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Churchgoing Today
In this insightful booklet, Lynda Barely - Head of Research and Statistics for the Church of England - looks at trends in church attendance. It also challenges the Church to be accessible and relevant to modern-day living. Drawing on current research, Lynda Barley takes stock of the radical changes in Britain over the last century and offers insight on how churches can connect afresh with those outside the regular church community. Her analysis shows that although weekly Sunday attendance may be in decline, churches that run mid-week services, offer various styles and times of Sunday services, make good use of their buildings and generally adapt to the needs of the community are experiencing growth. There are further signs of hope in the thousands of fresh expressions of church springing up throughout the UK. Combining analysis with real-life stories, she encourages the Church to take seriously the need to adapt and enlarge its vision in order to stem the decline in church attendance.
Welcoming Marriage
Helps churches get to grips with the 2008 Marriage Measure, which allows couples to be more flexible in their choice of church. Covers pastoral care, making your church welcoming to prospective couples, and complete coverage of the new legislation.
Rural Children, Rural Church
Children make up nearly 20 per cent of the rural population. This short, accessible book offers practical resources and ideas to help churches build an effective children's ministry in a rural setting. The ideas are drawn from churches and communities in rural areas where children's work is starting to grow. Rona Orme offers realistic and creative ways of engaging with children in the community by encouraging churches to make the most of opportunities to: share the Church's year with the community and the community's year with the Church; reach children and their families at significant rites of passage; enable the Church to be a gathering point and contributing partner in the community. Each chapter contains inspiring case studies and thought-provoking questions for discussion.
The Word on the Wind
The average age of churchgoers in Britain is now 47. Almost every denomination is experiencing steady decline. How sure can we be that we are still offering something people want to hear? Alison Morgan identifies four clear reasons to be confident: 1. The gospel still speaks to confused teens and weary sceptics. By embracing doubts and welcoming questions it remains open to us to present something which answers people's real needs. 2. The word of truth and the Spirit of power still exercise authority and compel attention. Alison's own experience of ministry in the UK and abroad provides illustrations. 3. Spiritual gifts, given not to excite individuals but in order to renew the church for its core task of mission, are powerfully present and widely recognised and practised. 4. In a time of rapid cultural change, new expressions of church are constantly emerging: this is necessary to guard against vital spirituality sliding into drab religion.
Theology Shaped by Society
Theology Shaped by Society argues that the sociology of knowledge can make an important contribution to theology. Part I argues that theology can be seen as a 'socially constructed reality' that is sometimes dangerously related to power but, at other times, that is a positively engaged discipline taking the risk of being shaped by particular societies and cultures. From this second perspective theology is seen properly as a thoroughly relational discipline, as itself a social system. Part II examines mission shaped by society and maps this in practical terms by examining recent, and surprising, religious trends in York. Part III shows how music can imaginatively shape theology and reveal une...
Fresh!
Fresh ! offers a strong rationale for fresh expressions and pioneer ministries rooted in scripture and in the breath of the Christian tradition. This is tested against the realities of contemporary British culture and critiques of the notion of Fresh Expressions. It offers practical guidance for starting and sustaining such ministries in the long term. It provides a survey of best practice within Fresh Expressions and pioneer ministry.Fresh ! comes out of the mature reflection of church leaders and theologians who have been active in such ministries over a number of years, showing how such ministries are integral to the work of the church both now and over the long term.This is combined with valuable practical advice - the best kind of practical theology.
Developing Healthy Churches
Developing Healthy Churches is an utterly practical and realistic guide for any leader seeking to revitalize and grow their church. The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling Healthy Churches’ Handbook, this new volume will help you implement tried and tested approaches for healthy church growth in your parish.
Consultancy Skills for Mission and Ministry
Consultancy is increasingly being used to support mission and to help church leaders and workers in the challenges they face in their work. Helping churches and workers understand their situation and develop effective strategies demands skilful consultants who can handle issues of context and theology, the characteristics of voluntary sector organisations, and mission in a post-modern world. This guide to being a church consultant offers rigorous, practical consultancy theory and tools as well as pointing to a rich range of methods and models for further investigation. By integrating the insights of practical theory, organizational studies, the social sciences and a range of helping skills, consultants will be able to support those who are leading change in churches in processes which are more explicit and carefully thought through than is often the case. This book encourages consultants to develop their own model and practice built on a healthy cycle of sound theory, evaluated practice and thoughtful feedback.
Evaluating Fresh Expressions
An impressive line up of contributors first asks what counts as a ‘fresh expression’ and who decides. Part 1 explores what postmodern ways of viewing the world means for the way churches explore truth and uncertainty, and tradition as an evolving rather than a static enterprise. Part 2 uses real examples to examines who attends ‘fresh expressions’ and what it incarnational theology looks like in practice. Part 3 considers the implications for clergy training and whether there is a case for making ‘pioneer ministry’ a discrete type.
Testing Fresh Expressions
Testing Fresh Expressions investigates whether fresh expressions of church really do what is claimed for them by the fresh expressions movement and, in particular, whether their unique approach helps to reverse trends of decline experienced by traditional churches. Part 1 examines those claims and untangles their sociological and theological assumptions. From a careful study of factors underlying attendance decline and growth, Part 2 argues that long-term decline can be resisted only if churches are better able to attract children, the non-churched or both. Part 3 tests the comparative ability of a group of growing parish churches and a group of fresh expressions to resist trends of decline and discovers some intriguing social dynamics common to both groups. Part 4 argues that fresh expressions do not fulfil the unique role often claimed for them but that they do have the capacity to help reinvigorate the whole church.
