Panel on Review
and Reform |
 |
RESOURCES
In the course of its work, the Panel on Review and
Reform produces various papers and summaries of books.
A selection of these, as well as papers produced by
the former Assembly Council, are available to download
below in Word [.doc], rich text [.rtf] and text only
[.txt] formats. It is hoped these will be of use to
anyone considering the future of the Church, perhaps
as part of Church without Walls.
Summaries available on this
page to download:
Comparison of how other Presbyterian
churches inform, resource and encourage their Presbyteries
through their central bodies
Overseas mission in the life of
the local church
The Church and social capital
Understanding the spirituality of
people who don't go to church
Book summaries on this page to
download:
Mission-shaped
Church
Fifth Discipline
Congregations as learning communities
God is Dead: secularisation in the
West
A memory mutates: religion
in modern Europe
The Voices
of Morebath
The Environment
and Christian Ethics
Comparison
of how other Presbyterian churches inform, resource
and encourage their Presbyteries through their central
bodies
To assist the Panel in fulfilling its remit to bring
proposals for an alternative presbytery structure to
the General Assembly, a subgroup was established to
study how other to study how other reformed churches
structured their governance and resourcing functions.
In particular, the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New
Zealand and the United Reformed Church served as useful
models of Churches which have undergone considerable
change as they endeavour to become more effective for
mission.
| Download 'Comparison
of how other Presbyterian churches inform, resource
and encourage their Presbyteries through their central
bodies' |
[.pdf]
(260KB)
|
|
Overseas mission in the life
of the local church
In 2008, the General Assembly approved a deliverance
from the Church Without Walls Planning Group that the
Panel on Review and Reform in collaboration with World
Mission Council should commission a study on "the
effect of overseas mission on the life of local church
communities where they have an interactive partnership
with an overseas project."
The study below is the result of that commission, presenting
a full, encouraging, and challenging report on many
varied partnerships, highlighting the benefits and the
pitfalls of such relationships.
| Download 'Overseas
mission in the life of the local church' |
[.pdf]
(926KB)
|
|
[top of page]
The Church
and social capital
This extensive report
explores the role played by Church of Scotland congregations
in contributing to social capital at local and national
level and shows how the Church is already reaching out
into the community at the start of the Church without
Walls process.
Download
the full report (221 pages):
Please note this
is a large file and may take a while to download
on a standard 28k connection |
[.pdf]
(2280KB)
|
|
[top of page]
Understanding the spirituality
of people who don't go to church
This fascinating sociological research studies people
who describe themselves as in some sense 'spiritual',
but who are not involved in organised religion.
[top of page]
Mission-shaped
Church
This is an important mission strategy document for the
Church of England, commended to congregations. Whereas
the Church of Scotland report, A
Church without Walls, provided a broad vision of
the church, Mission-shaped Church focuses on one activity,
church planting. This more focused approach makes it an
important tool for congregations eager to turn Church
without Walls into action.
[top of page]
Fifth Discipline and Fifth Discipline
fieldbook
Although aimed at businesses, this book was an important
influence on Church without Walls. It advocates organisations
led not from the top, but by a vision nurtured and shared
at every level. This will be a learning organisation,
where greater freedom to make decisions - and mistakes
- is combined with real commitment. The fieldbook helps
to put the theory into practice.
[top of page]
Congregations as learning
communities
This takes the ideas of the Fifth Discipline and applies
them to the local church. It is a way to move from doing
some Church without Walls activities to becoming a church
without walls.
[top of page]
God is Dead: Secularisation
in the West
A wealthy and democratic society, argues Bruce, fosters
cultural relativism which undermines faith. The thesis
is interesting, although the arguments are not always
convincing.
[top of page]
A memory mutates: religion in
modern Europe
A sociological picture of widespread religious beliefs
in Europe, but a broken 'chain of memory' which passed
formal religious knowledge to the next generation.
[top of page]
The Voices of Morebath
A micro-history of a church in an Exmoor hamlet at the
time of the Tudor Reformation, reminding us that this
is not the first challenging time for the church, and
that it is at the local level that national change is
most deeply experienced.
[top of page]
The Environment and Christian
Ethics
This book addresses what is perhaps the most pressing
concern for our society - and the Church. It traces back
our relationship with creation and its place in Christian
theology, and goes on to develop a Christian ethic involving
the technological society, our relationship with the land,
and other contemporary environmental issues. The question
is, how should the church begin to be reshaped by this
ethic?
[top of page]
To view PDF documents
we recommend using Adobe Reader software, which is available
to download for free from the Adobe
website.
 |
