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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. Such church growth is seen to be on a large scale, is multi-ethnic and can be found across a wide range of social and geographical contexts. It is happening inside mainline denominations but especially in specific regions such as London, in newer churches and amongst ethnic minorities. Church Growth in Britain provides a forceful critique of the notion of secularisation which dominates much of academia and the media - and which conditions the thinking of many churches and church leaders. 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. Rebalancing the debate in this way requires wholesale change in our understanding of contemporary British Christianity.
This two-volume set considers the role and significance of religion in post-war Britian, focusing, in particular, upon the closely inter-related themes of the decline of a specifically `Christian Society' and the emergence of a culturally and religiously plural society. Three core questions are examined in depth: to what extent and in what ways has religion remained a significant factor in British culture and society in the period since 1945?, what role does religion play in interpreting and understanding the development of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society in post-war Britain?, and to what extent has Britain remained (or ceased to be) a `religious society' during this period. Volume 1: Traditions analyses the history and development of the major religious groups present in Britain in the period since 1945. The major religious traditions examined include the traditional Christian churches, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Afro-Caribbean religious groups, New Religious Movements, and the `implicit' religion of the `silent majority' who remain detached from organised religion but are by no means simply secular. Volume 2: Controversies explores some of the challenges, tensions and controversies presented by the emergence of an increasingly religiously plural society in Britain since 1945. In particular, it focuses on the impact of religious pluralism on both the Christian churches and other religious traditions, the relationship between communal and national `identities' and religion, women and religion, and the relationship between religion and changing attitudes to personal - and especially sexual - morality.
This book provides the first academic survey of churches in London over recent decades, linking them to similar developments in other major cities across the West. The vitality of London's churches in the last four decades shows that secularisation is far from inevitable in the cities of the future.
What is genuine church growth? Is it, at heart, the numerical growth of regular congregations or are there other dimensions and, if so, what are they? How can we learn from other contexts in order to properly inform our understanding of what we mean by church growth? Mara is one of the most marginalised regions in Tanzania, which in turn is a country in the most marginalised continent on the planet, and yet, Spencer argues, the church in the region has exhibited remarkable growth. Looking beyond the usual dimensions of church growth discourse, Stephen Spencer weaves in his own experience in Tanzania, finding in that wholly different context an approach to church growth which might entirely change the discourse in the global north.
This is a major contribution to scholarly debates on the chronology and nature of secularization in modern Britain. Combining historical and social scientific insights, it analyses a range of statistical evidence for the 'long 1950s', testing (and largely rejecting) Callum Brown's claims that there was a religious resurgence during this period.
This book offers a fully up-to-date and comprehensive guide to religion in Britain since 1945. A team of leading scholars provide a fresh analysis and overview, with a particular focus on diversity and change. They examine: relations between religious and secular beliefs and institutions the evolving role and status of the churches the growth and ‘settlement’ of non-Christian religious communities the spread and diversification of alternative spiritualities religion in welfare, education, media, politics and law theoretical perspectives on religious change. The volume presents the latest research, including results from the largest-ever research initiative on religion in Britain, the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme. Survey chapters are combined with detailed case studies to give both breadth and depth of coverage. The text is accompanied by relevant photographs and a companion website.
Concern about church growth and decline is widespread and contentious, yet theological reflection on church growth is scarce. Reflecting on the Bible, dogmatic theology and church history, this book situates the numerical growth of the church within wider Christian theology. Leading international scholars, including Alister McGrath, Benedicta Ward and C. Kavin Rowe, contribute a spectrum of voices from evangelical, charismatic, liberal and anglo-catholic perspectives. All contributors unite around the importance of seeking church growth, provided this is situated within a nuanced theological framework. This book offers a critique of ’decline theology’, which has been influential amongst theologians and churches, and which assumes church growth is impossible and/or unnecessary. The contributors provide rich resources from scripture, doctrine and tradition, to underpin action to promote church growth and to stimulate further theological reflection on the subject. The Archbishop of Canterbury provides the Foreword.
Perhaps the most obvious thing one can say about the churches in Britain today is that they are declining. The facts are evident. However, responses to that decline vary considerably, and Robin Gill, parish priest and theologian as well as sociologist, has written to challenge some of them. Dr Gill begins by examining the way in which decline has led to what he argues is a disastrous anti-intellectualism within the churches. Then he goes on to examine ways in which declining churches are tempted to compensate by pressing for general assemblies and synods to make specific moral and social pronouncements. A third chapter sets out alternative and sometimes incompatible options for Christians to engage in moral and social issues. A fourth chapter examines competing models of evangelism and church growth. In the fifth chapter Dr Gill analyses clergy deployment within declining British churches. Concluding that churches are not deploying clergy in the most effective way to counter decline, he suggests a radical model for deployment to edge the churches beyond decline. The book ends with a vision of faith beyond decline.