Journal of Missional Practice 8 (Winter 2017)

The Journal of Missional Practice is published online by The Missional Network.

The Winter 2017 edition has just been posted, containing four story articles, a theory article, and a book review, with an opening editorial by Alan Roxburgh on ‘Hopeful Stories, Anxious Cultures’.

Here are some excerpts from the editorial:

‘Recent events are revealing a churning just below the surface of everyday life among Western peoples...

‘As Christians on both sides of the Atlantic, we’re now live in communities increasingly shaped by mistrust, anger, confusion, anxiety and fear. Neighbors feel increasingly at risk in communities that, until recently, were the bedrock of security. Whether it’s the election of Donald Trump, with its attendant shock to all elites who considered themselves wise in reading and guiding social movements, or the hugely off-balancing Brexit vote, or the radical divisions that have re-emerged on the streets of America with movements such as Black Lives Matter, or the fear of the other in the form of migrants and refugees, or the growing chasm between the 1% and the rest that was such a central concern of the Occupy movements, or the eviscerating of a middle class that has been the basis for the social and political cohesion of Western democracies and so and so on, we find ourselves implicated in a massive unraveling in which the established structures of state, economics and their educated elites have lost their capacity to lead. Mistrust of elites and institutions across the West is palpable...

‘How do we discern helpful ways of attending to this unraveling?...

‘This volume is framed around a number of grounded interviews with Christian communities/leaders engaged with some of these issues in their communities.’