





































Ecclesial Futures
2023 – Volume 4 – Issue 2

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Ecclesial Futures – 2023 – Volume 4 – Issue 2

E D I T O R I A L

2023 – Volume 4 – Issue 2

Editorial Volume 4 Issue 2
Steve Taylor

Welcome to another issue of Ecclesial Futures and another fine set of original research 
contributions on development and transformation in and through Christian commu-
nities. I begin with thanks to the thirteen authors and six book reviewers published 
in this issue, along with the fourteen anonymous peer reviewers who have provided 
constructive, thoughtful and engaged feedback.

Thanks also to my colleagues Nigel Rooms (co-editor), Patrick Todjeras (editor of 
book reviews), Chris Pipe (copy-editor) and the team at Radboud University Press 
and Open Journals for their skill and care.

Original research
This issue of Ecclesial Futures offers seven original research articles and six book 
reviews. The articles range over four continents, including contexts in Oceania, 
Africa, United States and Europe. The focus of ecclesiological research includes local 
congregations, dioceses as a denominational structure and theological colleges. 
The research articles include empirical studies of placemaking, denominational 
renewal, reverse mission and migrant hospitality, along with methodological reflec-
tions on researching in theological partnership, church mobilization and missiolog-
ical research.

In a first article, Rosemary Dewerse, Roxanne Haines, and Stu McGregor offer a case 
study of the application of Regenerative Development in a local church community in 
a rapidly changing inner-city suburb of Aotearoa New Zealand. The article describes 
the application of participatory, place-based, whole-of-systems approaches in a 
congregation with a long history and a growing commitment to decolonising their 
thinking through relationships with land and indigenous peoples. Historically, Regen-
erative Development has been applied to urban design and development projects 
and community development. Dewerse, Haines and McGregor describe how frame-
works that value nature and indigeneity were applied to a local congregation. In an 
initial phase, five storylines were explored at Cityside members. These included 
tangata whenua (indigenous) stories; geological, ecological and water stories; neigh-



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bourhood stories; church history; and Cityside stories. In a second phase, a set of 
processes sought to articulate an essence of place and establish “Why Cityside, 
here?” A third phase offered trajectories for long-term development. Alongside 
descriptive work, the article evaluates the potential of place and narrative in church 
health and renewal. Rather than locate renewal as the responsibility of church 
leaders, Regenerative Development values working with the ecology, geology, soci-
ology and anthropology of a place. Mission shifts from saving to serving, from doing 
something to the community, to working with the vocation that arises from place-
sourced potential. Theoretically, the article addresses an absence of place and narra-
tive in the church growth and missional literature. Practically, the descriptive nature 
of the article resources practitioners working with congregations and organisations. 
Finally, a local church gained a transformed understanding of their future viability.

Ecclesial Futures welcomes original research not only of local churches but also of 
denominational structures and in a second article from Aotearoa New Zealand, the 
focus shifts from a local congregation to a diocese. Catherine Rivera conducts an 
ethnography of a diocese, participating in the intentional communities they offer 
to young adults and experiencing what she describes as a “broad theological table”. 
She finds that intentional communities provide important spaces of belonging and 
faith formation. In a rapidly changing world, the structured set of spiritual practices 
offered in these Intentional communities enhance well-being. Economically, the 
intentional communities offer financial stability and free up community members to 
spend more time in social activism. Rivera finds that a second factor that attracted 
young adults was the practical outworking of a “broad table” approach to diversity. 
For a generation attuned to practices that exclude others, ecclesiologies willing to 
maintain unity amid doctrinal or theological differences nurture the faith forma-
tion of young adults. The ethnographic data is brought into conversation first, with 
Romand Coles’ theory of receptive generosity and second, through framing the 
Western church as marginal. On a local and daily level, a broad table encouraged 
partnerships and gave missiological shape to being a good neighbour. A recogni-
tion of the increasing marginality of the denomination shaped the willingness of the 
diocese to incorporate emergent and neo-monastic groups as intentional communi-
ties. The result was renewal, for individuals and the diocese. Rivera’s research shows 
the importance of denominational structures making spaces of belonging and iden-
tifying with marginality.

