship experiences. This article, written from the faculty's perspective of a Christian, religiously affiliated social work degree program, offers a framework for conceptualizing social work with congregations and RAOs and a beginning discussion for sorting out dilemmas in the integration of faith and practice in these settings. Two models, individual placement and rotational model placement, for congregationally-related internship experiences are presented and evaluated. Recommendations for enriched internship learning and future research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When congregations seek to address social needs, they often pursue this goal through acts of service and political engagement. Over the past three decades, a tremendous amount of research has been dedicated to analyzing congregation-based service provision and political participation. However, little is known about how congregations' involvement in these arenas has changed during this period. To help fill this gap, this study analyzes three waves of data from a national survey of congregations to assess how congregations' participation patterns in service-related and political activities have been changing since the 1990s. It also examines trends among subpopulations of congregations grouped by their religious tradition, ethnoracial composition, and ideological orientation. Overall, this study finds that among most types of congregations, the percentage participating in service-related activities is substantial and increasing, while the percentage participating in political activities is less substantial and decreasing. This decline in political participation has implications for the role congregations play in addressing social needs. Relieving immediate needs through service provision without also pursuing long-term solutions through political participation can limit congregations' ability to comprehensively address social needs. Among the few types of congregations that have high and/or increasing participation rates in both service-related and political activities are Catholic, predominantly Hispanic, and politically liberal congregations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roman Catholic Charity, an organised and community-centred form of volunteer activity in social and healthcare services exceeding the framework of individual and private benevolence, had seen years of abundant and - in many aspects - still unrivalled development between the founding of the independent state of Czechoslovakia (1918) and the onset of the totalitarian Communist regime (1948). As the Communist Party took control of the country, the entire system of charity was dissolved, in contrast to the neighbouring countries of the Soviet Bloc (East Germany, Poland and Hungary) where some forms were allowed to function. The objective of the present study is to map out those dramatic changes and highlight individual key events and dates. The opening sections outline the well-developed system of charity that existed before the Communist seizure of power. The final sections present the developing trends of charitable work after the fall of Communism in 1989. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the intersectionality of religion and social welfare in Richmond, Virginia requires going back to the beginning of the Virginia colony. In the crucible of the colony, the religious and social welfare functions of a parish community were one and the same. However, after the Revolutionary War it was just a matter of time before the entire system was disassembled. The process of disentanglement of church and state created an identity crisis in Virginia. In the late 1700s, the emergence of charitable efforts began with leading men of Richmond who tried to address the temporary needs of travelers, followed by groups of women who discovered new roles they could play through charitable works. The new "system" became a potpourri of societies, congregations, associations, and county units attempting to provide for the social welfare of the populous. The intersectionality of religion and social welfare continued as a diverse landscape of small and large organizations and congregations performing the social welfare functions in Richmond and throughout the Commonwealth emerged. Today, to attempt to separate the church from the state in this conglomerate of agencies is neither possible nor desirable. However, understanding its' historical complexity is essential if one is to engage in contemporary practice within Richmond's health and human service system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the conflict between lived religion and the state control of poor relief in a modernizing society by analysing the case of Emma Mäkinen's private orphanage. Emma Mäkinen's philanthropic work among neglected children was motivated by her Evangelical Revivalist conviction. Because of her trust in the transformative power of faith, she considered it appropriate to establish an orphanage next to a shelter for 'fallen' women. This decision led her onto a collision course with the State Inspector of Poor Relief and the general public, who did not share her religious views but emphasized the legislative and moral aspects vis-à-vis organizing social work. The conflict demonstrates, firstly, how the ancien régime and the traditional religious authority of the Evangelical Lutheran state church in particular was challenged by individual agency in voluntary associations such as the Evangelical Revivalist Free Mission. Secondly, the case of Emma Mäkinen's orphanage reflects how new kinds of boundaries were created by the encroaching of state control into the sphere of private philanthropy, followed by the strengthening role of scientific theories and nationalistic thinking in social work. Thirdly, the conflict opens up a view on border-crossings, thus emphasizing the undefined nature of a modernizing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on socially-engaged religion in Japan and research on the non-profit sector in that country tend to be mutually disregarding. This article attempts to fill the gap between the scholarship on socially-engaged religion and that on the non-profit sector. It first outlines the ways in which legal categories of civil society organisations in Japan hinder the identification of religious organisations with the rest of the non-profit sector. Second, it places organised religion within Japan's broader non-profit sector. Finally, the article examines the connections between religious and civil society organisations in other non-profit sectors. The cases suggest that organised religion is involved in some form or other in all of the major sectors of the broader non-profit sector but that their participation varies both by sector and religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that differences in religious ecologies, between China and the polities of Taiwan and Hong Kong are necessary but insufficient explanations for their different approaches to the reliance on religious actors for the delivery of social services. I discuss briefly two other explanations for the differences in policy outcomes: the legacies of colonial and semi-colonial rule, and the influence of ruling party ideologies, before I shift to an historical neo-institutional approach, which contrasts the path dependency of past policies of usurpation directed by the CCP at religious institutions between 1949 and 1978, and the policies of cooptation adopted in Taiwan and Hong Kong during the same period. I argue that although the Chinese government has affirmed with increasing clarity in recent years its interest in an approach that encourages the cooptation of religious institutions, the previous approach of usurpation has undermined the resources of religious institutions, left many religious actors distrustful of authorities, and continues to influence many constituencies that could oppose the approach of cooptation. To substantiate this argument, the essay proceeds as follows: it first discusses the different strategies available to states as they accumulate symbolic power, underlining the role of religious institutions in that process; then it contrasts the results achieved by religious philanthropy in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the provision of a wide array of services, on the one hand, with the difficulties faced by their counterparts in the delivery of social services in China, on the other; and finally it reviews some of the explanations for the discrepancies observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including religious philanthropy, humanitarianism, and socio-religious status of members within the religious organisations.

