Curating Spaces of Hope: Exploring the Potential for Intra-Communities’ Dialogue (ICD) and Faith-Based Organisations, in a Post-COVID Society

Abstract

During this paper I will consider the role of Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) in connecting and resourcing communities through partnerships with the public sector, and the potential for partnerships of these kinds to inform curation of new spaces of hope, engagement, and practice, in a post-COVID society, using intra-communities dialogue. First, I will explore intra-communities dialogue (ICD). I will present ICD as the process of mapping and listening to shared matters of concern and socio-material practices that emerge from secular and religious actants who share and shape the same postsecular public spaces. Second, I will argue that to use ICD a new understanding of FBOs is required. Therefore, I will consider the deficit of understanding of FBOs within the literatures and propose a synthesis of different typologies of FBOs through the production of a new paradigm of FBOs, called Spaces of Hope. Third, I will use Spaces of Hope to open up the socio-material nuances of space within three FBOs, Mustard Seed, Beacon Community and Old Town Church (OTC) and address four matters of concern for FBOs: different practices, different spheres, different scales and different beliefs. This will show how Spaces of Hope can resource and support ICD within and between FBOs. Finally, in light of the capacity of Spaces of Hope to engage in ICD and map postsecular spaces, I will conclude by questioning how Spaces of Hope might support postsecular partnerships through ICD within a post-COVID society.