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2024 – Volume 5 – Issue 2

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Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef20163

DOI: 10.54195/ef20163

E D I T O R I A L

Editorial Volume 5 Issue 2
Steve Taylor

Welcome to what is the tenth issue of Ecclesial Futures, a journal focused on the 
mission of God in the world, particularly in local Christian communities and the 
systems that support them.

The journal began in June 2020, publishing print only through Wipf and Stock. Ten 
issues later, in December, 2024, we are online and open access, thanks to the support 
of Radboud University Press and Open Journals, who provide a professional Open-
Access publishing platform for scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.

In this issue you will find eight book reviews, a wonderful testimony to a growing 
community of scholars who are reading, thinking and interacting together.

You will also find five articles that explore the nature of the mission of God as analysed 
in local church partnerships, spiritual practices, liturgy, patterns of migration and 
liberative readings of Scripture. The authors are located in South Africa, Philippines, 
Zimbabwe and United Kingdom and work within Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal and 
Reformed denominational systems. The articles and book reviews contribute to a 
growing body original research about the mission of God in the world in and through 
Christian communities.

As always, my thanks 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
In a first article, Ian Terry explores the role of partnerships in transforming unjust 
structures of society. The research is located in a local church context, as a Church of 
England parish embraces mission with the homeless. A feature of the research was 
gathering the voices and experiences of the homeless, including eighty participants 
in five focus groups. These lived experiences are then read in dialogue with common 
good thinking, as a tool for analysis.



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The article offers missiologically formed suggestions to empower rough sleepers. 
Four practical steps forward are outlined. These include the role of listening in 
giving voice to those who are vulnerable, providing opportunities to empower rough 
sleepers, offering personal mentoring in the finding of work and working toward 
advocacy with, not for the homeless, as they challenge bureaucracies to operate in 
more user-friendly, less de-personalised ways. A feature of the research is the case 
study approach, that weaves local ministry, research with the homeless and theolog-
ical reflection on “common good building” among the homelessness. Concretely, the 
article argues that local churches build associations, local groupings, to encourage 
respectful listening and shared decision-making with the homeless.

In a second article, Mookgo Solomon Kgatle argues for a pneumatological missional 
imagination as a way of understanding migration and mission. The article outlines 
a lack of theoretical frameworks to understand the intersections of migration and 
mission. Three theories are proposed. The pneumatological imagination draws on 
Spirit-mediated encounters, including between God and human beings and among 
human beings. The missiological spirit understands God the Spirit as the missio-
logical Spirit, empowering believers to move beyond the local area to other nations 
in sharing of gospel love. The missional imagination involves the orientation of the 
whole church towards the mission of God. The article proposes these three be woven 
together as a pneumatological missional imagination, defined as the orientation of 
the migrant church towards the mission of God through the empower ment of the 
Holy Spirit in encountering people of other nations. This pneumatological missional 
imagination is relevant for witnessing to others, speaking foreign languages, and 
orientation to the mission of God.

An illustrative example is used, drawing from the challenges facing the Apostolic 
Faith Mission Ministry International in the United Kingdom (AFMIMUK). This allows 
empirical research, particularly participant observation, to be a resource in exam-
ining mission and migration. The article argues that the pneumatological missional 
imagination can empower God’s migrant people amid the challenges of ministering 
with cultural relevance in a new country, navigating cultural difference and orienta-
tion to the mission of God.

The dynamic relationship between culture and faith is explored in a third article. 
Kevin Maicom assesses the reception of Vatican II’s Directory of Popular Piety and the 
Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines (DPPL) in the Philippines. Issued in 2001, the DPPL 
provided guidance in integrating popular piety with the liturgy. The article provides 
an initial overview of the complicated interactions between Filipino popular piety and 
the Catholic liturgy. Festivals incorporate connections to societal issues and human 



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emotions. Gestures, including dance resonate with the expressive dimensions of 
Filipino culture. Prayers address socio-political dimensions like poverty, health, 
education and food. Music draws on cultural elements including the “kundiman”, 
sad Filipino songs about the wounded hero sacrificing everything for love. Popular 
piety can allow people to express their communion with God and within the ecclesial 
community in local cultural forms. Equally, it can distort Christian doctrine in litur-
gical practice.

The article then outlines a framework within the DPPL for assessing popular piety 
in the liturgy. Four areas – biblical, liturgical, ecumenical, and anthropological – 
are outlined and tested with an illustrative example. The “Salubong” is a common 
Catholic practice which imagines the encounter between Jesus and Mary, his mother 
following the resurrection. The article teases out connections that are liturgical, 
ecumenical, and anthropological and offers a creative re-reading of Biblical texts 
that could be used to deepen the integration between Catholic faith and popular 
piety. Rather than settle for static approaches to culture, the article demonstrates 
how popular piety can enrich the liturgy in dynamic relationships that enhance the 
lived experiences of the People of God. A dynamic approach to liturgy emphasises 
the value of theological education for the future life of the church.

