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Transforming CommunitiesRe-imagining the church for the 21st centuryTRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES: This book by the Warden of the Anglican training college, Cranmer Hall, is about change in the local church. It explores the need for change and the nature of the change required as well as offering guidance on implementing change. The title contains a deliberate double meaning: it is about transforming existing churches into communities who will bring transformation. The answer suggested by the book appears to come down to the formation of small groups within larger congregations. Such groups may be a good idea - I tend to think so - but Transforming Communities does not provide a compelling case. It offers contextual analysis, theological reflection and guidance on organisational change management without quite achieving any of these things well. The use of the Bible is often anachronistic which modern change management ideas read back into biblical narratives. Nor can small groups be a sufficient answer to the challenge facing the 21st-century church. The book contains little discussion of the message that brings transformation. At times various theological approaches are presented without analysis while at the end of a book we are given a detailed prescription for small group development. This is surely the wrong way round. We should be clear about our message and more flexible about the style of the communities who embody and proclaim it. Tim Chester, Sheffield© Evangelicals Now - January 2003 |