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This is not a definitive bibliography. It
simply lists the books and pamphlets on my book shelf. When I've read something
I put a brief annotation which gives my own impression or synopsis of the work.
I've also included hot links
to Amazon wherever possible, or else to the appropriate website. (Note that
individual Grove booklets are post-free from
Grove Books direct.) I've tried to
put the books into different categories, though this is inevitably rather loose.
Alternative Worship
[TOP]
Baker,
Jonny & Gay, Doug 2003,
Alternative Worship, London: SPCK.
As well as a brief but good
introduction to the alt.worship scene this book contains a number of worship
resources based around the church year. There is some excellent material and a
CD-ROM is provided with words, images, movies and songs.
An
excellent book. Gibbs and Bolger very firmly identify emerging churches with
postmodern churches and then offer nine areas which they have in common. The
book is based on a five-year project in which they interviewed 50 emerging
church leaders in UK & US. A feature of the book is the mini-autobiographies of
those leaders, which gives added depth to the work.
They
identify three core practices: identifying with the life of Jesus; transforming
secular space; and commitment to community as a way of life. These lead to six
other shared areas: welcoming the stranger; serving with generosity;
participating as producers; creating as created beings; leading as a body; and
taking part in spiritual activities. The book is enlivened throughout by
frequent quotes from the practitioners.
Howard,
Roland 1996, The Rise and Fall of the Nine O’Clock Service: A Cult Within the
Church?, London: Mowbray.
Detailed and seemingly fair
account of the success and failure of the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS) which was
started by Chris Brain at St Thomas, Crookes in Sheffield. Offers a warning for
the church about the abuses possible in fresh expressions of church but also
points to the pioneering work done by NOS.
Lomax,
Tim & Moynagh, Michael 2004, Liquid Worship, Grove Worship Series W181,
Cambridge: Grove Books.
In liquid worship members of the
congregation choose which of a number of prayer stations or worship zones they
will visit, and in which order. Lomax & Moynagh argue that liquid worship can
promote liturgical understanding and offers significant possibilities for
all-age worship.
Tarrant,
Ian & Dakin, Sally 2004, Labyrinths and Prayer Stations, Grove Worship Series
W180, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Base
Ecclesial Communities
[TOP]
A series of short pieces
including a brief account of New Way in Plymouth (see Summers 2003), a small
group on Broadwater Farm, working with non-church goers, moving to dialogue
sermons, communities of households in the Northampton area, free lunches and
other ‘gospel projects’ in Cambridge, church in a pub in Sheffield, a small
group in Tiptree.
Advice on developing and growing small Christian
communities of the base ecclesial type. Includes a check list of pointers and an
account of the New Way Pastoral Cycle:
Experience—Analysis—Reflection—Action—Celebration—Experience…
Another anthology, with a
Methodist minister who learned by listening, building A New Way in South Devon,
doing a social audit in an inner city, change catalysed by the arrival of
refugees, Peter Price thinking about the future, change in service pattern
leading to community change, being church on a traffic island, being at the
heart of community-led regeneration, a pets’ service, exploring forgiveness
amongst the unchurched, the need to take risks.
Sets out the need for interactive
communication between church and community, seeing small groups as complementary
to the gathered church. It looks for a ministry capable of constructing local
theologies which will lead to effective engagement with the local community.
“[Small groups] are not better
than other church, social or political groups. It is simply that their function
and their focus of gathering or meeting is to seek the welfare of the
neighbourhood.” (p. 8) There are certain ministries which need to be exercised
within the small group—welcome, time keeping, co-ordination, memory
recollection, worship, biblical reflection, news sharing & celebration. Looks at
each and ends by reflecting on the pastoral cycle.
A series
of brief bible studies on Matthew’s gospel, divided according to the Revised
Common Lectionary. Each study contains an invitation to tell personal stories
around the theme, a brief comment on the text, and invitation to reflection and
action and a suggestion for prayer.
