Resourcing Mission
Practical Theology for Changing Churches
by Helen Cameron
Paperback
Price: £16.99
Publisher:SCM imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd
Published:12 January 2010
ISBN:978-0-334-04146-7
GoodBookStall Review:
Helen is a practical theologian with a mission heart. What a combination you might say. In this book, written primarily for the local church, she provides material which a congregation can use in a mission review process. Helen offers something new in this field. Many of us have written about churches and growth (I wrote Grove's Developing a Strategy for Mission) but here theology and strategy are mixed together. Others have looked at church history and the changing church but Helen brings biblical passages to bear on local mission today. With real examples of churches using a model called the 'Pastoral Cycle' (Experience, Exploration, Reflection, Planning p9), here we see how theology interplays with praxis. Exploring money, buildings, partnership, decision making, etc here is a framework for local groups to think theologically and discover resources and insights they might not have thought they had.
Reviewer: Jim Currin (08/03/10)
Helen is a practical theologian with a mission heart. What a combination you might say. In this book, written primarily for the local church, she provides material which a congregation can use in a mission review process. Helen offers something new in this field. Many of us have written about churches and growth (I wrote Grove's Developing a Strategy for Mission) but here theology and strategy are mixed together. Others have looked at church history and the changing church but Helen brings biblical passages to bear on local mission today. With real examples of churches using a model called the 'Pastoral Cycle' (Experience, Exploration, Reflection, Planning p9), here we see how theology interplays with praxis. Exploring money, buildings, partnership, decision making, etc here is a framework for local groups to think theologically and discover resources and insights they might not have thought they had.
Reviewer: Jim Currin (08/03/10)
| Reader review: - Elizabeth brown, Leominster Priory, Herefordshire This is an excellent book for people who want to engage in forward-looking mission in their parishes, or who would like to evaluate and update their church’s vision. It is understandable and practical, yet theological and based on Scripture. Helen Cameron looks at five different styles of church, reflecting various cultures. She evaluates what they are doing from an objective view-point. She shows how the ‘pastoral cycle’ can be used as a tool of evaluation, linking what is already going on, with what God is starting, in mission. She does not give answers, but encourages churches to work out what might be best for them themselves. This book would be useful for Christians of any denomination, for both lay and ordained ministers, for those involved in or teaching about local ministry, as well as students or scholars. I shall be using it myself, to work out in a theological way, what our role is, in what God’s mission to the world is in our context, culture and tradition. |
