Mission-shaped church - second edition
Church Planting and Fresh expressions of Church in a Changing Context
by C of E’s Mission and Public Affairs Council
Paperback
Price: £10.95
Publisher:Church House Publishing (CHP) part of Hymns Ancient & Modern
Published:2009
ISBN:978-0-715-14189-2
GoodBookStall Review:
This is a superb overview of the changing social trends over the past 30 years, the nature of church planting and an exploration of new expressions of church as it is happening around the country and a challenge to develop a missionary church. It’s a scholarly, but not heavy going, read and a must for church leaders and leadership groups to brainstorm their own mission in the locality. It is very much an Anglican study, there was a Methodist on the working group but the other 10 were Anglican – so there’s little mention of how the free churches have also pioneered imaginative initiatives while addressing the same social changes. That aside, the book is a huge encouragement to the Anglican Communion and those free-churchman that might quip about sleepiness in that denomination. Thoroughly recommended.
Reviewer: Paddy Beresford (19/06/09)
This is a superb overview of the changing social trends over the past 30 years, the nature of church planting and an exploration of new expressions of church as it is happening around the country and a challenge to develop a missionary church. It’s a scholarly, but not heavy going, read and a must for church leaders and leadership groups to brainstorm their own mission in the locality. It is very much an Anglican study, there was a Methodist on the working group but the other 10 were Anglican – so there’s little mention of how the free churches have also pioneered imaginative initiatives while addressing the same social changes. That aside, the book is a huge encouragement to the Anglican Communion and those free-churchman that might quip about sleepiness in that denomination. Thoroughly recommended.
Reviewer: Paddy Beresford (19/06/09)
| Reader review: - Phelim McIntyre Mission-shaped Church, a report from the working group of the C of E's Mission and Public Affairs Council, is challenging reading. It asks us to look beyound the comfort zone of Common Worship, and Sunday Services to how the Anglican church can be relevant in the 21st Centruy. Some people will not, and do not, like it as the questions it raises do not fit in with how they want church to be. Even so, this is a report which needs to be read and discussed. The emphasis could be seen as too evangelical, with not enough room for the traditional wing of the Church. But Mission-shaped Church is a starting point, not the answer. Put simply this is not a report just for PCC and Deanery Synod members, but for anyone who has concerns about how the Church of England can be relevant in today's society. |
