it was a joy celebrating with pioneer students at cms the completion of various durham university degrees and awards through their training. this photo shows the first graduates from the african christianity route through the masters programme with harvey and joseph who lead it. congratulations to everyone who completed an award - it's no mean feat. cathy has written up a blog post on the graduation old, new and unexpected treasure graduation 2024
as promised following the last post about the pioneer student tiles this year's one is above. as ever it take s a new turn. iain explains it...
The carved path represents the journey of the pioneer. This year's path will appear more like an archeologist’s trench on the site of the tile. This is pioneering as a work of excavation searching for wisdom. The treasure is represented by a splash of gold leaf - perhaps spilling over the edge of the excavation into the landscape.
when we refocused our work and team in post christian britain we retained our mission focus at the edges encouraging pioneers and pioneering churches. that is what we have done well and are passionate about. but we also discerned three particular areas to prioritise and encourage - younger people, people experiencing poverty and diasporas.
i am excited to let you know about a new piece of work that has grown out that third focus of our cms team in britain - acts 11. acts 11 is a centre for global witness and human migration. harvey kwiyani is one of our team leaders and is the visionary who has developed the idea. we have a launch event over two days - 26-27 september. the first day is a conference aimed at anyone interested. the second day is a conversation for those involved in theological education or missions organisations. all the details and how to book are here. you can book into one or other or both days. you can also sign up virtually too.
at cms we often say the gifts of the world church are already here and celebrate that. but we then don't seem to quite know how to make the most of that. it's been my friendship with harvey that has helped me work out how to practically put some legs on that. the fruit of that has been adding in an african and asian pathway to our training (and we hope latin american in the future too), and now this acts 11 centre which will be involved in resources, research, training, gatherings, networking and so on. we hope the fruit is also new understandings of collaboration, decolonised mission and so on.
we had lined this up before the riots in the uk in august. but now this seems more timely and more important than ever. please do come. and do spread the word about it. you can book here
i am so delighted to be able to let you know we have added an asian christianity route through the masters degree at cms. nuam hatzaw has joined our team to lead it. we have 6 bursary places offering 3k each towards it (which is half the fees or thereabouts). read more about it here where you can see more info, watch an interview with nuam and find out how to apply. word of mouth is our absolute best means of letting people know so please spread the word. we'd love to fill those places for september.
there is an open evening on august 6 - see page for info
i'm not having a bad day honest! see luke 4:28-30 obvs.
this issue of anvil just out, makes my heart sing. all of the articles are from cms students. i guess it gives you a snapshot into the sorts of questions, conversations, explorations, theologising they are doing with us.
there's a pioneer gathering in london the last weekend of june. one not to miss - hope to see you there! it's only £35 though you'll need to find accommodation. book here
i am currently in brazil and have been all week. i am here with cms and have been at a gathering exploring what pioneering looks like in the context of latin america. it's my first visit to this part of the world having never been to south or central america. i always love the first impression of a new place - we landed in the the evening - this is the shot from the car park as we came out of the airport with the sun setting over sau paulo.
the gathering has been in spanish, portuguese with someone whispering translation to me in english. there are people here from several countries in south and central america and the latin diaspora. it's been a great week and the people at the gathering are doing really inspiring pioneering at the edges. i am here simply to be alongside and share from our experience over the last twenty years or so. it''s really been a design lab with flipcharts and scribblings on pieces of paper filling all the walls pondering how to take things forward here, catlyse more practice, build movement and so on. it reminds me of when we dreamed up pioneer training with a group back in 2009 in similar fashion and look what happened as a result of that! i have taken as many photos of flipcharts as anything else... the gathering is in indaiatuba, a city a couple of hours from sau paulo but we've mainly been in the venue. i will no doubt share a few photos when i get back but it's been pretty full on with the work side so i have not got out and about a lot. of course it is also lovely to get some sun :)
today we head to vittoria to visit a couple of projects. i have been invited to preach at a church there on sunday so pondering what to do for that but looking forward to it. then sau paulo for a night before flying back to land in time to see harry perform at the royal albert hall that evening. this will be the third time in a row i have flown back from the americas and gone to a gig in the evening so i seem to have created a tradition for myself.
when i was a kid everyone loved brazil football shirts with pele on the back. so it was fun to head out and be with some others who were after brazil shirts - the magic is still there clearly.
we visited a project in the park here and it gave a chance for a group photo on top of a huge skate park half pipe. i like this shot with a lad on roller blades in the bottom of the shot. i am not in the photo btw because i am taking it!
as with the reading the bible from the edges, this was written for the cms pioneer blog and i am posting it here so i have a copy in my own hands as it were as things tend to eventually disappear online elsewhere...