An
introduction to broad-based organising, the process pioneered by Saul Alinsky in
Chicago in the 1940s. Stephen Sichel offers some insights and gives brief case
studies of a few British broad-based organisations, which have usually been
started by church groups but broadened to include community and other
faith-based groups. Helen Slessarev writes about Alinsky in an article
originally published in “The Sojurner.”
Tells the story of introducing
New Way into St Barnabas in inner city Plymouth. Doesn’t go into much detail and
looks at principles of base communities—neighbourhood groups, as they call them.
Also gives a brief note on his current work with Rattery in the South Hams,
Devon, a scattered village of about 500 with an electoral roll of 17, mainly
1662.
Cell Church
[TOP]
An account of St John’s,
Bradford’s move to cell church. Their version of the ‘four Ws’ is welcome,
worship, word, works (cf Lings 2003b). The book is good on principles but
sometimes a bit short on detail.
Hopkins,
Bob (ed) 2000,
Cell Church Stories as Signs of Mission, Grove Evangelism
Series Ev 51, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Hopkins argues that cell is an important strand in
church life (Acts 2:24—met in homes & temple) and offers this definition of
church: “a Jesus community of disciple-making disciples.” The rest of the study
offers four case studies, written by local leaders, showing how cell can be used
flexibly in different contexts at Holy Apostles, Leicester (cell outreach on
estate); St Alkmund’s, Derby (youth cell in non-cell church); St Mark’s, Haydock
(‘big bang’ transition from home groups to cells) & Harvest, Margate.
Lings,
George 2003b, Soft Cell, “Encounters on the Edge 20”, Sheffield: The
Church Army.
Account of the cell experiment
conducted at St Winfrid’s, High Wycombe by Paul Bayes (appointed National
Advisor for Mission & Evangelism in 2004). Instead of adopting the recommended
‘big bang’ approach to introducing cell principles, they adopted a parallel
approach, starting with one cell and adding others when demand from existing
members required. Cells use the Faith Community Baptist Church of Singapore
approach with emphasis on a set of core values—Jesus at the centre; everyone in
ministry; every member growing; multiplication; sacrificial love, loving
community & honesty. They also use welcome, worship, witness & word rather than
the more usual Western versions (see Astin 2002).
Church Planting
[TOP]
Carey,
George et al 1991,
Planting New Churches, Guildford: Eagle.
A critique of current church structures. Down claims
that the parish system is geared to maintenance and that it hinders mission. He
writes from a conservative charismatic and modernist perspective and draws from
his own experiences in Fountain of Life and from others such as Carpenter’s Arms
in Deal, Oak Tree Fellowship in Acton and Norwich Community Church. He also
argues that maintenance churches need pastoral leadership while missionary
churches need apostolic leadership. The traditional parish church will not
change—one strategy is to leave it; another is to build a new church alongside
the old.
Lings,
George & Murray, Stuart 2003,
Church Planting: Past, Present & Future,
Grove Evangelism Series Ev61, Cambridge: Grove Books.
A sober
review of church planting by most of the major denominations and new churches
during the 1990s, together with a reasonably optimistic look forward to its
possibilities in the future.
Evangelism
[TOP]
Excellent survey of a wide range
of contemporary approaches to evangelism including Alpha, Emmaus, other process
evangelism courses, community ministry, Natural Church Development, cell church,
church planting and the search for spirituality. It offers a practical and
even-handed critique of the different approaches, arguing that local churches
must find the balance of approaches which works best for their circumstances.
Donovan worked with the Masai in
Kenya. Starting with his realisation that, for all the good things that the
mission was doing, there were no conversations about God with the Masai, he
realised that, “Evangelization is a process of bringing the gospel to people
where they are, not where you would like them to be.” So he decided to just go
and talk with them. Putting practice before theory, he discovers the importance
of stripping away all the cultural accretions of Western Christendom and
retranslating the gospel into the culture of the people. Despite its focus on
Africa in the 1960s, this is a seminal book for approaching emerging church and
postmodern proclamation.
