The conference Towards a Theology of Church Growth is to be held on 12-13 September, at St John’s College, part of the University of Durham. A book emanating from the conference will be published by Ashgate in 2014, edited by David Goodhew and with a foreword by the Rt. Revd Justin Welby.

” The team involved in this conference have done ground-breaking work and it will be very worth the commitment to attend.”   the Rt. Revd Justin Welby

Leading figures from across the spectrum of Anglicanism will speak at the conference – including Professor Alister McGrath, Rev Dr Graham Tomlin, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes and Sr Benedicta Ward. Further key scholars – such as C. Kavin Rowe of Duke and Ashley Null of Huboldt University, Berlin will be contributing simply to the volume. The volume will provide detailed discussion of the concept of church growth, recognising where it needs nuance, but also showing how it is rooted in the Biblical texts, systematic theology and church history.

More about the book and the conference ‘Towards a Theology of Church Growth’

Follow the Centre for Chruch Growth on twitter – @CCGR_Durham

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Also edited by David Goodhew: Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present

Posted by Hattie Wilson, Marketing Executive

We live in an era where social networks and smart phones have made news reporting instantaneous and immediately accessible. In the stories that are emerging from these various mediums, religion is featuring prevalently.

In Religion and the News, edited by Jolyon Mitchell and Owen Gower, journalists and religious leaders consider their role in this rapidly evolving environment, and how religion and the media influence one another.

Each chapter has been written by those in a unique position, studying how stories emerge and develop in the public eye, the relationship between reporting and religion, and the effects of these stories upon religious communities and faith. The list of contributors (below) reads like a who’s who in the field of religious journalism and theology, proving this title is unique in its perspective of the media’s relationship with religion and the friction that is sometimes triggered.

Contributors include:

• Jolyon Mitchell, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues Edinburgh University
• Christopher Landau, Religious Affairs Correspondent, BBC World Service
• Andrew Brown, The Guardian
• Professor Lord Harries of Pentregarth, former Bishop of Oxford
• Dr Indarjit Singh, Director of the Network of Sikh Organisations
• Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Director, Jewish Information and Media Service
• Imam Monawar Hussain, Muslim Tutor, Eton College
• Charlie Beckett, Director, Polis
• Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, The Times
• Catherine Pepinster, Editor, The Tablet
• Riazat Butt, Religious Affairs Correspondent, The Guardian
• Professor the Worshipful Mark Hill QC, Barrister and Fellow, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University.

Religion and the News is edited by Jolyon Mitchell and Owen Gower and is available in both Hardback, Paperback and ebook editions.

Here is an edited extract from the introduction to the book:

Over the last three decades the coverage of religious news in the media has radically changed: religion is no longer a ‘soft’ story. Religious issues pervade the reporting of many stories related to domestic politics and foreign affairs alike.

Following the terrorist attacks in Western cities such as New York (11 September 2001), Madrid (11 March 2004) and London (7 July 2005), as well as the invasions of Afghanistan (from October 2001) and Iraq (from March 2003), religion has increasingly broken into mainstream Western news agendas. Some scholars suggest that this process began even earlier with the Iranian Revolution (1979), the global performances of a ‘media friendly’ Pope, John Paul II (1978–2005), and the rise of the ‘religious right’ in the USA (from the late 1970s).

The cumulative result is that religion is less commonly marginalised, and is sometimes used as an interpretative key for making sense of many news stories. Even if a religious story seems self-contained, its ramifications often generate comment from unrelated parts of what is sometimes described as ‘the secular press’.

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK in 2010, for example, generated a huge amount of coverage from commentators and reporters not normally associated with religious news. Indeed, comparing the coverage of the papal visit in 1982 with the 2010 visit sheds light on the changing relationship between religion and the news: there is now more comment on the plurality of faith traditions in Britain (with a particular emphasis on Islam); the marginalisation of Christianity is a recurring theme; and the rise of ‘aggressive secularism’ has been especially notable.

While it is more likely than ever before for religion to be in the news, it is also more likely for the coverage to focus on conflict, threat and scandal. Despite many religious leaders wanting to see their faiths represented as being harmonious, reconciliatory and profoundly ethical, many news stories pick up on disharmony or highlight failings.

Why is there this contrast between what religious leaders want reported and what journalists feel is newsworthy about religions in the UK?

Many religious representatives often feel misrepresented in the press. Likewise, many journalists believe that religious people do not appreciate how the media operates: it does not exist to provide free publicity or to evangelise. On the contrary, reporters investigate, uncover and analyse, and that often leads to the coverage of stories that embarrass members of faith traditions.

This book offers a rare opportunity for journalists and faith leaders to express, to explain and to analyse their frustrations with one another, and to offer their views on how to create a more engaged relationship between religious representatives and journalists.

These perspectives are framed by analyses of the current state of reporting on religion in the UK, along with chapters on significant issues such as the law, blasphemy, violent conflict and the role of technology in shaping both beliefs and the news coverage of faith traditions. Many of the contributions to this book are characterised by the personal experiences of the writers with the interaction between religion and the news. These reflections are sometimes marked by anger or disappointment and illustrated with examples of mistreatment by one side or another.