When I reflected on the wonderful gift that pioneers bring I wrote that up as True North with nine facets. One of them is prayer and the words above are what I wrote at that time which I still like. I am not sure what constitutes prayer for you but for me it is a whole mix of things. I am a spontaneous rather than routine person so I like to mix things up. I like variety. Part of that mix is certainly using art, images, music and so on to reflect, as well as contemplative practices, written prayers, liturgy and having informal conversation with God, walking, silence, retreat.
Maybe it is the state of the world at the moment, maybe it is that I have become more aware of privilege and whiteness, maybe it’s the experience of how broken Britain seems, but I especially appreciate what I would call praying from the edges, or praying from below. I realise that the language of centre and edges is not straightforward: who gets to decide what is centre and what is edge? But hopefully it will do for now. It fits well with how we are trying to reflect on what we are about at CMS.
The best possible way to do that is to be with people when they pray and feel the longings of those prayers. There are plenty of communities in the UK to be with who are at the edge in that way. Reading the Magnificat with cleaners from Clean For Good has lingered in my imagination for a few months now since I was with them in December for evening prayer for example. Somehow the words carried a different meaning or resonance when prayed with them.
The best resource CMS have ever been involved in producing, or certainly the most popular and best known, is called The Christ We Share (sorry it’s no longer available). It’s a collection of 32 images of Christ which are representations from cultures all round the world. They include the classic American-looking Jesus from the 50s or Robert Powell from the series Jesus of Nazareth, which I remember being on television when I was a teenager. But those are alongside African, Asian, South American, First Nations representations. There is a set of notes which gives some context to each image. I have always loved it and used it with many groups. What it does is to help you see that your own image is a take from where you are standing, rather than the take. And you quickly realise that you are going to have a richer picture if you have those multiple representations, some of which are quite different and quite disrupting in their own way. It’s a kind of expanding of horizons, drawing the curtains back so you have a bigger view. I think this is all the more important or helpful if your own take has been at the centre of things. When that is the case as it has been for those of us who are white and Western being de-centred is a necessary practice.
Probably the first window that opened that up to me was praying with women or through women’s eyes. I remember for example Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild’s Human Rites which was a huge collection and had prayers for example for the first menstruation of a girl. Another collection I loved and still turn to is The New Women Included which is a collection from the Community of St Hilda. This was founded in 1987 by women exasperated by the sexism in the church. One if the things they used to do before the ordination of women in the Church of England was to invite ordained women from other places in the world who could lead. This was in the wake of synod voting against this, so was highly subversive and got them thrown out of at least one venue by the then Bishop of London. I also love Janet Morley’s various collections of prayers which seem to combine that women’s perspective mixed with prayers from an experience of poverty. I recognise some of her writing in the Hilda collection actually. Tess Ward’s Celtic Wheel of the Year is another I have used quite a lot. You can pick these books up online secondhand very cheaply.
I have enthused about Claudio Carvalhaes’ project Liturgies From Below before – that is the most amazing collection of prayers from various places round the world. They are full of thanks, rage, lament, longing, despair, defiance – quite extraordinary really. Reimagining worship has some in the resources section
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder I was amazed how little the prayers and liturgy of the Church of England had to say to that experience. This may just have been my own experience – and, yes, they always include psalms and intercessions – but I was looking for something much deeper, that connected with this terrible experience of oppression, racism, and violence, to grieve, to lament. In the end I had to look elsewhere and it was Gilles Peterson on his BBC Radio 6 Music show who voiced the grief, pain and anger through black protest, blues, reggae and soul music. It wasn’t where I expected to find the ability to pray or to find comfort but I was really grateful to him.
I recently was given Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley. She is North American and reading her prayers and participating in her exercises gives you a sense of what it is like to pray as a black woman in America. She is a very gifted writer.