Finney, John
2004,
Emerging Evangelism, London, Daton, Longman & Todd.
Finney argues that there are
three approaches to evangelism in the Bible, focusing on kerugma, euangelion and
musterion. All three are needed for a balanced approach. He offers a brief and
interesting history of evangelism up to 1980 and then looks at the ‘new
evangelism’ with its emphasis on nurture groups, and nurture courses such as
Alpha & Emmaus (Finney was one of the authors of Emmaus). He then moves on to
explore the implications of ‘evangelising Athens’, which requires us to start
with something other than sin and forgiveness such as creation, hospitality of
mystery (sample addresses on these themes are provided in an appendix). The new
monasticism (such as St Thomas, Sheffield) follows, and some helpful thoughts on
leadership, ritual and the emerging church.
Fascinating book looking at the
methods of missionaries like St Patrick, arguing that many of their methods are
appropriate for a postmodern generation. Hunter shows the differences between
the Celtic and Roman approaches and suggests that the Celts relied on
hospitality and a group-based outreach. They were offering an atmosphere of
constant prayer (though specific prayers for many of life’s daily tasks), a
radical understanding of the culture of those amongst whom they worked and an
acknowledgement of the ‘excluded middle’ (from “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle”
by Paul Heibert, Missiology: An International Review 10:1, 1982, which argues
that enlightenment Christianity focuses only on earth (realm of reason) and
heaven (realm of sacred) and ignores the middle ground (realm of superstition).
Yet increasingly, the new age is offering people solace here. The church should
offer authentic comfort by engaging with people where they are now, just as the
Celtic missionaries did.
George offers a number of models
to help with thinking about mission-shaped church, including Acts 1:8—Judea,
Samaria and the end of the earth., which corresponds to the fringe, the
dechurched and the unchurched. His concern is that too much of what passes for
fresh expressions & mission-shaped church is actually working only in Judea.
Very stimulating and challenging.
Written in McLaren’s easy
narrative style this book explores how to do evangelism by being a spiritual
friend, walking with somebody on their journey, not trying to lead but just to
be there listening and caring. He illustrates this with the story of his
interaction, largely through e-mails, with ‘Alice’, who he met briefly and who
he nurtured through her struggle to faith.
Mark Miller is the founder of
‘The Jesus Journey’, an experiential retreat. He argues that the postmodern
generation needs more than the traditional sermon. His suggestion is the
experiential story—a presentation where attention is paid to environment,
engagement of all the senses, use of symbols and participation by the
‘congregation’. Thus the sermon becomes more of an event or a happening.
Basic
account of Willow Creek approach, which focuses on non-Christians, designing
‘seeker-friendly’ services (more like presentations) which are very
professionally produced and which attract thousands each Sunday. The main
Christian service is held mid-week. Simmonds offers his reactions to the
experience, together with some reflections on the implications for British
churches.
Survey of non-believers’ beliefs, based on focus
group discussions. Christians are seen as hypocritical and intolerant—though
individual Christians are not usually perceived as such; , belief is a private
‘pick and mix’ affair which cannot be articulated. Science—which is not
understood—has disproved religion. But many have had ‘spiritual’ experiences,
which they are reluctant to speak of. They regret falling public standards of
morality and wonder if the church might help improve things.
Drawing on Standing’s experience of youth services,
looks at changes in communication style & importance of narrative. Gives results
of a small experiment into perceived differences between topical and expository
styles of preaching (younger people prefer topical) and impact of multimedia
(helps memory retention)
About
change, loss & responsibility—“There is no growth without change and there is no
change without loss” (p15). The call is to evangelise the heart of the church
and to do things differently. One example: Thorpe had three congregations—BCP,
family service & evening service; each had its own leadership team and all
decisions relating to life and ministry within that congregation were taken by
the congregation. In effect, three different expressions of church. There is a
centrally agreed vision but each congregation is encouraged to develop its own
mission statement.
