Ecclesianarchy - Adaptive Ministry For A Post-Church Society By John Williams

Whilst this is a new book, the back page has a crease in a corner hence the price reduction

The facade of institutional church is crumbling by the decade. The game is up, in sofar as it perpetuates the illusion that the institutional framework of ministry, the outward facade it presents to the world, can accurately convey what the Church of Jesus Christ is about.

Yet look a little harder and you will find that on the ground the church is experimenting with innovations that point to a very different future. Collaborative ministry schemes chip away at hierarchy and clericalism; charismatic renewal privileges the abundant gifts of the Spirit over institutional containment; chaplaincies push at the boundaries of official ministry.

Arguing that what is needed is a provisional approach to ministry which recognises that all forms of ministry are, and always have been a response to social and cultural context, this book brings theological and practical insight to bear on the question of ministry’s provisionality. In the end, it asks, is the only way through this dilemma a kind of Ecclesianarchy?

paperback published in 2020. 245 pages 16x23.5x2.5cm