Overview
Aim and Focus
The Christian Communities and Mission Study Group understands local Christian communities as; a) the hermeneutic of the gospel and; b) meeting God’s future as it comes towards us in the shape of the reign of God within the particular time and place that we find ourselves. This requires these communities to be constantly adapting and changing as they orient themselves towards God’s preferred and promised future in a rapidly changing world. We believe study and research in how local churches change to be increasingly faithful in their everyday apostolicity continues to be urgently needed.
Therefore, in this Study Group we bring together theology, missiology, ecclesiology and practical theology – since these disciplines (and their associated social science partners such as anthropology and sociology) are all essential to discerning the future sustainability and even flourishing of a Christian community as it engages in God’s mission. Sometimes this confluence of disciplines is summarised as “missional ecclesiology”.
We imagine Christian communities broadly. They include denominationally affiliated and independent local churches, religious communities and congregations, new church plants, so-called ‘fresh expressions’ of church, and ‘new monastic’ communities. We embrace and welcome contributions from and about all Christian denominations and churches in the ecumenical spirit of IAMS.
Our Partner Journal – Ecclesial Futures
Alongside the development of this Study Group (for more on its history see below) several members have been involved with starting (in 2020) a new journal focusing on missional ecclesiology; www.ecclesialfutures.org – it publishes twice per year and Newsletter updates about fresh issues can be supplied by registering for them on the website.
From 2022 the journal began to be published “Diamond Open Access” with Radboud University Press in the Netherlands. This means that it is free to write and free to read all our articles and book reviews, including all those published since the journal began.
Contributions of around 6,000 words from any interested author/s who would like to write for the journal are very welcome. Recent contributions have reflected on; case studies of local churches and new monastic communities; diaspora, intercultural and decolonial questions in Christian communities; doing church in digital spaces; public theologies of whole church bodies; methodology in researching local Christian churches; special issues focused on a particular country e.g. South Korea (in 2023).
History and Ongoing Development
The Christian Communities and Mission Study Group began with a conversation amongst a group of 16 interested IAMS members and delegates at the 2016 Assembly in Korea (the Group was officially accepted by the IAMS Executive in June 2017). These members represented Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox denominations and included Rev Canon Dr Nigel Rooms, Rev Prof Darren Cronshaw, Rev Dr Seong Sik Heo, Prof. Nelus Niemandt, Rev. Dr. Cristian Sebastian Sonea, Prof. Sr Marie-Hélène Robert, and Dr. Timothy van Aarde.
In the run-up to the 2020/2022 IAMS assembly, the Study Group conveners (Rev Canon Dr Nigel Rooms and Dr Lynne Taylor, along with Rev Dr Steve Taylor – who is the journal co-editor, with Nigel Rooms), stimulated writing and contributions on Christian Communities and Mission via the Ecclesial Futures’ August 2021 International Missional Research Workshop Series. We also connected with scholars offering papers in our Study Group track at IAMS Europe, St. Augustin, Bonn, Germany, 23-27 August 2019.
Since the inception of the Study Group another source of scholarship and material for the journal is via an informal partnership with a separate body, the International Consultation on Ecclesial Futures, https://ecclesialfutures.net/
At the 2022 Sydney Assembly, 21 papers were presented in our Study Group in the hybrid format – some on-site and some online. The countries represented by those who presented were Australia, Germany, Pakistan, New Zealand, Myanmar, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, USA and the UK. Much learning occurred across many boundaries and the strength of interest and scholarship in our Study Group theme was amply affirmed. A full report of what happened is found here: https://ecclesialfutures.org/article/view/13404/15115
Any member of IAMS can contribute to the Study Group – whether at a Regional IAMS Conference or at the Quadrennial International Assembly. We are looking forward to being together again in South Africa in July 2026. We hope soon to be able to communicate news and members’ research and publications in order to keep the Study Group moving and learning between conferences.
