Category=QRM
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Category=QRVS4
church decline
church growth
church in the UK
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the contemporary church
Product details
- ISBN 9781786225115
- Dimensions: 135 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 19 May 2023
- Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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What is the biggest threat facing churches today? Not enough young people? Too little mission and evangelism? Unsustainable buildings? Unappealing styles of worship? Not enough diversity? Whatever the reasons, the church today seems to exist in a state of anxiety, concerned with its self-preservation.
In this bold and hopeful book, Martyn Percy argues that a being a broken church is in fact good news, as it is only through the cracks that the overwhelming abundance of God can shine through. This collection of essays and reflections considers what it means to be a precarious church. The term suggests uncertainty and peril, yet it is rooted in the Latin precatio, meaning prayer.
It argues that the Church’s vocation is not to be successful or even to survive but to be precarious, liminal, unpredictable and mysterious – a place of encounter with the holy. The questions that should consume us are not, “how shall we remove the risks and alleviate our anxieties?”, but rather “how shall we live in this age of uncertainty?” Every age has had its uncertainties and this inspiring volume explores what faithfulness to each other and to God looks like in an age of anxiety.
Martyn Percy is a striking prophetic voice in today’s church and is in demand internationally as a speaker. He was formerly Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon.