When I visited Canada last year and indeed before and after I have been exploring, reading and discovering theology and contextual practice among First Nations people. One of the things I discovered in Harold Johnson’s The Power Of Story is that at the end of prayer many First Nations people will say ‘all my relations’. It’s sort of like an amen. I found that a beautiful practice and often end my prayer now with that reminder of gratefulness for my connectedness with the Creator, all people, all creatures, the earth itself.
One off the most surprising prayers I came across in the last few years goes something like this:
Jesus is my bulldozer Amen! Bulldoze my case O Lord! Amen! He’s my bulldozer, Amen! Bulldoze the lawyer O Lord! Amen! He’s my bulldozer! Amen! Bulldoze the judge O Lord! Amen! Jesus is my bulldozer!
It sounds slightly bonkers at first but when you realise it is a song sung by prisoners who experience a corrupt justice system it makes sense. If you google it you’ll find it out there with various versions. That is in the book Theology Brewed In An African Pot – a gem of a book which has prayers and liturgies at the end of each chapter.
As for many others, Gaza and the West Bank has been on my mind and in my prayers longing for an end to the violence, brutality and genocide. Amos Trust’s collections Words of Hope and Seeds of Hope are really well put together and are a mix of quotes, prayers, poems arranged into themes like protest, home, hope. Both books then have some liturgies called words of hope that draw things together. The sources are many and varied but Amos Trust has stood in solidarity with Palestinians for many years so there are some prayers for peace and justice that connect well particularly with that context
I could go on.… but hopefully you get the idea. I should add that there is a kind of praying from the edges that frustrates me. An example for me was when I visited India and in the prayers and worship I felt on one occasion I could have been in a Church of England cathedral and on another I could have been at a Hillsongs Church. It’s understandable that with globalisation there are these circulations and exchanges but I find them to be of very little interest. It’s always good to seek out those prayers that have a soulful articulation that is connected to the soil of a place and draws on language, metaphors and imagery from there.
I am so grateful to alternative worship which in many ways opened up this vista to me, both becoming aware of different articulations that might draw on other cultures, but also encouraging that same adventure of the imagination to connect with the cultures we are in. I still long for more of that kind of practice. In my view the way the Church of England controls its liturgies creates a church where that can be pretty difficult to do, especially for example in relation to communion, and needs breaking open very differently. Leaders of worship should be freed up to improvise much more creatively. But a good start is praying from the edges and then perhaps move on to write your own in defiance of empire.
I would love to know what praying from the edges looks like for you. Are there prayers, liturgies, art, music or whatever you use? Do let me know.
this article was written for and posted on the cms pioneer blog. i am also posting it here because i have learned over the years things disappear when sites get revamped and i like to keep the archive of things i have written...
When I visited Palestine in 1998 I visited a centre for Palestinian liberation theology. I bought a book on the Bible and colonialism. I discovered that for Palestinians the story of the Exodus doesn’t resonate in the same way that it does for other liberation theologies. It’s obvious now but it wasn’t to me then. They identify with those in the story who dwell in the land and get driven out, the Canaanites.
When I landed at CMS a few years later, hungry to learn about global theologies and mission, one of the first books my then boss Paul Thaxter gave me was called Voices From The Margins, a collection of essays. The one I remember the most is by Robert Warrior, a First Nations member of the Osage tribe (which you will know about if you have seen Killers of the Flower Moon). The chapter was called Canaanites, Cowboys and Indians. In it he says this:
“The obvious characters in the story for Native Americans to identify with are the Canaanites, the people who already lived in the promised land. As a member of the Osage Nation of American Indians who stands in solidarity with other tribal people around the world, I read the Exodus stories with Canaanite eyes. And, it is the Canaanite side of the story that has been overlooked by those seeking to articulate theologies of liberation. Especially ignored are those parts of the story that describe Yahweh’s command to mercilessly annihilate the indigenous population.”
In CMS I found there was actually a gold mine of this sort of stuff if you were prepared to do some digging.
Rewinding a bit further back, while I was at university I joined a group called Men, Women and God. In that group we read passages of the Bible that seemed on the surface to present traditional views of the roles of women and men. We were helpfully steered through them by those who had explored the texts, theologies, culture and so on. They were reading ‘with women’s eyes’ and that opened up a whole new vista of partnership, freedom and liberation for women (and men). That group was such a relief, so helpful!