Theological Sources for Christian Communities and Mission
In introducing our Study Group, we think it is worth sharing some of the theological sources that underpin our work.
Missional ecclesiology is an important issue for the global church. A lot of existing research, including the word “missional” itself has emerged out of the challenges of mission in the western world. While missionary theologian, Lesslie Newbigin’s critique of the western churches and the subsequent discussion about the missional church among his followers, in the Gospel and our Culture Network (GOCN), for instance, emerged out of the historical background of post-Christendom in the west, some majority world Christian churches do not share such an experience of Christendom and post-Christendom. Thus, when we talk about ecclesial futures in the majority world there is a wholly different task of listening, research, analysis and theorising.
Many practitioners and theologians in the non-western world are passionately interested in the mission of the local church and reimagining ecclesial futures (cf. Bolger 2012). Thus, as a Study Group and as churches we need to be cognisant of the wisdom of indigenous peoples in mission; decolonizing mission and its dependence on Whiteness; and negotiating the boundary between faith and culture which is truly respectful of the culture. In order to discuss ‘ecclesial futures’ in the global majority world, we need to be attentive to how churches are engaging with the coming Kingdom in their own way amongst their own people. This is because western and non-western Christianities do not always share the same historical and epistemological background.
Nevertheless, we can cite at least three theological sources for the work of the Study Group;
- The missio Dei – we believe the missio Dei to be axiomatic for ecclesiology. A large proportion, possibly worldwide, of local Christian communities and the systems that support them were formed in modernity and therefore with the culture and norms of modernity, Christendom and colonialism (although see later discussion on the limits of this assumption). If adopting the stance of the missio Dei is indeed a paradigm shift as Bosch (1991) claims then it is no surprise that there is deep resistance to the implications of this ‘about face’ within such communities and the systems that support them. Researching how and why Christian communities may make this paradigm shift so they might embody the missio Dei continues to be vital work. And even in places where such post-Christendom conditions do not apply, how the missio Dei is lived and embodied by local Christian communities remains of great interest to us.
- Andrew Walls (2002) has clearly shown that the history of the waxing and waning of Christianity over the centuries demonstrates that local Christian communities can flourish and they can die, never to be seen again. For example, there is no Christian Community in North Africa contiguous with that of the one present at the time of Augustine of Hippo. Thus, while we appreciate the contribution of congregational studies, ecclesiology, sociology and ethnography and will need to draw on all these fields in our own work, we do not believe they are sufficient in themselves. As theologians of Christian mission, we are invited to deep theological reflection on the work and potential future of Christian congregations (broadly defined).
- The ‘missional church’ movement, arising from the work of Lesslie Newbigin and later the GOCN, as mentioned above, has long been working on these questions, particularly amongst Protestant mainline denominations in the west. While this movement has no monopoly on such questions, this Study Group will need to stay in critical contact with developments in ‘missional church’ as well as broadening the concerns across the spectrum of denominations represented in IAMS. There is a large amount of literature published over almost two decades, too large to cite here. A recent example is Franke (2020) and the Special Issue of Ecclesial Futures which looked at missional church questions in South Korea which was based on contributions to the 2022 IAMS Conference, https://ecclesialfutures.org/issue/view/1004
References
Bosch, David J. (1991), Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Bolger, Ryan, ed. (2012) The Gospel after Christendom: New Voices, New Cultures, New Expressions. Grand Rapids MI: Baker.
Franke, John R. (2020) Missional Theology: An Introduction, Grand Rapids MI: Baker.
Walls, Andrew (2002), The Cross-cultural Process in Christian History, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Conveners
Rev Canon Dr Nigel Rooms, Leader – Partnership for Missional Church, Church Mission Society, UK
nigel.rooms[@]churchmissionsociety.org
Dr Lynne Taylor, Somerville Senior Lecturer in Pastoral Theology – University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand
lynne.taylor[@]otago.ac.nz