The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told the Guardian this week that “there is a certain toxicity about the brand” of Christianity. It is a concern most keenly felt among evangelical Christians. One senior source at the Evangelical Alliance, an umbrella organisation representing about a million British Christians, says part of their job is to “detoxify the brand”. These are extraordinary admissions from what is normally the most boosterish and self-confident part of the Christian church.

There are increasing signs that evangelical Christian groups are using social action to detoxify their brand, weaving their charitable work into the fabric of people’s lives. As the welfare state retreats, faith groups are increasingly supplying volunteers, local knowledge, and sometimes money to the places left behind.

The Christian charity the Trussell Trust runs 420 food banks. In Wales, Evangelical churches run social projects worth more than £100m a year, according to Elfed Godding…