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Missional Identity of a Parish Church: A Case Study from the Church of England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2012

Stephen Spencer
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Abstract

This essay draws on the typological framework of Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder in Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), to analyse a case study church drawn from the Church of England. It investigates key elements of the theology and life of the church, in particular its implicit eschatology and understanding of salvation, and its approach to evangelism, to identify and establish which of Bevans and Schroeder's models it most closely expresses. This correlation is then used to draw out certain practical implications for the life of the church, most notably how it can more consistently and therefore with more integrity live out its inherent approach to mission. This shows the general practical usefulness of this methodology for other churches in different settings.

Keywords

Bevans and Schroedermodels of missionChurch of Englandparish churcheschatologysalvationevangelism
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , May 2013 , pp. 84 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2012

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Footnotes

1.

The Revd Dr Stephen Spencer is Tutor, the Yorkshire Ministry Course, Mirfield, and Vicar of St Martin's Brighouse and St John's Clifton, the Diocese of Wakefield, England.

References

2. Davison, Andrew and Milbank, Alison, For the Parish: A Critique of Fresh Expressions (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2010).Google Scholar

3. Bevans, Stephan B. and Schroeder, Roger P., Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004).Google Scholar

4. Bosch, David, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991). For an introduction and overview see Stephen Spencer, SCM Studyguide: Christian Mission (London: SCM Press, 2007).Google Scholar

5. Bevans and Schroeder are using an approach popularized by Avery Dulles. See his Models of the Church (New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 2nd edn, 2000).Google Scholar

6. For the entire statement see Scherer, James A. and Bevans, Stephen, New Directions in Mission and Evangelization I (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992), pp. 253–259.Google Scholar

7. For some examples within Anglicanism and further references see Spencer, Stephen, SCM Studyguide: Anglicanism (London: SCM Press, 2010), ch. 10.Google Scholar

8. See Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, p. 305.Google Scholar

9. See Spencer, SCM Studyguide: Christian Mission, pp. 9–22.Google Scholar

10. Go Forth in Peace: Orthodox Perspectives on Mission, quoted in Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, p. 288.Google Scholar

11. The last sentence of the book, p. 398.Google Scholar

12. Gibbs, Eddie and Bolger, Ryan K., Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (London: SPCK, 2006).Google Scholar

13. Dulles emphasizes this point in Models of the Church.Google Scholar

14. See The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar

15. See Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, p. 34.Google Scholar

16. The following is based on two years of ministry by the author in the case study church and community.Google Scholar

17. See Spencer, SCM Studyguide: Christian Mission, pp. 69–74.Google Scholar

18. See Spencer, SCM Studyguide: Christian Mission, pp. 149–52.Google Scholar

19. Scott Holland did not intend to promote this outlook: he was describing it as one of two contrasting responses to the fact of death. See his 1910 sermon, ‘The King of Terrors’, at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_King_of_TerrorsGoogle Scholar

20. Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, p. 35.Google Scholar

21. See Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, ch. 3.Google Scholar

22. In Loeb Classical Library. II. Tertullian: Apology… (trans. Gerald H. Glover; London: Heineman, 1966), ch. 39, 7.Google Scholar

23. Davie, Grace, ‘From Obligation to Consumption: Understanding the Patterns of Religion in Northern Europe’, in The Future of the Parish System (London: Church House Publishing, 2006).Google Scholar

24. In Loeb Classical Library, II, ch. 39, 7.Google Scholar