Mission Shaped Church

Mission Shaped Church, 2004

“Society in Britain has changed dramatically in the last 30 years… in our understanding of community and how we relate to one another. One of the responses has been to plant new churches and create ‘fresh expressions’ of church… Mission shaped church is a crucial tool for all who care about God’s mission today.”

Mission shaped church is one of my early reads in the process of deciding an honours research project; its been a good read.

Opening with a chapter entitled ‘changing contexts’ the book sets quite a stark overview of the changes that have taken place during the past 30 years in the UK and the related questions about how we think about, talk about, and do church.

Following this is an interesting, and challenging look at the journey of the Church of England up to about 2003 in terms of new expressions of, or ‘emerging’, church.

Highlights incude a brief overview of models and practise which are being affirmed as styles of mission-shaped church, along with the beginnings of theological reflection into the issue, what feels like a level of frankness and optimism in terms of what church might look like in a changed world.

Theologically, its a little brief, and certainly more than a little broad – reflecting the breadth of the Anglican church. This is certainly the beginning of thinking about church, emerging church, and youthwork – and boy is there plenty more to read after this.

Next, The Future of the Parish Church, Croft, 2006