Ward,
Pete 2002,
Liquid Church, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson & Carlisle:
Paternoster.
Stimulating and provocative book. Stresses
fellowship rather than ‘the’ fellowship. Solid church focuses on attendance at
services, size matters, one size fits all and joining the club. Liquid church is
networked, dispersed, consumer-oriented and evanescent. Following Dunn’s views
on Paul, Ward sees the importance of the phrase “in Christ” to suggest that
anyone in Christ is in the church, so that the church can effectively be thought
of as a star network with Christ as the hub. Shopping is seen as a search for
meaning rather than materialism—the church should accept the challenge. Liquid
church moves from meeting need (the need for God, etc.) to satisfying
desire—since consumerism is essentially about desire for meaning and
spirituality.
Not really emerging church, but
often referred to by American emerging church writers. Warren argues that church
health is the key issue, leading naturally to growth. Despite the fact that many
US churches have adopted Saddleback’s principles as a programme, Warren focuses
on process rather than programme. The book is full of consultant-style models,
mnemonics and aphorisms (see table on p119) and has some sound common sense
about dealing with the unchurched.
Writing for American evangelicals, Webber argues
that of the five ‘paradigms’ of church history (ancient, medieval, reformation,
modern, postmodern) the ancient is of most relevance to the postmodern. He then
offers a primer on Christ (focusing on Christus Victor), church, worship,
spirituality & authority. Despite its constant references to postmodernity, I
found the approach to be disappointingly modernist in many ways (emphasis on a
knowable metanarrative, etc.)
Fresh Expressions Case Studies
[TOP]
Lings,
George 2000a, Across the Pond, “Encounters on the Edge 6”, Sheffield: The
Church Army.
Account of outreach activity in Blackheath onto an
estate. Charts the changes in strategy from ‘Come’ to ‘Go’ and from ‘doing to’
to ‘working with’.
Lings,
George 2000b, New Canterbury Tales, “Encounters on the Edge 7”, Sheffield:
The Church Army.
Accounts of two network churches in Canterbury
diocese—The Carpenter’s Arms in Deal & Harvest in Margate.
Lings,
George 2002a, The Eden Puzzle, “Encounters on the Edge 14”, Sheffield: The
Church Army.
The Eden project in Manchester grew out of a big
youth event run by Andy Hawthorne and ‘The Tribe’ in Manchester in 2000. There
are 10 teams of full-time & volunteer youth workers who move to estates in
Manchester and live and work in deprived areas. They aim to partner with local
churches and also to grow youth congregations where appropriate.
Lings,
George 2002b, Mass
Planting, “Encounters on the Edge 16”, Sheffield: The Church Army.
Story of anglo-catholic Damian
Feeney, who sees the Eucharist as the heart of mission and spent 18 months doing
a Sunday Eucharist at Asda in Preston, at 10:00 in the 30 minutes before the
store opened. It was also broadcast over the store tannoy. The ministry also had
a prophetic edge, as when the harvest service at the store challenged shoppers
about fair trading. Father Damian then moved to a pub for a year and then into a
newly-built local Millennium Hall with a 5:30 Eucharist on a Saturday evening
(between Grandstand & going out to the pub).
Lings,
George 2003a, Net Gains, “Encounters on the Edge 19”, Sheffield: The
Church Army.
Studies of two network churches—The Net in
Huddersfield & B1 in Birmingham—both of which were formed with strong diocesan
involvement.
Lings,
George 2004b, New
Housing, New Partnerships? “Encounters on the Edge 23”, Sheffield: The
Church Army.
Lings has always been sceptical
about ecumenical church plants. Here he investigates two multi-denomination (not
quite the same thing) developments on new housing estates. By respecting one
another’s traditions fruitful partnerships can be created. Other key qualities
are emphasis on community, shared & lay ministry, leaders with overseas mission
experience and prime sites for development on the new estates.
