Anvil 35, 3 (2019)

The latest edition of Anvil is available online, this one including several pieces devoted to the theme of ‘Church: Inside Out?’

In the Editorial, Jame Butler writes:

‘This issue of Anvil began life as a CMS Pioneer Conversations day back in March of this year, exploring church and mission. The questions around “What is church?” and identifying whether something “is church” are well rehearsed and many innovative and helpful things have been written, but the reality is that these questions remain pertinent to those working in fresh expressions and pioneer ministry. The title of the conversations day, and of this issue, “Church: Inside Out?”, was an attempt to raise some of these questions in a fresh way.

‘All the contributions to this issue push us to reconsider our understanding of church and suggest that the church, and certainly the work of the Holy Spirit, goes beyond our carefully drawn lines and our own expectations.’

Individual articles are available from here, and the whole issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Church Growth Resourcing Mission Bulletin

Church Growth Research & Development is a hub designed to ‘communicate and disseminate some of the Church of England's work on church growth research and development that aims to help the Church allocate its resources effectively to facilitate its mission and growth’.

I’ve recently started subscribing to the Church Growth Resourcing Mission Bulletin, which often contains some useful short pieces.

The October 2013 edition, available as a pdf here, includes the following:

Paper 1: Growth and Challenge in Liverpool Diocese

This is an edited version of a speech given by the Bishop of Warrington to the College of Bishops which met in September 2013 to discuss the mission and financial challenges facing the Church

Paper 2: Capital Vision 2020

By the staff of the (Resource) Strategy and Development Unit in conversation with Debbie Clinton, Capital Vision Manager, diocese of London

Paper 3: Partnership for Missional Church

By the Revd Canon Dr Nigel Rooms, Director of Ministry and Mission, diocese of Southwell and Nottingham

Paper 4: Developing Relationships in Mission

By Sandra Cobbin, Freelance Trainer and Mediator

Paper 5: Pioneer Ministry in a New Community: A case study on the first year of ministry in Cranbrook, Exeter

By the staff of the (Resource) Strategy and Development Unit in conversation with the Revd Mark Gilborson, Minister for Cranbrook, Exeter

Anvil

Anvil – ‘an Anglican Evangelical journal for theology and mission’ – has been relaunched as an online journal.

New material is available for free (following a pain-free registration process), and in time it is hoped that the whole Anvil archive will be available online.

According to the website:

‘Anvil is an Anglican evangelical journal of theology and mission. It aims to encourage clear and creative thinking and practice in theology and mission, through open, scholarly debate. While the journal stands clearly in an Anglican evangelical tradition, it seeks to engage constructively with other other Christian traditions both within and beyond the Anglican Communion. Anvil has a particular concern to reflect the unity and diversity of the church worldwide.’

Issue 27, 1 (2011) is available here. In addition to book reviews, it contains the following articles on the theme of ‘Fresh Expressions’:

Jonny Baker

Curating Worship

Drawing on many years involvement in ‘alternative worship’ and in particular on interviews for his recent book Curating Worship, Jonny Baker offers reflections on worship as curation and highlights a number of key themes arising from this creative liturgical and missional movement that are of value for the wider church.

Graham Cray

For the Parish by Andrew Davison and Alison Milbank – A Response

In their recent book, For the Parish, Andrew Davison and Alison Milbank offer a strong critique of Fresh Expressions and Mission-Shaped Church. In this response, Bishop Graham Cray highlights and responds to six of their criticisms, arguing they seriously mislead and misrepresent both the report and Fresh Expressions. He identifies contrasting approaches to the gospel and culture as underlying many of the differences before noting three areas of shared concerns.

George Lings

Evaluating Fresh Expressions of Church

One of the big questions we face today, particularly in relation to Fresh Expressions, is what we mean by ‘church’. In this article George Lings provides us with an overview and some critique of a number of existing lists and criteria on offer to evaluate church. He then explores in more detail the additional question of what it means for a church to be Christian, offering four distinctive characteristics. Finally, he critically explores the deeper question of our image of church and tracks four paradigm changes in this over recent years before concluding with a reflection on how the interpersonal paradigm can combine with the distinctively Christian features of church to assist in evaluating fresh expressions.

Eleanor Williams

Urban Fresh Expressions: Sustainability in the Mixed Economy

Drawing on parish experience and on research interviews conducted in preparation for a written project on the viability of Fresh Expressions of Church in urban deprived settings, Eleanor Williams surveys the findings of the research, drawing out key insights. She concludes by raising some challenging questions about the sustainability of new forms of church at the margins of society, and the meaning of the concept of ‘mixed economy’.

Select articles from earlier issues of Anvil are available here.