Abstract
In recent decades, there has been renewed interest in church planting. In 2021, the Church Revitalisation Trust alone successfully planted 21 new churches. Bishop Ric Thorpe, in his introduction to this book, suggests that church planters typically emerge as practitioners breaking away from conventional church norms. His emphasis being that church planters tend to see themselves more as practitioners than theologians, often substituting instinct and entrepreneurial skills for theological insight. Leaving the analysis and marrying together of current practice and theology to the theological college lecturer or those the institution has charged with holding a strong and consistent theological path.
Valentine has written a book attempting to bridge all three constituencies. Rather than writing a book for the pragmatist, a book for the lecturer and book for institutional leads he has fused them together into one. The difficulty with working in this way is the possibility of writing a book that nobody wants! Nevertheless, Valentine has creatively and masterfully avoided that and instead written strong theology, but presented it in a practical and accessible way and with enough insight into how the church hierarchy meet the challenge of organising and deploying church planters.
The book is presented in two parts, with the first part being longer. Part 1 intends to present the theological foundation that shapes, and when necessary, reshapes the practice of church planting. It looks closely at the biblical content, encompassing the Old Testament, the Gospels – depicting how Jesus shaped the formation of the church and defined mission, The Acts of the Apostles with the early Christian church plants, and the activities of early Christians, warts and all, as shown in the Epistles. But this is more than biblical critique or a study of early church planting methods. Instead, the book provides insights extending beyond biblical ecclesiology and into church life. Within the biblical exploration are embedded nuggets of wisdom spotlighting the transformative influence of grace-driven, covenant-based communities aspiring to impact the world.
The second half of the book changes the focus toward systematic theology, specifically investigating the relationship between the church and mission while contextualizing the practice of church planting within an understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. This dimension is going to prove an exceptional resource for anyone involved in theological education, those who see their role primarily as equipping and empowering others. But as already noted, it will also prove a great resource for church planters, again the book demonstrating its ability to balance biblical theology, doctrine, and practical insights for church planting.
In summary, this is not merely a theoretical exploration; it is a book of applied theology crafted for church planters. But it will prove to be an invaluable resource for those naturally inclined towards pragmatism, offering the potential for significantly improved practice with just a few hours of engagement with its contents. But it is also a textbook for the lecturer and every theological college lecturer who has anything resembling missiology in their portfolio should not be without it.
This book was a joy to read and will prove significant as we work to increase the number of church plants year on year.