A dynamic approach to Christian life is the focus of a fourth article. Peter Ruxton 
assesses New Monasticism in Britain in light of the missional spirituality of the 
Celtic peregrini who from the sixth century established monastic centres for mission 
and evangelism in Britain and Ireland. The article groups the spiritual practices of 
the Celtic peregrini into two categories, one distinctively Celtic, the other shared in 
common with other monastic movements. Aware of the danger of romanticising the 
past, Ruxton employs a method of “looking through” original texts. The five distinctly 
Celtic practices involve a intense sense of God’s sacramental presence, a commit-
ment to risky living, a season of formation, an embrace of silence, solitude, evan-
gelism and service and bounded sense of sacred space. Two practices are shared 
with other monastic movements: a daily rhythm of prayer and Scripture and shared 
values in a rule of life.

The article then brings the spirituality of the original Celtic peregrini into dialogue with 
four New Monastic expressions. The Iona Community, the Community of Aidan and 
Hilda, the Northumbria Community and the 24-7 Prayer movement are described. 
Finally, the life of these new monastic expressions is assessed against the spiritual 
practices of the Celtic peregrini. Ruxton argues that in an age increasingly ambivalent 
toward institutions, an increased focus on the original spiritual attributes of these 
Celtic Christians will enrich contemporary expressions of New Monasticism.



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In a fifth article, Pieter Labuschagne uses decoloniality to interrogate the biblical text. 
The article uses a method of exegesis by story, which Labuschagne asserts allows 
modern readers to dwell in their world yet engage with how an ancient community 
received and utilised the Biblical text. Labuschagne demonstrates the “coloniality” 
present in Gideon’s initial interaction and yet the possibilities for transformation of 
identity. The argument is that within the Biblical narrative is the challenge of realising 
that Gideon’s real prison was not built by his coloniser but was located within in his 
own mind and heart.

Several conversation partners strengthen the reading offered by Labuschagne. 
One conversation partner is the sermons of Martin Luther King Jr, in particular his 
use of the Zaccheus narrative in a sermon in 1957. A second conversation partner 
is the literature on decoloniality, particularly in the African context which explores 
the interplay between oppression and agency. The third conversation partner is a 
careful reading of the impact of apartheid in South Africa on all peoples and analysis 
of the limits of blaming other cultures.

The article raises important questions for a journal focused on the mission of God 
in the world. Christian mission has a history deeply entangled in colonialisation. 
Within the limits of a single article, Labuschagne offers a constructive approach, 
working with a single Bible text to test a liberative reading of Scripture. As editors, 
we welcome further thinking on what it means to share good news among commu-
nities enmeshed in coloniality.

A growing body of Ecclesial Futures research
With ten issues and over fifty articles, as a journal we are now seeing themes not 
only within an issue but between issues as well. I highlight three examples.
 – Read the article in this issue by Ian Terry on mission with the homeless along-

side the article in volume 3, issue 2 by Sally Mann on the place of storytelling in 
ministry amongst the homeless.1

 – Read the article in this issue by Mookgo Solomon Kgatle on mission and African 
migration in conversation with the article in volume 3, issue 1 by Naar M’fun-
disi-Holloway on women from Southern Africa who adopt an entrepreneurial 
approach in local diaspora networks in the United Kingdom.2

 – Read the article in this issue on new monastic spiritualities alongside the article in 
volume 2, issue 2, by James Fox-Robinson on the Franciscan Vow of Poverty as an 
Ancient and Modern Resource for Innovative Missional Practice.3



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For authors looking to submit articles in the future, we as editors encourage a 
reading through previous issues of Ecclesial Futures to explore the richness of schol-
arship that is developing around the journal’s focus on the mission of God in the 
world embodied in local Christian communities and the systems that support them.

Transitions and partnerships
We bid farewell Dr Darren Cronshaw, who has moved into a different ministry 
context. Darren has been on the Ecclesial Futures editorial board since the journal 
began five years ago. As editors, we are thankful for Darren’s ministry, in particular 
the promptness and the constructive tone of his reviews.

As a journal, we welcome Dr Tanya Riches to the Editorial Board. As Director of 
Master of Transformational Development, Eastern College, Australia, she works with 
students applying transformational development in the Middle Eastern, African, 
Asian and Australian contexts. Tanya undertook PhD research that investigated 
links between urban Aboriginal-led congregations’ worship practices and their social 
justice initiatives. We look forward to being enriched by her research expertise in 
ethnography, global Pentecostalism, missiology and development studies.

Ecclesial Futures continues to be grateful for the partnership with Radboud University 
Press and Open Journals. Over the last months, Open Journals has worked with us 
to upgrade the website at https://ecclesialfutures.org/ and update policies around 
transparency in authorship and ethics. Through Diamond Open Access, original 
research is available free to authors and readers. To receive updates via the news-
letter, sign up at https://ecclesialfutures.org/.

About the Author
Steve Taylor, Director AngelWings Ltd and Research Affiliate, University of Otago, 
Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. Contact: s.j.taylor@otago.ac.nz

References
1 Sally Mann. 2022. “Parklife – Listening to Stories as a Deep Missional Practice”. Ecclesial 

Futures 3 (2): 11–29.
2 M’fundisi-Holloway, Naar. 2022. “Discipleship, Mentorship and Training Which Empowers 

African Women for Ministry in the Diaspora”. Ecclesial Futures 3 (1): 41–57.
3 James Fox-Robinson. 2021. “The Franciscan Vow of Poverty as an Ancient and Modern 

Resource for Innovative Missional Practice”. Ecclesial Futures 2 (2): 73–98.

https://ecclesialfutures.org/
https://ecclesialfutures.org/
mailto:s.j.taylor@otago.ac.nz