Lings,
George 2004d, Oasis: Work in Progress “Encounters on the Edge 24”, Sheffield:
The Church Army.
OASIS is
Edinburgh-based, working with working people. It has a link person in each of 80
offices in the city and began by running lunchtime talks at St Cuthbert’s
Church. It then moved to running seminars on relevant topics, such as the
introduction of e-commerce. They also run BAE (Business Alpha Edinburgh). Some
move on to find an existing church but for others OASIS is their church. Lings
also looks at Oasis Uxbridge, started after June Hughman, the incumbent, came
across the Edinburgh experience on a sabbatical.
Murray,
Stuart & Wilkinson-Hayes, Anne 2000,
Hope From the Margins: New Ways of Being
Church, Grove Evangelism Series Ev49, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Reflections on the nature of church with
illustrations of initiatives ranging from three nuns who started working on an
estate and ended up with a ‘church’ to groups which met in each others’ homes to
children-led groups. Argues that the margins are where the creative stuff is
happening.
An inspiring account of the life
of Solomon’s Porch, a new church in Minneapolis. By telling stories of how the
church tries to engage with people in new ways the pastor, Doug Pagitt, shows us
how they approach spiritual formation through worship, hospitality, physicality,
dialogue, hospitality, bible study, creativity and service. What gives the book
an added depth is the diary entries from a number of SP members. These mostly
confirm but sometimes contradict what Doug is writing.
Fresh Expressions General
[TOP]
Bayes,
Paul 2004, Mission-shaped Church: Missionary Values, Church Planting and Fresh
Expressions of Church, Grove Evangelism Series E67, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Church of England report,
surveying a range of ‘emerging church’ initiatives (they prefer the term ‘fresh
expressions of church’) and making some suggestions for the future shape of the
church.
Stimulating and provocative book
which urges a change from Christendom mode to missional mode. This involves
moving from being attractional, dualistic and hierarchical to incarnational,
messianic and apostolic. Although a little heavy at times the book is full of
ideas and provocative propositions. For instance, a missional church needs APEPT
leadership (apostolic, prophetic, evangelical, pastoral and teaching) as per
Ephesians 4, rather than just a pastoral and teaching leadership which serves to
(try to) maintain the status quo of the Christendom church.
Excellent book, which analyses UK
church attendance statistics (especially C of E from 1989-1998) to go beneath
the overall figure of decline. Jackson points out that one in five churches is
either static or growing; that small churches are more likely to be growing than
large ones; that growth can be found across all styles of churchmanship;
ethnically mixed churches are more likely to grow; children's & youth workers have
a major impact on attendance; that growth is most likely when the incumbent has
served between seven and thirteen years and when the incumbent is younger.
Jackson offers practical suggestions to encourage all congregations to face and
tackle the issue of decline.
Surveys differences between ‘seeker-sensitive’
(modern) and emerging (postmodern) approaches. Helpful thoughts on relationship
between Jesus (positive affect) and Christians (negative affect) as perceived by
emerging generations. Sections on worship, preaching (notes that for moderns:
FACT influences BELIEF influences BEHAVIOUR, whereas for emerging culture:
EXPERIENCE influences BEHAVIOUR influences BELIEF), evangelism (focus on being a
co-worker with Jesus in the kingdom as a way of finding purpose in life) &
leadership. Quite a strong conservative evangelical bias and written for a
similar audience though much of use for others.
Summary of ‘Mission-Shaped Church’ with commentary.
Mountstephen,
Phillip & Martin, Kelly 2004, Body Beautiful? Recapturing a Vision for
All-age Church, Grove Pastoral Series P99, Cambridge: Grove Books.
'Healthy Church' Development
[TOP]
Booker,
Mike 2001, Exploring Natural Church Development, Grove Evangelism Series
E55, Cambridge: Grove Books.
