The International Consultation on Ecclesial Futures is a group of invited practitioners, academics, consultants, and church leaders with a communal interest in the challenges and futures of local congregations and systems that support them. We work together to share research, foster a critical conversation, and deepen our ecclesial imagination.
Congregations in Denmark are often very complex. Some are professional religious people. Others are private religious. Some have a lot of practice in talking about faith. Others have very little. When doing either consulting or research I therefor almost always begin with an act of creation, with the main focus to create a common language. …
When a few years ago I taught a seminar on Lesslie Newbigin, I realized that throughout his work he consistently draws on the Ephesian metaphor of “all things intended to be summed up into Christ” (Eph. 1:10). From his earliest writings on ecumenism and church unity till his last, famous books on a new missional …
Read more “All Things Summed Up Into Christ: A Fresh Reading of Lesslie Newbigin”
Learning to love: Pastoral care as mission at church-based, intercultural initiatives by Sue Holdsworth explores how love of God and love of neighbour was expressed by staff and volunteers undertaking intercultural initiatives in Australian churches. Holdsworth was inspired by her experience as a migrant and working with intercultural churches. She also recognises that there can …
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Pieter Labuschagne’s article The LIMM Model: Paradigm for Missiological Research offers a new approach to missiological research. The LIMM model was designed by the Loyola Institute for Ministry (LIM), with the second ‘M’ referring to missional action. The LIMM model is guided by three key missiological concepts: missio Dei, Christocentricity and contextuality. Labuschagne hopes this …
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In “They Made Space for Me”: Enhancing Receptive Generosity in an Anglican Diocese in Aotearoa New Zealand, Catherine Rivera expands on her PhD thesis and offers an assessment of why and how the Anglican church in Aotearoa New Zealand is seeking to develop good citizens. In a time of rapid social and cultural change, understanding …
Nigerian Pentecostal Mission in Europe: Ecumenical and Secular Relations in Britain is based on Dr Bisi Adenekan-Koevoets’ PhD thesis and explores a phenomenon called ‘reverse mission’: the strategies used by Nigerian Pentecostal churches in London and Amsterdam to evangelise white Europeans and increase multiculturalism in their churches. Adenekan-Koevoets’ research uses an ethnographic approach: participant observation, …
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Is holding too tightly to our brightest leaders keeping the church from innovation—and even faithfulness? What if setting free our leaders might allow them to lead us better? A Quick Fix is No Fix I’m not sure we, as the Church, are doing great. I know the data bears that out in terms of attendance, …
Read more “Is the Best Way to Lead the Church to Leave Church Leadership? Maybe…”
Bright Myeong-Seok Lee’s paper explores the changing discipleship training model utilised by South Korean churches. The last few years – in particular the Covid19 pandemic, shifts to digital technologies, and climate change – have changed the way churches engage in training models for upcoming leaders. Lee noticed a gap between the traditional training methods and …
Bokyoung Park’s article explores the ways churches in Korea engaged in mission during the Covid19 pandemic. Restrictions on the way churches could gather caused challenges for the church, which is based upon in-person gatherings. The pandemic caused a shift to different forms of hospitality and missional engagement. Park was motivated to do this research as …
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In his article for Ecclesial Futures, An-Wei Tan explores the declining Korean church population. In particular, he considers two phenomena: “believing without belonging” and the emergence of bi-vocational ministers. In his article, Tan argues an ‘ecclesial future’ for the church in Korea is small churches led by bi-vocational ministers. Tan’s article proposes the adoption of …
Read more “Bi-vocational ministers for new ways of belonging: the Korean church in 2023”