From books co-authored by CMS staff to anticipated inspiration from (other!) brilliant minds, here’s this year’s list of tantalising titles…

Fringe Dweller, Jonny Baker and David Cotterill, Getsidetracked, 2026

Jesus was loved by fringe dwellers – the poor, lame, blind, lepers, the oppressed, the possessed, foreigners, beggars, outsiders, those deemed unclean, women who experienced shame, tax collectors and sinners. He spent time with them. Fringe Dweller is a collection of 40 reflections with 20 original illustrations by artist Jon Birch, based on encounters in the gospels with Jesus the Fringe Dweller. Each reflection includes a scripture reading, a practice and a liturgy. Ideal for personal use, for groups and for those preaching or curating worship.

Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church, Greg Bakker and Tina Hodgett, Church House Publishing, 2026

Arising out of the Pioneering Parishes project, Into All the Parish holds together pioneering and parochial forms of ministry, which are frequently in tension. It honours both as distinct yet connected modes of ministry, seeing pioneering as an integral dynamic within vibrant parochial ministry and essential for widening the possibilities to fulfil the “care of souls” in a local area. Into all the Parish offers practical principles, stories and case studies, forming a framework for corporate discipleship in which congregations identify their aspirations, commit to live out of shared values and create space to pursue ministry within and beyond the church walls.

In the Fullness of Time: A Story From the Past and Future of the Church, Paul Bradbury, Canterbury Press, 2024

This is a book about the present and future of the church in our own challenging context: a secular age, decline, stretched resources, complex and fragmented communities requiring diverse missional approaches. Weaving together storytelling, travelogue and poetry, Paul Bradbury journeys from rural Norfolk to inner-city London, from a radical missional community in Lincolnshire, to a traditional village parish in Dorset, to explore what the church looks like today, and how local parish communities are wrestling with the tensions between the value of inherited church and the need to look to the future.

Being the People of God: Missional Ecclesiology for Uncertain Times, Paul Bradbury, Isabelle Hamley, Andy Smith, SCM, 2025

In unsteady political, societal and ecclesial times, what might a missional ecclesiology offer? Drawn from a consultation by the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission, this book seeks to offer a conversation involving theologians and practitioners across three key themes – the church’s worship as a gathered community, its witness as a scattered community and its walk as a pilgrim community. With contributors including: Jonny Baker, Angus Ritchie and Cathy Ross.

Decolonizing Mission, Harvey Kwiyani, SCM Press, 2025

For the past 500 years, the idea of the mission of God has been synonymous with that of the expansion of Western civilisation and its influence in the world. In Decolonizing Mission, Harvey Kwiyani traces the history of Christian mission alongside the history of empire, showing the influence that one had on the other. Imagining what mission without imperialism would look like, Kwiyani sheds light on the connection between colonialism and mission and invites us to realign our missional methods with God’s. One of the International Bulletin of Mission Research’s Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, World Christianity, and Intercultural Theology for 2025.

Words Fitly Spoken: Everyday African Theology for Millennials and Gen Z, Joseph Ola, Word Alive, 2025

What does it mean to live faithfully as a young African Christian in a digitally connected, culturally complex world? In Words Fitly Spoken, Joseph Ola weaves together powerful quotations, African proverbs and personal testimony to offer a refreshing vision of Christian discipleship – one that honours both global wisdom and African identity. Through 13 compelling reflections, this book addresses the core struggles of millennials and Gen Z: the pressure to succeed, the fear of failure, the tyranny of busyness and the search for authentic faith in an age of performance and comparison.

Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: More than Foreigners, Alexander Chow (ed), SCM, 2025

This is a critical time for British Chinese Christians. On the one hand, the national churches of each of Britain’s four nations have experienced an unprecedented decline in attendance. On the other hand, British Chinese Christianity is among the fastest growing Christian populations in the UK. But there is a much longer history, with the first Chinese Christian in Britain dated to the 17th century. This book tells the story of the rise of British Chinese Christianity, and how British Chinese people have been shaping and reshaping the future of British Christianity. It brings together theological educators, church ministers and parachurch leaders, including a contribution from Mark Nam, chaplain to the Asian Christianity MA students at CMS.

