It was forbidden and half the social workers were Buddhist anyway. Currently, my church is involved with community development in the HUD Empowerment Zone project. More or less it's working. Presbyterians aren't known for strong arm conversion tactics so that's not the issue. The most negative thing I have witnessed is the way government regulation drives our program development.
Churches have the luxury of developing nuanced and site specific ministries.
My experience with government agencies is that they paint in broad strokes. And whoever brings the most money to the table gets to make the rules. So it's more likely than not that your program will metamorphose into one size fits all rather than the vision that brought you to the table in the first place. What that has meant for us so far is that we're limited in who we're allowed to serve. Folks on this side of the street but not that side.