i have a chapter in being the people of god, a new book on the church. a range of authors offer responses to this question

how can the church of england faithfully express its worship and witness of christ as it walks from the tradition of its past toward the future?

the book is organised into three sections – church as gathered, church scattered and church as a pilgrim community. this in itself is helpful as so much of the imaginary about church is as gathered only which is very reductionist. my chapter it probably won’t surprise you to know is in the church as scattered section. it’s called being witness to the edges. i enjoyed writing it and develop a pretty simple idea about church. this is how i say it in the conclusion

i am proposing being witness at the edges, being church at the edges might best be informed by contemplative practice that dwells on the life, ministry and mission of jesus christ. that then will resource our communal imagination for what iit might mean to participate in the ongoing ministry of jesus christ as communities of followers of his way. that is all. the imaginative possibilities for what this looks like are vast as it finds expression in many different contexts on the edge.

i take two encunters of jesus at the edge to develop the idea and include two liturgies i have written that give a more artful way of articulating. both are actually published on my blog already – the good samaritan and jesus re-story the world. this is the second go i have had at writing a chapter to develop some ideas on church (ecclesiology). the first is the opening chapter leap over the wall or perish in imagining mission with john taylor which i still think was one of my favourite things i have written. the two actually go together pretty well.

i am delighted to see there are chapters in the book from others on our team and pioneers – cathy ross, james butler, tina hodgett, paul bradbury, jon oliver, john white, nigel rooms, mike harrison, andy smith for example. i have not read the book yet – it only just landed through the post. super proud of paul bradbury in his role editing together with andy smith and isabelle hamley. paul is such a great reflector and practical (mission) theologian.

i am sure it will be used in colleges and courses but i hope it also makes its way into individuals and church groups conversations. in my view we still need fresh imagination, practice and permission w.r.t the church. if anything, things have gone backwards or narrowed in the last few years.

summer is a bit dead in relation to running events or webinars but once we get to september i hope we will get ourselves organised to host something related to the book or if others do we’ll highlight it and join in.