A
critique of Christian Schwarz’s ‘Natural Church Development’ which argues that
churches will grow if they are healthy in eight dimensions: empowering
leadership; gift-oriented lay ministry; passionate spirituality; functional
structures; inspiring worship services; holistic small groups; need-oriented
evangelism; and loving relationships. These are measured by means of a
computer-marked questionnaire. A key principle is that churches should work on
their lowest scoring dimension since this is a limiting factor. Booker offers a
couple of case studies as well as some criticisms of the approach. He is broadly
sympathetic and supportive.
Healthy
Churches are Growing Churches. That is the premise of Robert Warren's Healthy
Churches' Handbook. Using a
similar approach to Christian Schwarz’s Natural Church Development (NCD), Warren
suggests that healthy churches will be strong in seven values, goals and
characteristics (as opposed to eight activities in NCD). These are: energised by
faith; outward-looking focus; seeks to find what God wants; faces the cost of
change and growth; operates as a community; makes room for all; and does a few
things and does them well.
The
second part of the book contains practical material to help churches become more
healthy, including a questionnaire which enables you to develop a profile of
your church and to see which areas need the most work. Robert Warren is an
experienced mission-oriented priest (he was team rector of St Thomas, Crookes at
the time of the Nine O'Clock Service) and much of the material was developed
while he was involved with the Church of England's Springboard project.
Leadership
[TOP]
Dawswell,
Andrew 2003,
Ministry Leadership Teams, Grove Pastoral Series P93, Cambridge:
Grove Books.
Written
by one who is in favour of the principle of shared leadership but sceptical
about many of its manifestations. It sometimes seems that he protests against a
rather shallow view of ministry teams but his warnings should be heeded by
everyone who is starry-eyed about the ease and effectiveness of collaborative
leadership.
Shaw,
Peter 2004, Mirroring Jesus as a Leader, Grove Ethics Series E135,
Cambridge: Grove Books.
Skilton,
Chris 1999, Leadership Teams: Clergy and Lay Leadership in the Local Church,
Grove Pastoral Series P78, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Williams,
Richard & Tanner, Mark 2004, Developing Visionary Leadership, Grove
Renewal Series R17, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Postmodern Theology
[TOP]
In three parts. The first looks at the demise of
modernism and suggests that we should ‘fund’ the components out of which a new
world can be imagined. The second part looks to find an evangelical (as an
adjectival form of ‘gospel’) imagination, focusing on memory, covenant and hope.
In the third part six pieces of exegesis are offered as example of the approach,
honouring the ‘little story’ at the expense of the ‘great story’.
Cray, Graham
1998, Postmodern Culture and Youth Discipleship, Grove Pastoral Series
P76, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Horseman,
Colin 1996, Good News for a Postmodern World, Grove Evangelism Series
Ev35, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Exploration of postmodernism and
Christian responses to it. “…I was brought up to believe that everything
essential to the gospel…was present in the New Testament, I still believe that,
but in a different way…Rather it is like a seed which contains the whole plant
but which unbfolds different aspects at different times.
Ingram, Doug
2004, Ecclesiastes: A Peculiarly Modern Piece, Grove Biblical Series B34,
Cambridge: Grove Books.
Ingram
argues that the ambiguity of Ecclesiastes is intentional and very much in tune
with postmodern sensibility. For instance, we can read 1:4-11 as showing the
futility of life or as the wonder of creation. Both readings are valid.
The fictional account of conversations between Dan,
a disillusioned pastor, and Neo his guide and mentor into the world of postmodern
Christianity. Very readable.
An exposition, with Dan & Neo from ‘A New Kind of
Christian’ of the story we find ourselves in—Creation, Crisis, Calling (of
Abraham & Jews), Conversation (with priests, prophets, poets & philosophers),
Christ, Community (of the church) and Consummation. Tends towards a kind of
universalism or justification by works in its final stages but has many striking
insights and offers a way of inviting people to make sense of their own lives by
seeing them as part of this greater story.
