Faith and public value: religious organisations in transition

The United Nations 2030 Agenda has elevated the eradication of poverty to a central priority of global governance, urging societies to mobilize all relevant actors. Religious organisations (ROs) play an indispensable role in addressing social needs of public relevance (e.g., education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation). Their mission, historically centred on pastoral and spiritual care, has progressively expanded to encompass social services, positioning them as key players within collaborative governance networks (Koku & Acquaye, 2011). As Benedict XVI stated in Deus Caritas Est (2005), the Church’s charitable action is not ancillary but constitutive of its identity, directly linked to the pursuit of the common good.

Poverty has been reconceptualised as a multidimensional condition, transcending income deprivation and encompassing cultural exclusion, health inequalities, and lack of access to education and essential services (Bradshaw, 2007; Ayiemba et al., 2015). This multidimensionality has raised expectations on ROs, compelling them to adapt structures and practices to remain effective contributors to public value creation (Moore, 1995). Their ability to generate trust, foster inclusion, and provide essential services situates them as non-state actors co-producing (public) value.
These external pressures raise crucial questions of organisational change. As Hadaway (2011) and Moyer et al. (2012) note, ROs face growing challenges of innovation, stakeholder pressure, and managerial adaptation (Torry, 2017).
This study addresses a central research question: how do societal transformations associated with the UN 2030 Agenda and contemporary governance challenges reshape the internal organisation of religious entities? Methodologically, it employs an exploratory case study analysis (Yin, 2003) to examine the organisational implications of religious involvement in collaborative governance. The expected outcome is that ROs, rather than retreating behind spirituality, will gradually shift toward managerial practices, becoming hybrid organisations where managerial logics provide new momentum to spirituality, ensuring continued social relevance in modern times.