I’m preparing for the Uniting Church’s Signposts of Hope conference being held in May, on the Sunshine Coast, focusing on supporting fresh expressions of church. One of my tasks is putting together a reading list that might stimulate people before, during and after the conference. Have a look through here and see what you’ve not read yet, and leave your comments with suggestions for the list. I’ve got another list coming tomorrow (next week) with material on experimental/alternative approaches to forming Christian communities.
“Mission-shaped Church”, an initiative of the Church of England and Methodist Church in England, was published in 2004 as a report on “Fresh Expressions” church planting, for study and action in local congregations. The book was reprinted in 2009, with a forward by Graham Cray, along with a series of five books on the “mission-shaped” theme. I’ve included links to the books on Amazon.co.uk.
Mission-shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context
Mission-shaped Spirituality: The Transforming Power of Mission
Mission-shaped Children: Moving Towards a Child-centered Church (Explorations)
Mission-shaped Youth: Rethinking Young People and Church
Mission-shaped and Rural: Growing Churches in the Countryside
Mission-shaped Parish: Traditional Church in a Changing World
Also check out some of the thoughtful responses to the “Mission-Shaped” Fresh Expressions iniatitive.
Mission-shaped Church: A Theological Response
Mission-shaped Questions: Defining Issues for Today’s Church
Emerging and Fresh Expressions of Church
Alan Roxburgh, from the Allelon Network in Canada, has published on Missional Church and Missional Leadership.
Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series)
The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)
Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)
Reggie McNeal is Missional Leadership Specialist for Leadership Network of Dallas, Texas. He’s written a couple of books focusing
Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)
The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)
The Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America, established in the late 1980s, has published seven books through Eerdmans, edited by Lois Barrett.
Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (The Gospel and Our Culture Series)
The Continuing Conversion of the Church (The Gospel & Our Culture Series)
Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness (The Gospel and Our Culture Series)
The Church Between Gospel and Culture (Gospel & Our Culture)
StormFront: The Good News of God (Gospel and Our Culture)
Craig Van Gelder is professor of congregational mission at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He’s continuing to roll out a range of books in the “Missional Church” series.
Ministry of the Missional Church, The: A Community Led by the Spirit
The Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry (Missional Church Series)
A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation: Embarking on a Journey of Transformation
The Missional Church and Leadership Formation: Helping Congregations Develop Leadership Capacity
The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop a Missional Identity
Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost launched their writing career in 2003 with The Shaping of Things to Come, boosted by the establishment of Forge Missional Training Network. Alan and Debbie have moved from Melbourne, Australia, to the United States. Michael is based in Sydney.
The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church
Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture
The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
Forgotten Ways Handbook, The: A Practical Guide for Developing Missional Churches
Rejesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church
Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship (Shapevine)
You could list any number of course, but one I found really helpful in getting a handle on emerging church was the one by Gibbs and Bolger “Emerging Churches”.
Thanks Lindsay. I’ll be including Eddie’s books in the next list, which focuses on alternatives to the usual.
Any readings on the “missional church” are incomplete without the Church Father who influenced them all: Lesslie Newbigin. His later books (especially The Other Side of 1984, Foolishness to the Greeks, and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society) are must-reads for deep thinking along these lines.
all bar one (Jars of Clay) are by men.
steve
Actually, the Mission Shaped books on children and Rural are by Margaret Withers and Sally Gaze respectively.
fair point. in response, i’ve had a crack at a women’s mission/evangelism/leadership bibliography on my blog.found about 15-20,
steve