The value of partnerships is also a feature of a third article. The article by Dustin 
Benac, Hannah Coe, Juli Kalbaugh, Tatum Miller and Erin Moniz outlines a new 
research methodology. Rather than accept the current silos between congrega-
tions, theological schools and nonprofits, the article describes how scholarship and 
religious practice can cultivate belonging and connection. The article provides a 



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theological fieldnote based on a year of the Program for the Future Church. Partic-
ipants were invited to be collaborative in exploring solutions to the pressing chal-
lenges facing the Church today, and in a programme structured around convening 
points. These included connecting in Celebration, discerning in Collaboratory, and 
deepening through Contextual Research Hubs. The article helpfully describes the 
processes that animated these convening points and the interweaving that was 
refracted over time. A number of foundational assumptions are present. A first is 
that organizations are living realities in which belonging can be cultivated. A second 
is the value of active engagement of participants from different academic disciplines, 
sectors, denominations and organizations. A third is the importance of place and 
the richness that results when gatherings are held in different locations. A fourth is 
the worth of participants as co-authors and the ways that experiential narration is 
deployed to ground the new research methodology in embodied reflection. What 
results is a life-giving contribution to discussions around theological imagination and 
a description of how theological work can be located not in libraries and classrooms 
but in context and with communities.

The nature of cross-cultural dynamics in partnerships is provided in a fourth article. 
Adebisi Adenekan-Koevoets explores the possibilities and limits as African churches 
attempt cross-cultural mission in the West. Adenekan-Koevoets uses qualitative 
methods to illuminate the dynamics as Nigerian-initiated churches in London repo-
sition themselves from “migrant enclaves” into communities engaging with wider 
British society. The article begins with an analysis of ecumenism and documents 
which demonstrate how African Pentecostal churches experience ecumenism 
as dominated by a European perspective of religion. Concerns that bring African 
Christians together include the supernatural, holistic theologies and responding 
to poverty and violence. These concerns are in contrast to European ecumenical 
concerns, which historically have focused on sacramental life. The recent devel-
opment of receptive ecumenism, which values an “exchange of gifts” are seen as 
helpful. The article then reflects on ecumenism in cross-cultural mission by drawing 
on ethnographic research of three African Pentecostal churches in London. Churches 
that are larger in size and have a greater proportion of young university-educated 
members are better positioned to engage ecumenically and in community care. The 
intercultural capacity of key leaders is a significant factor, as are initiatives that begin 
with a commitment to personal relationships and friendships. There is also value in 
shared interdenominational events, particular when occasions are designed which 
encourage participants to learn from each other. The article helpfully documents 
the diverse ways in which African Pentecostal churches already participate ecumen-
ically, through community care initiatives. Finally, the article outlines differences 
between first and second-generation-led Nigerian churches. An emerging gener-
ation of African Europeans are committed to the contextualization of Pentecostal 



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beliefs and practices, both in terms of outward-facing evangelism and the future 
shape of ecumenical engagement. This emerging generation offers new possibilities 
for the ecclesial future of the Church in the West.

In a fifth article, Pieter Labuschagne offers a missiological research model for his 
context in South Africa. The article works with an understanding of missiology as 
an independent field of theology and research as a practice that should result in 
the sharing of Good News. Given these stated aims, Labuschagne interrogates an 
approach to practical theology developed by the Loyola Institute for Ministry in the 
1990s. This approach is summarized in an acronym of LIM:
L  =  Life-situation identified
I  =  Interpretation of the life-situation
M  =  Model preferred scenario

This practical theology approach is affirmed by Labuschagne for the ways in which it 
locates theology in dialogue with lived experience. However, the LIM approach needs 
to be examined in light of missiology. First, ways to integrate themes of missio Dei, 
Christocentricity and contextuality into every step of the practical theology model 
are presented. Second, mission action is introduced as an outcome. The result is a 
missiology schema, presented in diagrams that are clear and compelling and in an 
acronym of LIMM:
L = Life-situation
I = Interpret the life-situation
M = Model preferred scenario
M = Missional action

The article asks important questions about the place of missiology in research and in 
relationship to other academic disciplines. The diagrams and acronym offer clarity. 
Labuschagne provides a practical resource shaped by a depth of theological reflec-
tion that deserves to be tested in other locations.

