Pioneer Spirituality edited by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross reviewed

Put this up on my review blog earlier. Realised that it may be interesting to readers of this blog too. Pioneering Spirituality: Resources for reflection and practice edited by Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker, published by Canterbury Press, is the latest work from the CMS stable.

Whilst distinctly different from its predecessor , which I reviewed last year -The Pioneer Gift ,it still has the familiar format of having a range of chapters from practitioners in a range of contexts. The work that Baker and Ross do involves seeking to facilitate the hearing of voices which might not otherwise be heard. This has primarily involved seeking to ensure that it is those who would describe themselves as pioneers whose stories and theological reflections are heard.

The scope of contributors to this book seems wider than in previous texts of this kind. It seems that going beyond the traditionally recognised type of fresh expressions and pioneering projects they are engaging more widely with different types of pioneering. This includes hearing the voices of Harvey Kwiyani who is one of a group of Malawian pastors living and working in Nottingham and Berdine Van Den Toren-Lekkerkerker and Benno Van Den Toren who are originally from the Netherlands but have worked in various parts of the world. The former discusses African Spirituality in Western Contexts and the latter From Missionary Incarnate to Incarnational Guest: A Critical Reflection on Incarnation as a Model for Missionary Presence. There is also a chapter by anti-FGM activist Ann-Marie Wilson, who started 28 Too Many, on An Active Spirituality for Mission.

That said there are the familiar type of Pioneers in here too such as Gavin Mart of Engedi Arts who is a Methodist Venture FX Pioneer. Whilst Ross and Baker are careful not to speak with the voices of academics, rather presenting their introductory chapter in a more conversational form the academic voice is here too. Not only via Ross (and to a lesser extent Baker) but also through Stephen Bevans of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Bevans chapter Dancing with the Missionary God: Towards a Mission Spirituality seeks to identify six constant features of spirituality which provide a template for those engaged in pioneer mission.

The Bevans chapter is one which seeks to invite the practitioner to reflect on their own spirituality and seek to identify what both unpins it but also what sustains it. This concept of ensuring the pioneers own spirituality is sustained and the sharing of ideas and practices to help with this is the focus of the first part of the book. The most powerful chapters on this topic I believe are Kate Pearson’s on Angela of Foligno as a Model for Pioneer Minstry and Beth Honey’s Pioneers as Pilgrims. Both of these chapters were particularly useful to me personally as I seek to identify how to develop my own spirituality having moved into a lay university chaplaincy role – a role that in her chapter Pearson who is a chaplain at a different university describes as having “been a space for pioneers for a long time.” (p80)

Other chapters particularly in the second half of the book talk more about practice and how to help others develop their spirituality. Johnny Sertin’s chapter on Getting Dirty talked about doing this within a Church of England Parish Context whilst Tina Hodgett talked about it in relation to a group for young mums in her chapter on Doors in the Air: Baby Spirituality. These were interesting chapters telling the stories of what they were doing in a way which readers of the Ancient Faith, Future Mission series will be familiar.

Overall though this is more of a book to help pioneers themselves reflect rather than a book for those outside the system. It is a text to help understanding between different groups and to facilitate a conversation as illustrated by Kim Hartshorne’s We Are One Body Because We all Share in One Bread: Pioneering and the Eucharist. This chapter was focused on explaining to those from lower church backgrounds particularly why the Eucharist is so important to many practitioners from an Anglican tradition. This chapter articulated clearly why the rules matter to some people and why in finding new ways of doing things respect needs to be given to existing etiquettes. Again as somebody who doesn’t at times understand the need for the rules and restraints this was something I found particularly useful.

Overall this is a book which I would highly recommend to those who are seriously following developments in this area of pioneer ministry and mission because it highlights how maturing is now occurring. There is also more space being given to voices of those who have come from elsewhere to the UK which is good. I would also recommend it to practitioners who wish to reflect on their own practice and rootedness. Would I recommend it beyond that readership? I am not sure. Whilst it is a very good book and very readable and far less of a text book than some recent books I have read in this area it is still I believe quite specialist reading. It is clearly seeking to support the growing band of practitioners whilst developing some important conversations. It is a book of sharing ideas and also asking important questions of pioneers themselves.

The Pioneer Gift - A Review

The Pioneer Gift: Explorations in Mission edited by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross has clearly been written, to some extent, as a text book for the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training Programme and other courses around the country which are looking at pioneering. It reads as a set of chapters intended as the basis of pre-reading for seminar discussions and the majority of contributors are people who lecture or are/ have been students on the CMS programme. However, that should not put off those who don't need a text book but do want to reflect more deeply on the theology of pioneer ministry. This is an important and somewhat innovative resource.

I say the book is innovative because books on pioneering in the UK have tended to take three forms. The first category is the book which has sought to map how and why pioneer movements have emerged. Gibbs and Bolger's Emerging Churches is a sociological study which is perhaps the best example of this type of study. It uses qualitative interview data and contains a range of in depth interviews with key players in these types of movements. The second type of text has been a variation on the first and has been more reflexive and less objective in the way in which it has looked at the reasons why a more contextual approach was needed. Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost is a good example of this. The third type of book has sought to mix theology, (normally coming from institutional gate keepers or "permission givers") with reflections on specific projects, coming from pioneers who have normally been ordained. This book differs in format because whilst it is written by practitioners, (and even the academics involved are practioners on one level or another), it is more theological in its approach. There is far less descriptive material than in the previous types of text mentioned and much more theology. It is also much more ecumenical than many of the other texts on the subject have been.

