AS READERS of the Church Times will know, although central authorities are strongly supportive of church-planting as a means of advancing the mission of the Church, there continue to be many critics of its impact, both on neighbouring churches and on the resultant profile of the new community. “Participation” in the title of this book, therefore, deceived me into expecting an attempt to address how a more united front could be achieved. That was not to be so, however. Only the final 70 pages (Part 3) could be seen to engage with such questions. Instead, the rest of the book was of quite a different character.

Here, the issue was the sense in which such work could be appropriately described as participation in the divine mission towards evangelism, and so that is where we ought to begin. Inevitably, allusion is made to 2 Peter 1.3-8, and a missio Dei found in the Trinity which respects those helped and addressed. One contributor (Elizabeth Hare) makes much of the variety of creative involvement in the story of the building of the Tabernacle, while another (Helen Miller) follows Richard Bauckham in noting an unusual difference in message between what is seen and what is heard in this Christian “war scroll”.

Somewhat surprising is the opening essay from Dru Johnson, who puts at its front the controversial promise to Abraham that his descendants’ land will stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates. That repeated declaration is described as part of “God’s intention of planting his people to mushroom them out”, and, as such, a principle that can be applied elsewhere. Another surprise is how often appeal is made to St Thomas Aquinas, even as focus is given to the possible reasons for Christian decline.

Little attention is given in these first two sections to what precisely might be meant by respecting those to whom the mission is addressed. An exception is a story that Alan Torrance turns against himself. As a young lecturer at Aberdeen, he led a mission of his students to the seaside town of Montrose. He was all for a church-based initiative, but his students proved right in moving the location to where young people might prove happier: the neutral territory of a hotel basement.

As I have already indicated, however, I found the reflections in the final part the more interesting. This opens with an impressively frank piece from Pete Ward, indicating that his own earlier excessive ecclesiocentrism had held within it the roots of where he would prove to fail.

This is followed by a description of two workers’ attempt at “radical inclusion” in their work. The project concerned was based in Rochdale, and their aim was to make everyone “known, seen, and loved”, including those on the far boundary of neurodiversity, such as those suffering from autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. One success story is told of how an autistic young man was eventually encouraged into leadership within the youth group.

The next article might be described as bravely included, as it speaks of the impact on the author’s successful church of a plant introduced near by. A lesson of more careful, even intense, listening was drawn. Finally, an arts pioneer minister (Gill Sakakini) draws attention to how often her successes were the result of others still on the fringe.

Apparently, this is only the first of a series of reflections on church-planting, organised from St John’s College, Durham. As such, the initiative is most welcome, not least given the resources placed in this direction but still relatively unsuccessful in drawing in new Christians (about ten per cent of the new congregations, according to one author).

The Revd Dr David Brown is Emeritus Wardlaw Professor of Theology, Aesthetics and Culture at the University of St Andrews.

Participation and Church Planting: Perspectives from scripture, doctrine and practice
Joshua Cockayne, editor
SCM Press £50
(978-0-334-06379-7)
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