If you grew up in a Eurocentric worldview you probably unwittingly have learned that your take on the Bible is the right one and other people’s is dodgy!
Reading the Bible from the edges, through other people’s eyes, fit well with the so called shift to postmodern times which we were discussing back in the 90s (and which has not gone away). It was a shift away from one dominating (Western) story of modernity with its objective rational truth to something more akin to a meal where there is a conversation and those round the table have a number of takes, stories. The best thing you can do is to share your take with humility and listen well to others and you’ll likely discover some things you had not seen before, which will give you a bigger picture. Sadly, I fear the post-modern table was not all it was cracked up to be – or at least issues of domination do not seem to have gone away.
If you grew up in a Eurocentric worldview or church you may have to get over some fear or worry because you probably unwittingly have learned that your take on the Bible is the right one and other people’s is dodgy! Interestingly it applies whether you are liberal or evangelical. I have come to think they may just be two different kinds of superiority that belonged to the modern era. You may even have learned to call your view ‘biblical’ or more latterly ‘orthodox’! That is simply a ruse. We have learned some odd things and can feel very defended about our ways of understanding and knowing. What makes this a bit more complex now is that you can get very Western ‘reads’ of the text in all sorts of places round the world, in some cases dogmatically so, which is a confusing legacy of empire. But again, dig a bit and you’ll find those who are doing the edge work.
I have read the Bible most days of my life and it never ceases to puzzle me, intrigue me, undo me. And I love it when someone opens up a new angle or possibility…
If you like the sound of this sort of approach to reading the Bible it’s more readily available than ever, though you’ve still got to do some digging. Here’s a few of the books I have been enjoying and/or challenged by recently. I have picked some that are on the Bible, not just contextual or intercultural theology more generally.
Bible Blindspots edited by Jione Havea, and Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon has some great chapters looking at Bible texts. ‘Samaritans and Empire’ by Nestor Miguez is incredible – this sermon I preached last year was inspired by that. In a similar vein Jione’s chapter on ‘Egypt Reframed’ is also wonderful in the flip it gives you on Egypt in the narrative. It is so helpful to get a take from the perspective of those who are ‘enemies’ of the story teller.
I have been very inspired by First Nations people and their worldview and spirituality and doing a lot of reading around that. On the Bible end, the First Nations Translation of the New Testament is amazing as way of reading the Bible. You get a flavour here of the gorgeous version of the beatitudes.
Unsettling the Word is a collection of Bible experiments in decolonisation written from Canada. It’s not all indigenous writers but nonetheless is also really good. The pieces are quite short so makes a good devotional book. ‘Destroy Everything’ by Derrick Jensen is a rewrite of Deuteronomy 7 and in the light of Gaza right now it could not be more pertinent. Another chapter by way of example is ‘Prayer of the Sent Away’, an extremely moving reflection by Ryan Dueck on Ezra and the ethnic cleansing that takes place.
Lastly the commentary Romans Disarmed by Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh is brilliant. I add it here because they definitely read Romans with the lens of Empire and First Nations people front and centre. It really is up there for me as one of the best and most creative commentaries I have ever read. And they have these wonderful targums, as theu did in Colossians Remixed, a sort of improvised rereading of particular passages. I hope to review all these over on my blog at some point.
Reading the Bible from all manner of edges enriches it for me, whatever context I am in.
In Romans Disarmed, Keesmaat and Walsh discuss clobber texts. This is a way of saying that some people (for example women, LGBTQ+, black and brown people who have been enslaved, indigenous people whose land has been stolen) have had the Bible used over and against them. They have been clobbered by it. The example that springs to mind is a scene in the film 12 Years A Slave where the text ‘slaves obey your masters’ Is being read out by the slave master at a church service.
Take Back The Word is a collection of essays that are a queer reading of the Bible. This is another edge to read the Bible from. It’s such an important edge right now to try and understand and feel the perspective of. They too discuss clobber texts. The thing that caught my attention the most in that book was the appeal in the introduction to those who have been clobbered by the Bible to find a way to make it their friend again. I thought that was a lovely exhortation, though how easy a journey that is I don’t know. My favourite chapter was ‘Reading The Bible From Low and Outside’ by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott.