Moving from South Africa to United States, in a sixth article, Mark Harden researches 
how congregations might be invited to assign practical theological meaning in 
assessing their readiness for church mobilization. Given a shortage of empirical 
research on church mobilization, Harden constructed a framework of ministry prac-
tices to analyse mission readiness for church mobilization. A literature review resulted 
in the development of six constructs: relational bonds, role of church leaders, dedi-
cated support staff, belief in the plan, commitment to action and available essential 
capabilities. Harden drew on these six constructs to develop a self-assessment tool, 
called Church Performance Readiness Inventory. Given the importance of practical 
theology, Harden constructed an analytical framework to be utilized alongside the 



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self-assessment tool, as a way of integrating praxis and ecclesial theory in conver-
sational modes accessible to lay participants in local congregations. The article 
includes the results of a pilot study, in which the self-assessment tool was tested in 
a local congregation with a vision of becoming a multicultural church. Participants 
completed the Church Performance Readiness Inventory self-assessment and the 
results were workshopped with participants. Practical actions were brainstormed 
and theological concepts that could helpfully shape the future were identified. The 
article notes the need for further research to understand how the self-assessment 
tool and the analytical framework might continue to inform this local church in their 
mission. What is helpful from the article is, first, insight into how a self-assessment 
tool can be used in a congregational change and, second, how lived theologies can 
be discerned around a self-assessment tool.

In a seventh article, Sue Holdsworth researches ministry among migrant communi-
ties. Holdsworth begins with auto-ethnography and her experience of the impact of 
different agendas as Christians sought to offer hospitality to migrants. She under-
took ethnographic research, participating over two years in four different church-
based intercultural initiatives in Melbourne, Australia. Holdsworth’s article brings 
current understandings of pastoral care and mission into conversation with empirical 
data. The ethnographic data revealed ways in which pastoral care can be hindered 
by poorly constructed theologies of mission. The lived witness of these church-
based intercultural initiatives was diminished when volunteers neglected spiritual 
practices including prayer and collegiality. Witness was enlivened when Christian 
teachers sought to cultivate a strong sense of God’s presence. The article works with 
a pastoral theology in which the pastoral carer progresses from sympathy, through 
empathy, to interpathy. However, movement is not automatic. Learning is required. 
Holdsworth observed empathy and potential. All initiatives held the possibility of long 
lasting, mutual friendships. Yet across the four church-based intercultural initiatives, 
Holdsworth observed a lack of sustained attention to formation, prayer and reflec-
tive practice. Seeking to integrate current literature on pastoral care and mission 
with empirical data, Holdsworth argues that mission is better framed as pastoral 
care. The article returns to where it began. Church-based intercultural initiatives can 
express love of God and neighbour through intentional cultivation of pastoral prac-
tices of empathy and compassion, hospitality, and spirituality. Cultivation includes 
training in interpathy and team gatherings for prayer and reflection. In the mutuality 
in relationships, conversations about faith can naturally emerge.

In grateful thanks
As a journal, we honour the memory and rich contribution to missiology of Professor 
Therese D’Orsa, who died suddenly on 7 May 2023.  Dr Therese D’Orsa was a 



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passionate advocate for Catholic education, professional learning and new voices 
in the theological landscape. In that capacity, Therese offered significant gifts as a 
member of the Editorial Board of Ecclesial Futures. Her responses to correspondence 
was always prompt and her reviews showed particular skills in nurturing scholarship 
among women.

Therese served with the Sisters of St Joseph in communities in Australia, India, the 
Philippines and Vanuatu. In 1997, she became the Director of Catholic Education and 
Director of Religious Education in the Diocese of Sale. Then in 2007, she became the 
inaugural Professor of Mission and Culture at BBI-TAITE – The Australian Institute of 
Theological Education.

Ecclesial Futures gives thanks for the life of Therese D’Orsa and offer our prayers to 
Jim, her spouse of many years.

With warm welcome
As a journal, we welcome Dr Fides del Castillo to the Editorial Board. Fides is currently 
Associate Dean, School of Innovation and Sustainability, De la Salle University, Philip-
pines. Dr Fides del Castillo brings research expertise in Basic Ecclesial Communities, 
Christianities in the Philippines and Kenotic Christology. Fides has a rich range of 
networks including as President, Network of Professional Researchers and Educa-
tors, International Association of Mission Studies and as a recipient of Lamin Sanneh 
Research Grant with Overseas Ministry Study Center, USA.

Partnerships
As a journal, we continue to be delighted with the unfolding partnership with 
Radboud University Press and Open Journals. Through Diamond Open Access, orig-
inal research is available free to authors and reader. All our issues including archives 
are stored at https://ecclesialfutures.org/, thanks to the generosity of Wipf and Stock 
Publishers, Radboud University Press and Open Journals. Finally, we are grateful for 
our partnership with you. To receive updates via the newsletter, sign up at https://
ecclesialfutures.org/.

About the author
Steve Taylor is Director AngelWings Ltd and Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. 
Contact: steve.taylor@flinders.edu.au

https://ecclesialfutures.org/
https://ecclesialfutures.org/
https://ecclesialfutures.org/
mailto:steve.taylor@flinders.edu.au

