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Church challenged to put children at its centre

10 May 2006

 

The first in an eagerly-awaited series commissioned to follow the major impact of the Mission-shaped Church report hits bookshops this week and hopes to extend the visionary influence of the original book to the Church’s work with children.

Mission-shaped Children: moving towards a child-centred church surveys some of the obstacles currently preventing growth in children’s work across the Church - and offers effective strategies to help overcome them.

The book takes many of the ideas behind the original report - first published in 2005 and already credited with sales of more than 20,000 copies – and asks how they can be applied through the eyes of children. This contribution to the debate marks another important step in the Church of England’s approach to mission through creating a ‘mixed economy’ Church where ‘fresh expressions’ of being church are developed alongside more traditional models.

Written by the Church’s leading specialist in the field - Margaret Withers, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Officer for Evangelism amongst Children – the book draws on a wealth of real-life experience and case studies, showing how churches can transform their ministry to children by creating truly child-centred activity.

Margaret argues that by developing fresh and possibly ‘risky’ ways of being church, such as all-age cell churches, loud, action-packed teaching events and holiday clubs, the Church can tap into children’s sense of spirituality throughout the week, not just on Sunday mornings. Other examples include profiles of work that church groups have conducted alongside schools and in non-traditional environments, such as end-of-term discos, pilgrimages and house groups.

The case studies demonstrate that the Church already has a range of opportunities for outreach with children and vividly portrays the benefits of including children as genuine, active members of the Church family to the whole worshipping community. In their foreword, Bishop Graham Cray, Chair of the Mission-shaped Church working party, and Revd Jackie Cray, previously Families and under-5s Adviser for the Church Pastoral Aid Society, stress that the Church needs “to recognise that children are already an integral part of the Church’s mission in the world. We hope that this book will stimulate and challenge our thinking and years of reflecting into action for the honour and sake of the health of God’s Church.”

Mission-shaped Children: moving towards a child-centred church will be unveiled at the National Christian Resources Exhibition, being held at Sandown Park from 9-11th May, and will be available from Christian bookshops from 12th May or from Church House Bookshop, 31 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BN, tel. 020-7898 1300, e mail bookshop@c-of-e.org.uk, or on their website (mail order available).