If you prefer a podcast there is a series SheToo produced by Bible Society that looks at seven texts which include violence against women.
For pioneers the most important voice may well be to enable the Bible to be read from the edge where you are pioneering – maybe with spiritual seekers, young people, a working class estate. I wonder what that will look like. But actually I have found that reading the Bible from all manner of edges enriches it for me whatever context I am in and whatever context I am pioneering in.
In Deconstructing Whiteness, Empire and Mission, Anthony Reddie suggests that the tactics of reflexivity, decentring whiteness and finding new voices for the norm might be a start to decolonise the curriculum of theological education. I couldn’t agree more and I so appreciate his voice. Those three tactics are also good for reading the Bible. I have read the Bible most days of my life I think and still do. It never ceases to puzzle me, intrigue me, undo me. And I love it when someone opens up a new angle or possibility that deepens my appreciation or threatens my world. Maybe you can find the voice of someone at the edges and read the Bible from the edges with them, through their eyes.
come along to an open day and find out about our training at cms for pioneers, ordinands, lay ministers, youth, children and family workers, pioneers in new housing areas, those exploring african christianity and mission in the west and so on.
this page lists all the open day dates at the moment and has some student interviews about how they found it. there is one on feb 26 in person and feb 27 online for example. i love love love what we do and seeing the journey students go on as they explore that blend of who they are, their dream for what they sense their call is, discovering a world of global and local theology and mission that both deconstructs and opens up imagination for what's possible. there's a sort of pragmatism out there at the moment which seems to want to get to work with as little training as possible. my advice is get to work but train while you do. i have observed over the years that those who dive a bit deeper seem better able to do the imaginative work especially if you want to be future facing.
we know because students tell us that the training gives people confidence, a community of fellow travellers, language and skills for mission and ministry. and as jo says for many "it blows them away"!
we have recently had an inspection - we are part of a wider set up with ripon college cuddesdon. think ofsted equivalent for theological education. you can read the 60 page report on the church of england web site (yeah right!). but to save you the trouble the inspectors had very positive things to say about what we offer at cms. the quote above is the short version! last year we managed to get a few funded places for youth minstry which we will try and pull off again (no promises).
if you join the next year intake you might be the 1000th student to have joined in some training with us!
i have been thinking this week about our charism or what is the unique gift we offer which we have summarised as true north. but of the nine facets of that, the one right at the heart of it is freedom. we will do out utmost to help you be free to be the person you are and pioneer out of that freedom.
we are hosting a day in bristol on march 21. the focus is around pioneering mission with and in places where people are experiencing poverty. that experience has risen dramatically. pioneers love the edges and i know lots of people present in those spaces.
we used to host what we called conversations days - exploring a theme with a range of presentations and workshops. i have always loved those. this is one of those only we are now using the name 'gather' as it seems to be what we are doing. somehow post lockdown the name has changed! part of the reason i love them is it is a chance to catch up with people pioneering who i have not seen for a while. but also the days have always been inspiring and challenging. this one will be no different.
ash barker will be presenting on his book tour no wastelands. he is an absolute legend. i can't wait.
rosie hopley is a pioneer in bristol who has worked with people at the edges in a couple of social enterprise and charity projects.
eunice attwood is a champion of people experiencing poverty - i was very moved and challenged when i heard her present on this
clean for good will be bringing a posse - this is an enterprise model that is good news for the cleaners working for them. they now have reached around the one million pound turnover mark which is exciting.
there will be more conversations too. and of course it's the gaps, lunch and so on that will be good too. we'll doubtless be going out for a drink afterwards so book a late train back so you can join us.
would love love love to see you there.
no wastelands: how to grow seedbeds of shalom in your neighbourhood by ash barker is a wonderful book. it pulls together so many threads distilling his and anj's experience, practice, wisdom, theology.
i have taken groups of pioneer students to visit ash and anj in winson green over the last 7 years and they always come away challenged and inspired. the reason is simple – they are living out the gospel in their neighbourhood in ways that are bringing visible change, visible good. ash's word for that is shalom - life flourishing in a place. ash has so much experience having done four cycles of living in urban neighbourhoods round the world facing multiple challenges. no wastelands distils the wisdom of that experience, practice, and theology into one accessible volume. it’s a mix of inspiring stories, gritty honesty, practical ideas, advice and frameworks, spiritual practices, theology and missiology, combining into an amazing handbook to guide anyone else wanting to follow in this direction, of which I hope there will be many. it is rich and deep. ash’s passion for enabling innovative leaders and changemakers from inside those neighbourhoods shines through – that’s the thing that has grabbed me personally the most. I will be coming back to this again and again and passing it on to others.
