Abstract
Taylor, who is from New Zealand, visited the UK in 2001 to conduct some research into a number of alternative worship communities. Eleven years later he returned and set out to visit the same communities. Where they were no longer in existence, he interviewed people who had been part of the communities when he first visited; he also interviewed key individuals in the Fresh Expressions initiative of the Church of England. This book is his theological reflection on these findings.
Taylor found that 50 per cent of the communities no longer existed; he found this to be in line with some of the wider research into the longevity of these types of new or alternative communities. In this book, he looks at a formula that is present in those communities that have continued to flourish: sustainability = sociological stability x evolving group identities x flexibility. However, he cautions against a view suggesting that permanency is the only way of viewing the value of these communities. He suggests that, instead of having a rather negative view of this attrition rate, we should have a theology that values the ‘trying and dying’. These communities are energizing, and many of the people involved in the original communities he visited have gone on to have important ministries in other places. The communities were of their time and place, and their fruits can be found in the ongoing life and ministry of those touched by them.
The theological conversation partners he chooses are interesting. He notes that the formal Fresh Expressions movement of the Church of England was very gendered, with little room for female voices. Taylor chooses to work with feminist theology in the form of birthing and embodying, drawing initially from the work of Janet Soskice and Julian of Norwich. This leads him to focus on the stories of emerging communities, and he also draws in ideas from Maori culture, commerce and craft. The focus on birthing becomes problematic, though, when put together with his concept of ‘tried and died’. The birthing metaphor does not allow for an acceptance of failure if we are talking about human birth. The death of babies and infants is tragic and traumatic. This aspect of failing communities is not fully explored. Foregrounding some of his other metaphors from ecology or craft may have enabled him to play with the idea of things springing up and then being dug back into the ground or a faulty pot being remade into something new. His questioning of the overvaluing of permanence is an important element that needs a more nuanced theological reflection.
Taylor has some interesting chapters on governance and on the relationship between denominations and these alternative ways of being church. The book presents useful information from his research and raises some good questions. However, it feels somewhat undigested. There are too many different theological strands for real coherence and the important data gets lost in the attempt to link it to different theologians and biblical narratives. It would also have been good to see some engagement with the more critical voices in the debates around Fresh Expressions. This is important in the current Church of England, where the search for new initiatives can lead to financial grants, often without clearly thought-out ideas about what we are aiming to achieve. Is permanence or a renewal of the current Church what we are hoping for? And is that an appropriate way to view these alternative Christian communities? Taylor asks these questions and is beginning the conversation needed to try to answer them.
The book is a useful read for those engaged in Fresh Expressions and Pioneer ministry and those making decisions about what and how we support such initiatives.