The Starter’s Way: Leading New Contextual Christian Communities, Ed Olsworth-Peter and Dwight J Zscheile (eds.), Church Publishing Inc, 2025

A call for new ways of starting thriving church communities, based on global case studies of churches who have innovated from within their local communities. As many established churches struggle to connect with people in increasingly post-Christian societies, there has been a vital shift in focus toward starting new Christian communities. This book – edited by two leading thinkers around innovation in the Church, one from the United States, the other from the UK – brings a rich and international array of practitioners and scholars together to explore starting new contextual Christian communities as a way of life. Includes contributions from Jonny Baker, Ali Boulton, Tina Hodgett and Harvey Kwiyani.

Imagining Mission with John V Taylor, Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross, SCM, 2020

The impact that John V Taylor, former general secretary of CMS, had on our contemporary understanding of mission is vast – his determination that mission should mean engagement across cultural boundaries has deep resonance today. In Imagining Mission with John V Taylor, leading missional thinkers Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker invite us into a vision of church, mission and society which takes John V Taylor’s ideas seriously, seeking to imagine what Taylor’s insights might mean for these three areas in our contemporary context. The result is a clarion call to the church to take bigger risks and dream bigger dreams.

• The Gratitude Way: Creating Common Ground in a Divided World, Girma Bishaw, IVP, 2025
• When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, 2014
• Living for Jesus and Justice: Daily Prayers for Radical Christians, Simon Jones, Red Letter Christians UK, DLT 2026
• Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development, Bryant L Myers, Orbis, 1999
• The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, Lesslie Newbigin, SPCK, 1995 (2nd edition)
• God’s Heart for Child Protection and Safeguarding: Practical Theology from Global Perspectives, Nativity A Petallar, Roseline Olumbe and Martin Munyao (eds), Langham Global Library, 2026
• Positive Urban Theology: Finding God in the Grit and Glory of the City, Revd Dr Cris Rogers, CCX, 2026
• Liturgies of the Wild: Myths that Make Us, Martin Shaw, Rider (PRH), 2026
• Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness, Joash P Thomas, Baker Books, 2025
• Love made me an inventor: The story of Maggy Barankitse, Humanitarian, Genocide Survivor, Citizen without Borders, David Toole, Orbis Books, 2025
• Solidarity: The Work of Recognition, Rowan Williams, Bloomsbury, 2026

• Grace Abounds: God’s Abundance Against the Fear of Scarcity, Walter Brueggemann, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2024
• Earthbound: God at the Intersection of Climate and Justice, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Orbis, 2025
• Reconciling Mission: Realizing God’s Reign through Community Engagement, Alastair McKay and David Brubaker, T&T Clark, 2026
• The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology amid Gaza, John Munayer and Samuel Munayer (eds.), Orbis, 2025

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Our week of book launch parties in Exeter, Sherford (Plymouth) and Bristol exceeded my expectations.

by Rev Tina Hodgett

I imagined it would be a time of selling – the book, ourselves, Pioneering Parishes. But as people left each party, we realised God had been – as usual – in the ‘in-between’ spaces: profound conversations, new connections, ideas for future possibilities. People left inspired, encouraged and hopeful and reminded of God’s faithfulness, not just £12 lighter in the purse/pocket and 128g heavier in the handbag/manbag (yes, I did weigh the book!).

‘Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church’ was described by Jonny Baker at the party in Sherford as ‘distilled wisdom’ – like a fine whisky, he said. We rejoiced that the book is short and therefore both readable and affordable – so people often bought one for their vicar, friend or colleague. It was a time to celebrate all the people who had in larger ways or smaller taught us, ‘seen’ us, supported us, advocated for us, challenged us, made space for us, and allowed both Pioneering Parishes and its book form to come into being.

As we were interviewed Greg and I both found the Holy Spirit directing us back to the early whisperings of the call to be part of a movement to enable more parish churches to embody a missional posture and practice and offer practical spiritual care to all souls in a parish. As Greg talked about recognising the origins of the book content and purpose in his experiences in his early years as a priest, my thoughts were drawn back to my studies in educational change management in the 2000s when I sensed God calling me towards ordination. From this I am reminded again that God’s timescales are longer, slower, wiser and more incremental than ours!

As our current funding stream comes to an end we are pivoting to a different way of working. You can find all our tools and resources on our website here. We can still be contacted via www.pioneeringparishes.org and on Instagram and Facebook. We may still contact you occasionally but less regularly via newsletter. You can always unsubscribe if this is unwelcome. Greg and I are available for work as self-employed consultants; you can approach us via a range of routes. If you want to hear more from us you can subscribe to our Substack accounts: https://gregbakker.substack.com and https://tinahodgett.substack.com/ (or www.tinahodgett.net). If you’d like to stay in touch with the Church Mission Society you can subscribe to their pioneer newsletter here or their regular mission updates here.