it is available from amazon or ash
we have a day (which will advertised shortly) for the pioneer network on march 21 most likley in bristol. ash will be at that so do pout that in your diary. he is also out and about round the uk as follows:
19 Jan - Nazarene Theological College’s Cafe, Manchester
27 Jan - Seedbeds Centre, East Ham, London
28 Jan - Lodge Road Community Church, Birmingham
<15 Mar - Kelvinside Hillhead Church, Glasgow
16 Mar - Forge Conference, Perth, Scotland
17 Mar - St Augustine Church, Edinburgh
21 Mar - CMS Gather day (location tbc)
12 Apr - The Church on the Corner, London (tbc)
23 Apr - Dublin
26 Apr - Forth Spring, Belfast
25 May - Holy Island, UK
7 Jun - The Message Trust, Manchester
contact seedbeds to find out more and i will add details of the march 21 day as soon as i have them.
this is a personal reflection on how we have got to where we are w.r.t. mission and the church. it was written for a think tank group in the church of england on mixed ecology (which means the ecosystem that can contain multiple ways of being church especially embracing new forms that relate to those outside of church cultures). in other words it is an english perspective, not attempting to give a global overview, and it is related primarily to the church of england. it was written as a discussion starter so reads as a set of notes rather than a crafted article. i wrote it in the wake of covid. but now seems a good moment to publish it prompted by the emerged podcast. after I had written a draft of this I came across a chapter written by graham cray in cultivating missional change which was a book published in south africa which gives an excellent overview. i have opinions on what i have written but have tried to resist commenting or critiquing at this juncture. i think it best to be generous and see these threads as part of a whole, a wider movement.
Mixed Ecology: How Did We Get Here?
This is inevitably a take and there will be many other takes and lots to fill in. So think of this as a conversation starter and something that others can add to or possibly write other takes. There is a question of how far you go back and why but I think 50 years is probably a reasonable window.
Two environmental factors
Culture - the world changed significantly whatever way you describe it - post modern, emerging, post Christendom, post Christian even. One significant factor aligned with this is digital and communication technology which has changed so much more than we realise. Some writers see the change as a threat and some as opportunity but the change is not really contested.
Decline - I remember a staged walkout at an event in the 90s of 300 young people which at the time was the stat leaving the UK church each week. Whatever way you come at it church was declining which created anxiety and pressure.
Four tributaries
Urban areas - there is a long history of engaging in poorer areas - worker priests and so forth but the marker that sticks out is the Faith in the City report in 1985 which made an impact. The reason it’s worth mentioning is it raised questions about resourcing, liturgy, young people, race, culture, mission and so forth. It probably didn’t use the term but was asking contextual questions.
Charismatic renewal - there are various tributaries of this but a lot of the same issues we talk about now were in the renewal conversations though talk of new churches came later. Whatever your tradition that movement softened the church and generated openness to the Spirit in a fresh way, and emphasised ministry in the body of Christ rather than being too clerical. There was some threat in this too in that many left and set up other things but a lot stayed and quite a lot came back. Festivals and conferences led to various networks addressing questions of church and mission in a range of ways. The likes of Graham Cray, for example, were quite shaped by that movement. John Collins who was the modern founder of HTB was too. A later tributary though less Anglican was the coalition of youth led initiatives that were part of house church movements and mission agencies from the 1990’s. This included in particular Ichthus and Pioneer along with NGM, Youth For Christ, Frontier Youth trust, Oasis, New Wine and YWAM England. This was a fusion of alt worship exploration and mission impulse. Events such as Greenbelt and Remix explored the objective of reimagining faith in the cultural commons with art and justice themes. This laid the ground for catalysing a number of other significant sub movements including, cultural shift, 24/7, the Factory, Soul Survivor and so forth.
