Changing Mission: learning from the newer churches

Stuart Murray-WIlliams has a new book just out, entitled 'Changing Mission: learning from the newer churches'... well, its new in that it has just been published... but the manuscript was written in 2004.  As it is a reflection on the state of Emerging Church Stuart admits to being frustrated at the delay... he feels that much has moved on since then... the nature of young things is that they grow and change rapidly, sometimes before your very eyes... nevertheless the book will complement 'Post-Christendom' and 'Church in Post-Christendom' and Stuart always has things to say that are still worth hearing!  He was surprised when I told him that his 1990 book 'City Vision' still has a place on my Bookshelf!

Stuart says of the book...

It is also a book-length expansion of chapter 3 of Church after Christendom (with which you may be familiar). It offers an overview of the phenomenon of the 'emerging church' which is stirring up so much interest at present - stories, analysis, context, questions, reflections and suggestions for engagement.

Here is a quote which he says indicates the provisionally (in my mind a 'good thing') of the material...

'Emerging churches may be self-indulgent, introverted experiments catering primarily for bored middle-class churchgoers unsatisfied with naïve theology and banal liturgy. Some may be desperate attempts to breathe fresh life into dying models. Others may be angst-ridden communities of like-minded dissidents united by discontent rather by than a transforming vision. Others again may be tentative forays into unfamiliar territory from which pioneers will return licking their wounds.

'On the other hand, emerging churches may be forerunners of a great movement of missional creativity that will negotiate the transition into post-Christendom. They may herald an ecclesial revolution comparable to the 4th-century Christendom shift. They may kick-start recovery from decades of decline and incarnate the gospel effectively into communities where it is virtually absent. They may catalyse renewal in church and society across western culture.'

It will be available from Christian bookshops at £7.99 or from the online bookshop, Metanoia Books, for the same price plus postage and packing -  www.metanoiabooks.org.uk.

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