|PIC1|"I think the greatest challenge for Christians is to recognise what's going on in our communities in terms of spirituality and connect with it," said Steve Chalke at the Faithworks conference on Friday.

"I grew up in a culture that told me that on the inside of the church we were spiritual and that on the outside of the church they were cold and secular and weren't the least bit interested in spirituality," continued Chalke, the ministry's founder, as he urged Christians to tap into the flourishing interest in spirituality within their local communities.

"We've discovered that there is a deep sense of spiritual longing rampant in every community. The challenge of the church is how to connect to that, instead of being irrelevant to it."

He added that Britain's "tired democracy" was not the answer to many of the country's social woes.

"It needs to become about volunteering and active engagement and the church can be a strong player in that. But we've got to show up and deliver. It's our responsibility."

In the morning session, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears told the Faithworks conference on Friday morning that there was a "big role" for faith groups to play in rejuvenating local communities.

"I think a lot of the time the churches are the first to step in and provide practical support to neighbourhoods which are facing huge and complex social challenges," she told Faithworks supporters, as she listed poverty, substance abuse and gang violence as just some of the difficulties.

"It's about faith inspiring practical action," she said, acknowledging that the Government had failed to utilise the passion and energy of faith groups in the past.

Ms Blears also admitted that the Government did have a number of concerns over faith groups, particularly as to whether partnership with one faith group would isolate other faith groups, as well as questions over whether faith-based public services could be relied upon to serve everyone regardless of individual beliefs.

"These are legitimate questions but I believe they are answerable and that we can find the right way through. It's because we've started to answer them that we've come to a more mature understanding of the role of faith groups in our communities and the contribution that they can make," she said. "Faith groups can and should be part of the response to the big challenges."

Ms Blears went on to assure Christians that local authorities had started to recognise the contribution that faith groups can make and were making efforts to improve their relationships them. Government is "genuinely welcoming your contribution", she told them.

This sentiment was shared by the committed Christian Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, who told the Faithworks conference during Thursday's opening sessions that Government and the church were experiencing a change for the better in their relationship.

"The impact (of Christians) on Britain has been immense and there is today in Government and among politicians a new recognition of the value of faith in society," he said, pointing to the fact that 80 per cent of the activists who joined in the Jubilee Campaign and Make Poverty History were from the churches.

"We need people of faith taking advantage of that new recognition, working in their communities and formulating the answers just as Christians did so effectively in the past," he continued, reminding Christians of the massive change that William Wilberforce made 200 years ago when the slave trade was abolished across the British Empire.

"Believers don't need to hide. In today's Britain believers can speak up and contribute in confidence that the value of what we have to say is widely understood despite what I hear some writers say."

He went on to praise those Christians who become involved in social action: "They bring invaluable qualities in that service and they are qualities that modern Britain urgently needs a great deal more of."

Later on Friday, Fran Beckett reminded Christians of the need to retain their distinctively Christian identity while carrying out their compassionate works

"In the midst of it all we need to be distinctive. There are many people out there who don't know the name of Jesus and who are engaged in community development.

"We need to be a bunch of people who individually and corporately pursue intimacy with God and let that intimacy colour our engagement with the world around us.

"It's so easy to be activists. It's so hard to remember why we are doing what we are doing and to come back to the God who is the source and inspiration of it all."

The Faithworks conference opened on Thursday night with a call to Christians to transform their communities by sharing the same love with others that they themselves have received from God.

The Bishop of Liverpool and long-time supporter of Faithworks, the Rt Rev James Jones, called on Christians to show compassion to those in need.

"You and I are called by God to be agents of Him - the one who believes in them - because one day we discovered he believes in us. And because we know that He believes in us, we can dare to believe that He also believes in them."

The three-day conference has been put together by Faithworks to inspire and encourage Christians as they work to socially and spiritually transform their communities, and is being hosted by Faithworks leaders Malcolm Duncan and Steve Chalke.

Other speakers at the conference include the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance the Rev Joel Edwards, Dr Patrick Dixon, Brian Souter, and Bishop Joe Aldred.