Global missions - Lesslie Newbigin is probably the most famous voice from when he returned to England from India (1974) and drew on issues of mission and culture to say that we needed mission that took the gospel and culture in the West seriously. Another thread from missions was contextual theology which is a relatively new concept growing either out of liberation theology in S America and S Africa. The postmodern turn questioned the West’s overarching domination and narrative in theology as much as in other disciplines so global voices and other voices from the margins became very important. Contextual approaches fit this new environment well. CMS first engaged in Britain as a mission context in the 1970s. And then engaged in a new way following a report in the 2000s recommending engagement with what it described as the emerging culture.
Youthwork - as noted above the decline in young people was a lightning rod for the church’s anxiety around decline. Pete Ward made the link between cross cultural mission and youth ministry in his book Youth Culture and the Gospel in 1992. Youth ministers began experimenting and developing youth church (which they were not able to call that at times). Oxford Youthworks and Frontier Youth Trust pioneered in that space, with some iterations of YFC on board.
Some chapters in the story
Decade of evangelism. The Church of England’s efforts in the decade of evangelism (1990s) haven’t gone down that favourably in history - a review said that it had probably slowed decline at least. There was a lot of effort but not a lot to show for it. That partly fuelled questions of what a better approach was and what might come out of it. At the conference ACE99 reflecting on it, a memorable moment was when John Drane shared a cross cultural approach with spiritual seekers at new age fairs using tarot cards that seemed to polarise the room - one half excited about contextual mission and the other thinking they were hearing some new heresy.
Theology. It was not just a pragmatic movement. A re-theologising was most certainly taking place, with a significant level of thought leadership and theological reflection. Missio Dei became a widely received theological idea that flipped peoples understanding (albeit it had emerged in the 1950s). More broadly there has been a turn to context and a new appreciation of the incarnation in theology – inculturation or contextualization are two ways of expressing it. Trinitarian participation is another way that has been opened up of understanding mission. There has been a new emphasis on the Spirit in mission. Ecclesiology is also an area that has had a lot of attention, notably Rowan Williams introduction to MSC setting the tone for that. And more latterly a whole conversation has kicked off around decolonising mission and deconstructing whiteness.
Church planting. There were several ways into this but church planting became a growing area of interest. Growing indigenous expressions of church was a logical outcome of mission that drew on cross cultural approaches - youth churches grew from this understanding in the 1980s. Anglican Church Planting Initiatives was founded as a charity in 1996 though I imagine was doing things from around 1991. Interestingly in the late 1990s and early 2000s (I think) the annual conferences that they hosted showcased anything and everything new - congregation plants, alternative worship, cell church, youth church. It was only much later that the language of planting became more polarising as it seemed to be the preserve of more conservative approaches to both theology and church.
Alternative Worship. This was a movement that engaged imaginatively with postmodern culture in quite radical ways in the 90s both in terms of the structure of church and worship but also exploring theology in ways that seemed to fit postmodern sensibilities - black, eco, feminist and liberation theologies were all at the table. Intriguingly it also seemed a playful turning away from modernising moves of the charismatic movement towards a blend of more ancient with urban club culture. Greenbelt festival was home to this and then a range of other new forms that were picked up and shared.
Emerging church. The issue named by emerging church seemed to be that it was not simply about changing worship but about the whole - discipleship, spirituality, church, leadership and so on all needed exploring in light of the new environment. In 2002 ACPI, Church Army, CMS and others to agree to start a web site to catch some of the stories of what was emerging and emergingchurch.info was set up to do that. Perhaps a significant book (though not well received by some Anglicans) was The Shaping of Things To Come by Hirsch and Frost which catalysed a lot of conversation about what being missional meant. Some started to call their church expressions missional communities, others drew on monastic patterns and claimed a new monasticism.
Mission Shaped Church. In 2004 this report named the surprise of the bubbling up of fresh expressions of church around the edge, said it was a good thing and named the mixed economy of church in the intro by Rowan Williams. Messy church started that year I think which became one of the most widespread fresh expressions.