We bless you with joy, adventure and hope as you discern and join in with God’s mission locally. From the Pioneering Parishes team: Gail, Greg, Jayne and Tina.

Find all our tools and resources here.

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The latest issue of Anvil, the journal of theology and mission from the Church Mission Society, is out now. The theme of this issue is movements, communities and sodalities.

The idea for this issue was prompted by the launch of Aspen in November 2025. Aspen is a spread-out community, set up to look after the charism of pioneering mission and to generate more of that practice. It is a response to the movement in mission we have seen grow in Britain and other post-Christian contexts over the last 30 years.

There is an article on movements in which Jonny Baker examines this notoriously slippery concept. Ade Green has contributed an article on being a Franciscan, one incredible movement that has been running for over 800 years. It makes quite a good ‘compare and contrast’ with Matt Richards’ article on new monasticism and mission.

Looking internationally, Tim Soerens of the Parish Collective has a conversation with Tina Hodgett and Kris Rocke of Street Psalms speaks to Johnny Sertin. Katharina Haubold reflects on the Fresh X-Network through conversation with others who have been part of the movement in Germany around mission and fresh expressions. Common Grace is a movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand that is focused on activism and justice, seeking to transform unjust structures in society. Alex Johnston tells their story.

There are further articles reflecting on practice. Idina Dunmore reflects on her experience of being part of a mission community, Servants Southall, London. Kairos is a new movement and community in Yorkshire catalysed through the Methodist church’s New Places for New People work. Liane Kensett tells their story and how they have developed a rhythm to the community’s life as they seek to reimagine what that might look like if we become future-facing. Harvey Kwiyani and Nuam Hatzaw have a conversation around Harvey’s book Decolonizing Mission. This conversation took place at the Assembly which is our annual get-together with people in the network.

At CMS we have been pondering what sort of spirituality enables a life lived in mission. Ian Adams has been conducting lots of conversations with people about their own practice under the header “Presence”. Together with a couple of others, this has been distilled to a pattern of five principles to aid a life of prayerful presence, a mission spirituality if you will.

It is a bumper issue of Anvil so do take your time with it. Read Anvil here.

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Ali Mascarenhas attributes her start as a pioneer to Pioneering Parishes. 

by Rev Tina Hodgett

Ali attended one of our earliest courses and took our content and ran with us. We’ve told her story to lots of different groups of people round the country (and the world via our website), and she’s contributed to every First Steps course we’ve put on online. Her story has inspired hundreds of people and helped them realise that pioneering is something ordinary people can do.

We featured her slow but steady transformation of the churchyard at St Mary’s Brighstone in the Isle of Wight into an outdoor place of encounter with God through community scrub clearance and establishment of a beautiful Biblical olive garden where Celtic Encounter worship services take place outside in summer months.

She excitedly shared with us all the gorgeous mosaic art projects – Celtic cross, advent calendar, nativity scene and many others, that were made by members of the local community learning the skill of glass art together working inside the ancient church building on long tables, coming together for companionship and creativity.

Over the five years since Ali set off from very small beginnings she has continued to carefully discern where the breadcrumbs the Holy Spirit lays down have led. Recently she and her lay worship leader companion who creates beautiful Celtic liturgy have planted two new small Celtic Encounter congregations in a local village (which had no Christian expression of worship) and the town of Yarmouth. She calls this a ‘ministry of smallness’.

Ali was commissioned last year as a Lay Pioneer by the Director of Ministry at the Diocese of Portsmouth in a church full of community members. She has facilitated over the years a wide variety of talks on aspects of creation care and the environment, and has a programme for this summer including bird-watching, wild orchids of the Isle of Wight and dinosaurs which inhabited the area 125 million years ago!

The latest mosaic project is intended for the annual church Christmas Tree Festival which will be on the Narnia theme of C S Lewis’ book ‘The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe’.  She writes: ‘You’re going to be able to walk through the wardrobe to Narnia and be greeted by a ‘mosaicked’ Aslan, Mr Tumnus and the beavers by the lamppost and you can have your photo taken with them.’  Ali herself hopes to arrange some storytelling of the book and to explain the Christian message of the book in various ways along with dressing up as the character of Queen Susan with a bow and quiver strapped to her back. In a wide range of ways that are appropriate to the rural island context Ali and her team (made up of members of both church and community) are putting the church at the heart of the village and enabling opportunities for encounter by all ages of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Find out about how you can shift the energy of your church outwards through the Pioneering Parishes book: Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church.