There has been no attempt to downplay these personal sentiments or to try and develop a consistent analysis across the different voices in the book. We considered calling this book a ‘reader’, but in reflecting carefully on the range of contributions realised that it could also be called a ‘listener’. Several of the authors write more commonly for the ear than for the eye, others write more regularly for general audiences rather than specialist readers. Their distinct voices, accents and styles have been intentionally preserved, reflecting the multiplicity of ways that religion and the news are both interpreted and covered.

Listening carefully to the different voices in this book will reveal fresh ways of reflecting on both old and new arguments. The different authors found in this book disagree about fundamental issues, such as the nature of free speech, the correlation between demographics and coverage, the role of truth in journalism, whether different religions require different treatment by the press, what is wrong with religious press and public relations departments, the 24-hour news cycle, the standard of religious education among journalists and so on.

Seeing these fault-lines close-up provides a valuable insight into some of the difficulties faced by journalists as they attempt to cover news about religion and by religious leaders who are trying to articulate and to embody the beliefs and the practices of their own religious tradition. While tensions are certainly present, all contributors agree that the relationship between religion and the news can be improved. A constructive vision of the relationship between religion and the news does emerge from the contributions, but it emerges gradually, through an account of the mistakes and frustrations of the past as well as hope for a future where journalists and religious leaders have developed a clearer understanding of each other’s crafts and callings.

Owen Gower and Jolyon Mitchell

There has been substantial church growth in Britain between 1980 and 2010. This is the controversial conclusion from the international team of scholars, who have drawn on interdisciplinary studies and the latest research from across the UK. This book demonstrates that, whilst decline is happening in some parts of the church, this needs to be balanced by recognition of the vitality of large swathes of the Christian church in Britain.

‘Church Growth in Britain is a welcome and well researched challenge to the widespread assumption that Christianity in Britain is suffering terminal decline. Without pretending that there is no significant demise in some areas or that its findings will not provoke robust debate, the “mosaic of micro-studies” in this book illustrates the vitality, depth and breath of Christianity within the United Kingdom. Its central thesis certainly reflects what I witness when visiting the parishes of the Archdiocese of Westminster. For there I see people’s faith shaping their everyday lives such that Christ is truly present in the streets of our land.’ Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

‘Church Growth in Britain is a timely book with a polemic point.  Contrary to received wisdom, David Goodhew and his associates argue that Christianity is thriving in Britain-but Christianity of sorts that fall under conventional radar screens. The book will draw cheers from the minority of like-minded observers, serious critical attention from a broad middle, and no doubt counterattacks from the sociological and religious establishments whose standpoints are attacked. Yet the book’s most telling observations are made only partly through pointed argument and mostly through calm and informative case studies of overlooked churches.’ R. Stephen Warner, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

‘What I particularly liked about this book was the way it brought out, in serious historical perspective, the very different situations in which churches find themselves according to particular environments and the kinds of strategies that revive growth. The divinity lies in the detail and there is much genuine divinity in this volume.’ David Martin, Emeritus Professor, and Fellow of the British Academy

‘We have needed a wide-ranging academic book on church growth for a long time – and now we have one. Church growth is not just a subject for “how to” books, and here we have careful, evidenced work to encourage further reflection and action. This is a wise and timely study.’ The Rt Revd John Pritchard, The Bishop of Oxford, UK

‘During the last thirty years we have all become familiar with shrinking congregations and churches closing. But few people realise that the same period has seen the opening of several thousand new churches across the UK. And while the larger denominations have all lost members, other smaller denominations, as well as many independent congregations have grown. This fascinating collection of case-studies shows how and where this has happened, and suggests why. It also provides a convincing account of how the nature of religion in our country has changed as a result.’ Hugh McLeod, Emeritus Professor, University of Birmingham, UK

‘It is commonly supposed that the Christian church in Britain is moribund, but the essays in this volume all demonstrate, from different angles, that in the recent past there are signs of vitality and growth.  Nor is the vigour confined to new churches, for mainstream bodies have also partipated in the upward trend here depicted with scholarly care.’ David Bebbington, University of Stirling, UK

‘I have been waiting for someone to write this book!’  Rodney Stark, Baylor University, USA

‘This book tells us the untold story of church growth in this country over the last thirty years.  It’s scholarly, easy to read, and full of hope and optimism. It did my heart good to read … I thoroughly recommend it to you.’ Revd Canon Roger Simpson, Archbishop’s Evangelist to the North

Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the present is edited by David Goodhew, who is an Anglican priest and Director of Ministerial Practice at Cranmer Hall, an Anglican theological college which is part of St John’s College, Durham. A former fellow and chaplain of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and an experienced parish priest, he has published widely in the field of modern British church history and South African history, including the first monograph-length study of a South African township, Respectability and Resistance: a History of Sophiatown.