The book begins with Jonny Baker's introduction exploring what The Pioneer Gift is. Within this he starts by discussing the theme of "the gift of not fitting in", which you may have heard him speak on at Greenbelt and elsewhere. He then discusses how CMS fits into the pioneer movement and what the benefits of pioneering are as well as some of the challenges faced.

Lecturer Cathy Ross discusses the theme of missiology before discussing theological homelessness and its link with dissent. The style of this chapter underlines her familiarity with writing for this type of text, yet it is not so academic it feels out of place. It is within this chapter we first get the feel for how liberation theology and feminist theologies have influenced the pioneers.

Scottish theologian Doug Gay, who will also be familiar to Greenbelt audiences, has a reflexive style similar to Frost. His chapter is perhaps the most descriptive within the book. Within it he raises and important aspect which I feel helps make this book such a useful resource, this is the interplay and complexity of relationships between the institutional church and pioneers. Too often there has been a binary approach taken which has seen a mixed economy as being inherited church verses fresh expressions. This text has several points which illustrate the way in which the relationship is far more messy, involving over lap and grey areas. The issue of permission giving is discussed in a much more objective and at times negative way than in many of the books so far published on this topic, which have tended to have had direct input from the permission givers, (normally Church of England bishops).

Anna Ruddick's chapter on the subject of transformation is interesting. It examines both language and praxis, focusing on the Eden Network which has grown out of the Message Trust in Manchester. Within this chapter she makes use of some interesting qualitative research to illustrate the transformation which takes place and the way in which significance is created. I found this one of the most interesting chapters within the book.

Karlie Allaway is a student on the course and a Roman Catholic who has come to that denomination via a range of evangelical Protestant groups. Her chapter, perhaps more than any other, moves away from the traditional discourse which has tended to link sacramentality in these groups primarily with new monastic movements or see pioneering as beyond traditional institutional settings. Rather what Allaway does is examine the possibilities for community which being rooted in an existing institutional setting gives. As somebody who has struggled getting my head around what others see as the gift of sacramentality I was grateful for this chapter. It helped me understand how others have experienced freedom and healing through the Eucharist. There is also some beautiful poetry and liturgy in this chapter.

Jim Barker who works for CMS, but has a background in the NGO sector writes on communities of practice and how learning occurs within them. The diagrams and language within this chapter perhaps make it the most academic. However, this does not mean it is inaccessible. It is a thoughtful and interesting chapter which raises important questions. As with many of the latter chapters of this book it includes the findings of small scale research. Due to the subject matter and overall size of the population the small sample isn't a problem with this chapter although I would suggest in other chapters the sample size is too small to make them definitive.

Beth Keith, focuses on Jeremiah and the idea of pulling down and building up. Her use of the categories of modal pioneers (based in fresh expressions within existing church structures) and sodal pioneers (those working outside existing church structures) was interesting and useful.

Gerald A. Arbuckle is an anthropologist now working in a research ministry in Australia. He wrote a really interesting chapter on the place of myth in narrative. Within this chapter there is an interesting discussion of Vatican-II and the current papacy of Pope Francis and the changes he is making. Arbuckle makes the point that both cultures and structures need to change if conservatism is not to re-emerge and become a powerful force once more.   

Simon Sutcliffe is a Methodist Venture FX pioneer. His chapter discusses the nature and importance of contextual theology and role of the pioneer in this. What I find interesting is that nowhere within his chapter does Sutcliffe link contextual theology to the more established discipline of practical or applied theology which contextual theology grows out of.

Andrea Campanale has produced a very important chapter which needs to be taken seriously and developed. In her discussion of shame and the implications for missional communities she draws heavily on Alan Mann's work but develops it to ask important questions relevant not only to pioneering and fresh expressions but also to more traditional forms of church. This theme is further developed in Emma Nash's chapter on redefining sin. Both chapters deal with shame and guilt and the consequences of certain understandings of language used within the church and beyond.

I think that these chapters have important issues to raise for those working with LGBT people and those groups which are in there own way pioneering but which may not be described as fresh expressions. This is an area which I would like to explore further and I was grateful for the mini literature reviews at the beginning of each of their chapters.

Kim Hartshorne's chapter on the Upper Room is again a more descriptive chapter. However, it rounds off the book well by looking at inclusion and vulnerability as well as liturgy. Hartshorne draws heavily on Brueggemann, as others do and it is clear he has been one of the influential theorists discussed on their course along with David Bosch. The writings by the students, particularly, therefore reflect their ideas.

Overall as I say a useful and interesting book which I would highly recommend to anybody who seriously wants to engage with the theology emerging from and underpinning the pioneer movement. I would also recommend to those who wish to be challenged to reflect theologically on their own context as this is an easy to read book which raises important issues which go beyond pioneer communities.

The Pioneer Gift Explorations in Mission, Edited by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross, ISBN 978-1-84825-651-4