Fresh Expressions. The Lambeth Partners funded fresh expressions under Rowan Williams wooing and persuasion and that quite quickly diffused across the church. For example at one time I think Mission Shaped Ministry, a course in fresh expressions had run in 40 dioceses. Other denominations got on board - Baptists, Methodists, Salvation Army, Congregataional Federation, URC to name a few. It also generated a lot of interest in other parts of the world. For example I know MSC was translated into Korean. FX was keen to appeal across all streams of the church and notably published books relating to the sacramental traditions. It has always struggled to shake off accusations of being overly evangelical which is slightly odd given Rowan’s leadership. Several years later the Church of England backed off funding FX - I think because the view was it had become embedded or mainstream but also the funding through Lambeth Partners stopped with a change of Archbishop from Rowan to Justin. Other denominations still support it. The argument in defence of this will be that it is embedded in the strategy now. I will resist commenting at this point.
Church Army and CMS (two of the mission communities or sodalities of the C of E) - Church Army and CMS have been players all the way through the above both contributing to the thinking and theological imagination as far back as the likes of John Taylor but also through publishing, being on the group that wrote MSC, developing training and so forth. Other newer charities or groups have since emerged (CCX, Myriad etc). Dioceses have really needed the sodal structures to call the church forward and to work in partnership with.
Pioneer Ministry. It was a recommendation in Mission Shaped Church that the kind of ministry that was starting new things should be seen as a new designation and pioneer ministry was what it was called. Another recommendation was that training for pioneer ministry should be done through a cross cultural lens which is why CMS for example were invited by the church to design training. Stephen Croft the first Fresh Expression worker under Rowan managed to do the policy work for a recognition of a designation of pioneer ministry and also worked to change the pastoral measure so that it was possible to plant church across parochial boundaries.
HTB. It is probably worth singling out HTB as a passionate advocate of church planting - hosting the church planting conferences above but also developing a model of planting in London by taking on churches that were low in numbers to revitalise them. I am less familiar with the timeline on this and how the trajectory developed into the Resource church model over time.
SDF - the Church Commissioners shifted how they gave surplus money towards dioceses. Dioceses could bid but one large area of funding needed to be tied to mission and ministry that grew the church. Whilst there have been a range of bids Resource church has been in vogue with the SDF board so a lot of investment has gone into larger city centre church plants.
CCX - London appointed a Bishop of Islington in 2015 to oversee church planting which was a fairly radical idea at the time. Out of that CCX and latterly Myriad have grown with a focus on encouraging planting.
July 2019 C of E Synod - A report was presented at Synod in July 2019 15 years on from Mission Shaped Church . Research from Church Army has been done at various points on fresh expressions and the report The Day Of Small Things showed that fresh expressions was probably the most effective means of reaching those outside the church that the church had seen for quite some time. A motion was presented and passed encouraging every parish to explore adding a contextual expression of church.
C of E Mixed Ecology Vision - The C of E has a new vision for a church of missionary disciples with Jesus at the centre and a mixed ecology of church. This seems a logical extension of all the above.
COVID. In July 2019 it felt like momentum was really there but the church is now emerging the other side of COVID more anxious and resource stretched. It remains to be seen how that vision is to be embedded and carried forward into the next 50 years.
[a slightly more expansive view of the last twenty years and my personal take on it is in this baker's dozen 13 reflections celebrating twenty years at cms]
a new podcast series kicked off this week - emerged podcast
it is available on the usual platforms of course. hosted by tony jones and tripp fuller it is a look back at the emerging church movement in the usa - what was known as emergent back then. i really enjoyed the first episode - it's fast paced, lots of interviews, very well put together. i was interviewed by tony so imagine at some point i will pop up to give a perspective of what was going on in the uk and how the two ran in parallel, collided, enjoyed friendship and exchange. i enjoyed those exchanges very much back then and occasionally my paths still cross with people who were involved. i look forward to following along. they are collating an archive which will be interesting - it will be accessible to members. in the first episode they look at where it all began or what catalysed the conversation. they point to the bigger postmodern shift in western cultures and the significance of youth ministry as critical factors. i am delighted they are doing it in such a rich way. i hope it sparks both wider conversation and catalyses some newness. that wider shift has not gone away, the death throes of the old order are still going on, and we need dreamers of the future living against the odds more than ever.
i'd love there to be a similar conversation/reflection in the uk. it's twenty years since mission shaped church so i i expect there will be at least some opportunity for that though msc and fresh expressions came on the back of at least a decade of innovation in youth ministry, alternative worship and emerging church.
an advocate for pioneers, lover of all things creative and an explorer of faith in relation to contemporary culture
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