Nearly 30 years after South African missiologist David Bosch explored what he called elements of an emerging ecumenical missionary paradigm Lived Mission in 21st Century Britain propose that there is still work to be done ecumenically for missiology to inhabit rightfully its role as critical friend, crosser of boundaries, advocate for justice and intellectual ankle biter.
Bringing together a unique array of contributors, the book considers what mission as practice looks like both through the eyes of those who are well established as theologians and reflective practitioners and those who are working on the ground and have written little on their daily lived experience.
Chapter authors include Jan Nowotnik, Graham Adams, Shemil Mathew, Timothy Boniface Carroll, Bisi Adenekan, Elizabeth Joy, Heather Major, Tom Hackett, James Woodward, Raj Bhara Patta, Paul Weller, Niall Cooper, Lisa Adjei, Shermara Fletcher and Anupama Ranawana
Foreword
Mike Royal and Nicola Brady
Acknowledgements
Editors and Contributors
Introduction
Benjamin Aldous and Victoria Turner
Confessions
1. The Synodal Pathway in the Catholic Church
Jan Nowotnik
2. Mission in the colonial matrix of adult power: Child-centredness as way, truth and life!
Graham Adams
3. Contexts and Consequences: Enduring Pain versus the Intentional Erasure of Colonial Legacy
Shemil Mathew
4. When the Church of the British Isles begins to venerate her own saints, then the Church will grow
Timothy Boniface Carroll
Contexts
5. This is our land: Africans Evangelising in Britain
Harvey Kwiyani
6. Second-generation British-Nigerians and Contextual Mission in Britain
Bisi Adenekan
7. ‘Marginality’ as Mission Priority: Decolonising Theology to Participate in God’s Mission
Elizabeth Joy
8. Beyond Breaking Point: Responding to Brokenness in Rural Scottish Parish Churches
Heather Major
9. Witnessing as Mission: Powerlessness as Prophetic Discipleship in the Hostile Environment
Tom Hackett and Victoria Turner
10. Befriending the elderly stranger: lived mission and older people
James Woodward
Consequences
11. Mission and Racial Justice: Ecumenical and Millennial perspectives
Lisa Adjei and Shermara Fletcher
12. Just(ice) Love: A Public Theological Engagement with the Bible
Raj Bharat Patta
13. Less Christian, More Secular and More Religiously Plural: 21st Century Census Data as Contextual Challenge and Opportunity for Christian Presence and Witness in England
Paul Weller
14. Reimagining Mission from the Margins: Reclaiming Dignity, Agency and Power together
Niall Cooper
15. Communities of resistance, migrant rights and the climate crisis: Ambalavaner Sivanandan’s prophetic challenge to lived mission.
Anupama Ranawana
Conclusion
16. Where do we go from here?
Harvey Kwiyani and Peniel Rajkumar
Benjamin Aldous, Harvey Kwiyani, Peniel Rajkumar
Ben Aldous is the Principal Officer for Evangelism & Mission for Churches Together in England.
Harvey Kwiyani is a Malawian missiologist and African Christianity Programme Lead for the Church Mission Society in Oxford.
Peniel Rajkumar is Global Theology with the USPG and previously worked for the World Council of Churches.
Victoria Anne Turner is Lecturer at Ripon College Cuddesdon and recent PhD graduate from Edinburgh University.
"The strength of this book lies in the polyphonic and diversity of the editors and contributors. The perspectives of the editors and contributors includes intercultural, intergenerational and interdenominational therefore making this book an important volume on mission in the 21st century British context. In a western individualised contested postmodern society such as we live in, any reflection on mission have to consider the ecumenical and intercultural dimensions of mission therefore this is a worthwhile book on Intercultural Ecumenical Missiology!" -- Rev Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana
"As an Anglican bishop, I am acutely aware that the Church of England is being forced to learn humility - first and foremost in terms of mission and our place within society, but also ecumenically and in terms of the global voices now present in the UK. Lived Mission in 21st Century Britain is a great example of the variety of voices which are enriching our understanding of what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ in a rapidly changing culture. Each author is confident in the gift that they have to offer as well as the necessity of receiving the gift of the other. This is a vision of a multi-centred church which pays attention to history as well as current dynamics of power. It is an inspiring vision of God renewing the church in unexpected ways." -- Martyn Snow
"When people ask me what the church in Britain looks like now I shall refer to this remarkable book. Here right now Christianity is not European, white and Western, but global, diverse, and confidently challenging the residues of colonialism. Those once at the margins are now re-creating the centre, and re-imagining church. Blunt words and deep insights born of experience provide a lively collection of fascinating and faithful voices." -- Susan Durber