Small
Groups in Church
[TOP]
An Anglican perspective on small
communities in church growth and development. He distinguishes ‘family
churches’, with fewer than 50 members from ‘pastoral churches’ with more than 50
members. A family church with a full-timer minister may well grow. Others, with
only one full-time minister are likely to decline. Therefore small groups are
needed to sustain and grow the church. The purpose of a transforming community
is to build members’ relationships, to learn together and to support each
others’ ministries, sometimes in pursuit of a common task. These groups are to
be the ‘building blocks’ of the church. Croft’s communities are not as radically
mission-focused as cell church, nor as justice focused as base communities. At
times seems a bit like an Anglican fudge!
Frazee comments on rising tide of
individualism in the church. He argues the need for a common purpose based
around authority, common creed, traditions, standards and common mission. In his
church they are working this out by agreeing ten core beliefs, ten core
practices and ten core virtues. They then implement these via a four-fold
process: the worship service which is to inspire, the Sunday mid-sized groups
(50) which are to instruct, mid-week small groups (10) which involve and
personal introspection.
Mallison argues that the small
group is the basic building block of the life of the local congregation. It has
seven basic purposes: to worship & obey Christ; to live under the authority of
God’s Word; to be havens of hope; to foster fellowship; to bring people to a
living faith in Christ; to minister to each other; to prepare each other for
mission in the world. He distinguishes many kinds of group and offers a lot of
practical advice for working with and in groups, including a dozen different
kinds of Bible study and different ways of praying together. (This book is out
of print now; a search on
Abebooks might help.)
Fascinating book, drawing on the work of Edward Hall
(proxemics) on the different spaces we all inhabit—public, social, personal &
intimate. He argues that we need to be active in all spaces to belong and his
conclusions about the value (or otherwise) of small groups in church life are
very provocative and worthy of thought and discussion.
Spirituality [TOP]
A six-part course which
introduces Christian ideas and principles in a way which is designed to connect
with those who are seeking ‘spirituality’. Includes a CD of meditations and
music.
A fascinating report on the
findings of the Adults’ Spirituality Project at the University of Nottingham
which used a focus group and individual interview approach to canvass the views
of 31 people in Nottingham who identified themselves as spiritual or religious
but had no contact with organised religion.
Hollinghurst, Steve 2003,
New Age, Paganism and Christian Mission, Grove
Evangelism Series Ev64, Cambridge: Grove Books.
A review of New Age and Pagan
beliefs, showing their similarities and differences. Hollinghurst also offers
some helpful suggestions on ways of connecting with new agers and pagans and how
the gospel might be authentically shared.
Youth
Church [TOP]
Clark,
Philip & Pearson, Geoff 2001 (2nd ed),
Kidz Klubs: The Alpha of Children’s
Evangelism? Grove Evangelism Series Ev45, Cambridge: Grove Books.
Lings,
George 1999, Eternity—The Beginning, “Encounters on the Edge 4”,
Sheffield: The Church Army.
Looks at the work of Eternity, a youth church plant
in Bracknell. Eternity is values-based and open to constant change. It uses cell
groups, monthly congregational gatherings and events which are designed for
seekers to be comfortable in (they moved from café-style to dance-style because
that seemed to be where the young people were going).
Lings,
George 2001, Never on a Sunday?, “Encounters on the Edge 11”, Sheffield:
The Church Army.
Looks at a couple of midweek (Monday, actually)
afternoon congregations which serve primary school kids and their parents. Asks whether
they are churches or congregations. Argues that there are many people for whom
Sunday church is not an option.
Lings,
George 2004, Reading: the Signs, “Encounters on the Edge 21”, Sheffield:
The Church Army.
The rather messy story of the
development of a youth ministry to unchurched young people in Reading. Based in
a traditional church building with a small declining conservative congregation
the young curate (effectively vicar of the church) has been enabled by the
rector and the diocese to perform some innovative youth ministry and church
planting (though he eschews this term).
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