Review for Ministers-at-Work by James Francis January 2006

This book provides a detailed and thoughtful examination of spirituality in the contemporary world, and challenges the church to engage critically but creatively with it. MSEs, from their experience of the world of work, will warm to many of the insights provided.

The book is in four chapters, entitled “From religion to Spirituality”; “Spirituality in Everyday Life”; “New Spirituality and Christian Mission”; and “Creating Churches for Spiritual Searchers”. The first charts the paradox of a decline in traditional religion and the burgeoning of diverse spiritualities, often associated with the description of “lifestyle seekers”. In our age embracing meaningful experience has replaced belief in ideology. The reasons for this are explored from a number of different perspectives, historical, new science and psychoanalysis, and consumerism.

The second chapter is a study of aspects of, and approaches to, spirituality in daily life. There are examples drawn from the world of business, and there is an exploration, through the relationship of being human and being spiritual, of how biology and belief interact in the mystery of who we are. The author moves to offering sensible and sensitive insights around the issue of being spiritual and being Christian. He comes to the conclusion that discipleship is more a matter of experience than of assent to rational propositions. The more we realise this the more we can be in creative dialogue with the embedded spiritualities of the world around us.

The remaining two chapters explore how such an engagement might be constructed, particularly to avoid a “them and us” approach, and also how the church must transform itself if it is to be a more open spiritual community engaged with the world. There is much around at present about Mission Shaped Church and its outcome “Fresh Expressions of Church”, which regrettably has overlooked MSE as a (well established) contribution to what is now being called “pioneer” forms of ministry. This book offers an opportunity that enables us all to avoid the trap of church shaped mission, since it is already clear that any invitation to “think outside the box” is not really going far enough. The author’s breadth of thinking, though he does not mention MSE, provides a great deal of material with which MSEs will warmly identify. If this is taken up and used by MSEs themselves then it may help to strengthen their voice to help the church “to bear effective witness to the gospel in an ever-changing but increasingly spiritual culture” (page 164).