Reimagining Mission from Urban Places: Missional Pastoral Care

What happens when evangelical Christians intentionally relocate into communities experiencing marginalisation? Within a changing social and political context, the role of the church in public life and the response of Christians to social issues has taken on renewed energy. Churches have entered enthusiastically into community engagement projects such as foodbanks and night shelters, with a broad understanding of this as mission. Reimagining Mission from Urban Places offers much needed reflection about the nature of mission and about expectations for missional outcomes. Using the stories of team members within the Eden Network (which emphasises an 'incarnational' approach to urban mission) the book demonstrates that at its best, mission happens in a shared life rather than being about 'us' telling the listening world. A timely and provocative call to churches, missional groups, those involved in 'Fresh Expressions' and other creative models of community-based church and those training for ministry to reflect more deeply on their practice and theology, the book insists that mission is about difference, love, locality and long-term consistency and, at its best, is slow, complicated and messy.