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Greg Bakker and Tina Hodgett, Into All the Parish (London: Church House Publishing, 2026)

reviewed by Revd Marie Meredith
Vicar to the churches of Great Wyrley: St Andrew’s and St Mark’s

Into All the Parish by Rev Greg Bakker and Rev Tina Hodgett is for anyone passionate about mission, community, and the future of the church. Rather than another ‘How to Grow Your Church’, this book offers something more hopeful and sustainable; working with what God has already blessed us with.

The book is rooted in scripture, with practical, lived out examples and case studies. Bakker and Hodgett share stories of ordinary churches and people discovering how God is already at work in their parish and learning how to join in.

One of the themes running throughout the book is that this is not another initiative. The authors show readers that mission is not about doing more. Instead, it is about recognising where God is moving, having an expectation that God is already at work, and responding with faith and courage. There is a genuine invitation for churches to become more adventurous; to be willing to walk with Jesus, take a risk, and do something different.

Into All the Parish places an emphasis on working in community, fostering unity and embracing diversity, encouraging churches to value the unique gifts, stories, and cultures already present within their parish thus enabling people to connect with Christianity in meaningful, and relational ways.

For leaders, dreamers, and blue-sky thinkers, this book offers plenty of imagination and possibility. It challenges churches to pay attention to where God is already active in their parish. For anyone longing to see faith become more connected, hopeful, and rooted in everyday community life, Into All the Parish offers a way to do church differently.

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How movements happen: Parish Collective and Pioneering Parishes

Tim Soerens and Tina Hodgett in conversation

Tina and Tim ponder their experience of the key drivers and dynamics of movements. Clue: it’s a lot to do with the Holy Spirit.

About the conversationalists

Tim Soerens is the co-founding executive director of the Parish Collective and an author based in Chicago. 

Tina Hodgett is co-creator of Pioneering Parishes with Greg Bakker. She works at Church Mission Society, training lay pioneers and clergy in the tools, practices, skills and postures of contextual mission and a mixed ecology of church.  

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Transcript

Tina Hodgett [00:00:03] So, hi, Tim, I hear it’s snowing in March in Chicago.

Tim Soerens [00:00:08] It’s snowy in March, in Chicago, yes.

Tina Hodgett [00:00:13] And you look warm and sunny in March.

Tim Soerens [00:00:16] Well, thank you. Yes, I’ve got I’ve got good sun lights around here.

Tina Hodgett [00:00:21] It’s good to see you. We’re here to talk a bit about movement and how you make them. So you’re CEO of the Parish Collective, is that correct?

Tim Soerens [00:00:36] Yeah, executive director, same thing.

Tina Hodgett [00:00:38] Tell us about the Parish Collective.

Tim Soerens [00:00:42] The Parish Collective is a network based in the United States of congregations and small groups, missional communities, sometimes new monastic communities across a whole bunch of Christian denominations who all have one thing in common, which is that they are seeking to be the church in the neighbourhood. And that’s somewhat contrast with the major emphasis of getting people to go to church or getting people to count rally around the Sunday event. And so it’s essentially it’s a network. It’s a learning network and a national community of practice. And we’re trying to tell stories of how this is possible all across the country and with friends like you around the world. And we host convenings and learning communities. And we also have conferences and work with all kinds of denominations, but essentially we exist to connect people to be the church in the neighbourhood, and our long-shot dream is that we could help be a part of what we feel like God is doing to reimagine and reorganise the church around relationships that are pursuing shalom in their places.

Tina Hodgett [00:01:59] Yeah, and I got a bit of a flavour of that two, three years ago when I came to the Inhabit conference and met you all, which was really exciting and inspiring. And how long have you been going and what’s it been like trying to create an idea and make it a movement, take an idea and make a movement of people.

