Mission Shaped Questions

Mission-Shaped Church launched a movement. Mission-Shaped Questions addresses the big theological and practical queries that movement unleashed, including: What exactly is church? Can we develop churches that can transform culture? Can we be missionshaped and kingdom-focused, too?

This is a practical how-to guide introducing new, mission-shaped practices in a traditional parish setting. This book looks at the church's bread-and-butter activities -- worship, pastoral contacts, civic and public responsibilities, faith formation, administration and leadership -- and creatively points out how to reframe them with a focus on God's mission.

The world has changed, but will the church keep up? This seminal report from the Church of England evaluates the changing religious landscape and introduces exciting new forms of church that speak directly to their diverse mission contexts. The Archbishop of Canterbury's Council on Mission and Public Affairs collaborated to research and produce the Mission-Shaped Church report in 2004, and Seabury Books is the new North American Publisher.

An overview of recent developments in church planting. This detailed, practical and well-researched book describes the varied and exciting 'fresh expressions' of church being created. This edition includes a new foreward by the Rt Revd Graham Cray.

Combining real-life case studies with vital lessons from her own personal journey, Susan Hope explores what happens to us on the inside when we cross boundaries and become missional Christians. This discerning book reflects on the inner resources and attitude of mind required to engage in mission in a postmodern, multicultural society.

Utilizing resources from Martin Luther and the Lutheran tradition, this study offers an understanding of the gospel as promise as key to addressing the challenge of relating the missio Dei to a generous, constructive approach toward the religious other. In its construction of a Lutheran missiology, it retrieves and reappropriates four resources from the Lutheran tradition: the gospel as promise, the law/gospel distinction, a theology of grace as promise of mercy fulfilled, and a theology of the cross utilizing the hiddenness of God. The law of God as accusing yet webbing humanity to its Creator; the gospel as the comforting promise of mercy; and the hiddenness of God as mystifying form the overarching framework within which the Lutheran missiology presented here seeks to engage the religious other by dialectically relating gospel proclamation and dialogue. Such a view of "mission shaped by promise" offers the paradox of God being both revealed and hidden in the cross as a distinctive contribution to an interreligious dialogue centered on the ambiguity and hiddenness of God.

This is a landmark book that will renew our understanding of what the gospel - literally 'the good news about Jesus' - is for today's cultures. It begins with a key challenge - do we believe God speaks in the cultural context, or only in the Christian tradition? Part One - Listening to God in the cultural context explores the radically changing culture in which the church exists today, the rise of new spiritualities, the secularisation of society and religion's increasingly dubious public image. Part Two - Listening to God in the Christian tradition looks at key periods in Christian history as responses to cultural changes, from the ancient pagan world to modernist faith. What can we learn from the lessons of the past? Part Three moves from theory to practice and tells great stories where innovative evangelism is taking place - from supermarkets to festivals to the internet.

Mission, Anguish, and Defiance documents how David Isiorho has explored his ministry as a black priest in the Church of England using his formidable intellect, which reveals the ingrained prejudices and lack of genuine love from the structures of that august institution. He draws on his PhD as a platform to conduct this examination, not seeking pity but writing prophetically from a deep loyalty to the Church. He has meticulously interviewed a wide range of research participants, giving them a voice to join with his own. He uncovers evidence of vast, painful, and redundant suffering in this group of black colleagues. This book is about hurt and it may be perceived as hurtful, certainly by those who are called to account. Isiorho's bravery comes through clearly, as does his hopeful fidelity to the God and the Church that he loves. Throughout he does not seek to be vindictive; rather, he searches to show the salvific and redeeming love of Christ which, together with the energizing Holy Spirit, can see real reform and profound healing. That is his prayer in this moving and challenging piece.