While some instruments may be developed for a discrete research study, others could have significant utility as a tool for researchers and practitioners if they are found to be both culturally and psychometrically reliable measures. The persistence of religion as a central component of daily life for many African-Americans provides a rich opportunity for researchers to develop tools that can be used broadly by clinicians and clergy. Research expediency and cultural neutrality cannot be the hallmarks of measurement instrument design. If the goal of research is to gain awareness of existing viewpoints and desired outcomes among a particular population, it is important to tailor that tool to collect the views and outcomes to the population under study. The results of this study show that the ATRHSS is a reliable measure that can accomplish this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using rapid ethnographic methodology, the study focused on the history and current responses of a Black Missionary Baptist church in northwest Mississippi to the myriad of social problems facing the African American community in both rural and urban settings. The aim of the study was to uncover and document the history and the role of the church in the implementation of social services and outreach ministries that promote the overall improvement of quality of life and wellness of it's members and the community. The results of this study suggest that the church's social service/outreach ministries are designed, developed, and implemented in ways that purposefully and positively improve and enhance the quality of life church members and residents of North Mississippi and the surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A developing area of research involves understanding the influence of ecological and cultural factors that support the rehabilitation of juvenile sexual offenders. The Black church provides an ideal starting point in this line of research because of the historical position the church has within the African American community. In this exploratory study, content analysis was used to review the written responses of a purposive sample of 167 Black church members from one congregation to identify what role the Black church should play in helping juvenile sex offenders and their families. The results indicate that, overall, church members believe the Black church should provide support. In addition, participants indicated that there is a strong need in the church for further education, training and collaboration with professionals and other authority figures. Church members also held parents and the home environment responsible for the offending behaviors. Considerations for church policy development and implications for social work practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1894 the prominent English journalist and religious visionary, W. T. Stead, published If Christ came to Chicago!, a work of investigative journalism focusing on the problems of the modern city. The book constituted a manifesto for Stead's notion of the ‘Civic Church’, a religious movement through which he hoped to revive a sense of national religion, and unite churches and philanthropic associations around a shared commitment to follow Christ's example of social service. This article explores the development of Stead's ‘Civic Church’ ideal and his campaign to achieve this in Britain's urban-industrial society between 1886 and 1895. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When it comes to the relevance of a process with direct consequences on contemporary reality, the theme chosen and its scope is of great present interest, especially in this transition period from the state centralised economy to the capitalist one, because the dialogue between social work and religiousness is considered of utmost importance, and the sociologic research can bring real and major contributions to this debate in view of reaching social progress. The paper present some synthetic considerations related to the information from the literature regarding the reference topic connected to the Romanians' religious affiliation, values, institutional trust, the presence of the Church in an institution of social work and child protection. We construct thus the verifiable hypothesis of the linear growth in religious orientation of the DGASPC Caraş-Severin employees. The linear modelling of the growth of religious orientation is not confirmed by previous research, however we can verify in time and by introducing certain important information, into the field of sociologic research, the more relevant as the study of Romanians' religiousness covers a longer period. The data related to the scope of the reflection on the dialogue between social work and religiousness in the context of European Romania's social reality proves that the presence of the Church in the field of child protection in Romania is already a certainty, and also confirms the assertion that the Church is one of the institutions that highlights social syncopes, actively contributes and participates in their solving. By means of numerous partnerships, the Church has also become a fine asistential indicator and a subtle „barometer” for the prevention and treatment of pressure and tension accumulated and accented in situations of communities' difficulty and especially among children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]