Tim Soerens [00:02:25] We don’t have an official start date, but we’re somewhere in the ballpark of 13, 14, 15 years old as an organisation. So more than 10 years for sure. We’ve been at this for a while. Yeah. And here’s how – I’m curious. I’m gonna put this back to you soon – but here’s how I think about movement making. I primarily don’t think that you make movements. I think that connect them. I think you listen closely and try and discern some, like, common desire, maybe some common language, yearning, which typically happens on the edges of institutions or places. And a lot of times, those people with a common desire or longing, I think like inspired very much from the Holy Spirit, can inherently feel a little bit out of place, or they can feel. Like they don’t know what they’re doing, or by nature of not going with the historic status quo, kind of the default system, it’s disorienting. And so when you meet other people like you, or even other congregations who seem to have a similar longing, it just, it is magical. So that connection, I think is at the heart and soul of what we’re trying to do, but I actually think that’s how all movements actually grow, is from the right connection with the right people at the right time. I would love for you to reply in the same way. Lots of people probably know about Pioneering Parishes and I’m a huge fan. But just in case people don’t or need a refresher, could you tell us a little bit about Pioneering Parishes? And then same question to you. How do you think about movement making or how movements could possibly be made?

Tina Hodgett [00:04:15] Yeah, so Pioneering Parishes feels like a kind of cousin to the parish in the neighbourhood. Our concern is that the parish isn’t defined by the people who show up on Sunday, but that we express God’s longing to be the church that expresses a desire to reach, connect with people who are unconnected across the whole parish. And to shift the, to unlock capacity in the parish church, to shift energy outwards towards the people who aren’t yet connected, and to join in with partnerships with people in the local area, because we’re a values-based organisation, and once we’ve established our values, very often those values can be shared by partners in our neighbourhood, and then we can agree together how we can serve the neighbourhood together and then work in partnership with that. So, it’s a lot of things, one of which is unlocking potential and capacity in congregations through having open and honest conversations, doing congregational discipleship, encouraging people to do congregational missional listening, work out what God’s calling us into and find the surprising God resources to move out into that. So we’re still finding the language for explaining what it is that we’re doing, I think. And I came into it from being primarily a pioneer in the Church of England, called into the Church Of England to join in with that movement of God’s Spirit, that deep movement of God’s Spirit. And as time went on with me having roles to set up pioneers in parish spaces and finding that they often didn’t flourish as well as they could have done because the parish wasn’t folding itself around what they were doing or wasn’t able to see what God was calling them to do, what the relationship was, a lot of parishes thought that the pioneers were there to create people to come to church on Sunday, which was never the intention – it was for them to create contextual forms of church for people who probably would never show up on a Sunday morning. So trying to create more of a symbiotic relationship between the mother church and the new baby churches. And that was when I met my colleague, Greg Baker, who’d been working on the parish end of this paradigm for a while. And when we got together, I thought, yeah, this is a good combination of the two of us to kind of work from a parish based and more pioneering outward perspective and see if we can create an ecosystem where everybody has a gift to give the other to help all the churches, the time honoured and the new ones to thrive and flourish together.

Tim Soerens [00:07:33] Beautiful. Okay, so then, I mean, I hear some movement language in that, but how do you think about movements and movement making and even like movement architecture or how, what, if you want to help create or connect a movement, what are the building blocks for how you’re thinking about your work?

Tina Hodgett [00:07:54] Well, I think some of it’s kind of standard, you know, we need a brand, we’ve got a really great digital comms officer, we needed to do the occasional dance on Instagram, which I love and Greg hates. But for me, the really deep thing is that often it feels as though the Spirit has already done the heart work in hearts and minds and created the desire. So we worked, we try and work in partnership with dioceses and early on we met, we had an advocate, so I think advocates are really vital, not very high in a diocesan organisational structure but she banged on the door and kept insisting that some of her colleagues listened to Greg and I talk about our work. And then they listened carefully, asked great questions. And then one lady who had been agnostic about anything to do with pioneering suddenly had this epiphany moment. And she went, I’ve been looking for a tool like this the whole time I’ve being the director of ministry in this diocese. This is exactly what I need. And then she opened all kinds of doors for us to show our wares, really. We did some training and she and all the people in that diocese have just unlocked so many doors for us including: we’ve just done some training with a partner with a next-door diocese to this one which went well because we’ve been learning and getting things wrong and readjusting and finding more language to explain what we’re about. So some of it’s just about allowing – the movement making is actually happening in us as we work out what is the gift we’re holding and where it’s best applied and how to talk about it. So we’re championed as well by Jonny Baker who’s my line manager at the Church Mission Society. He’s a great champion and so we’ve got champions in the pioneering CMS mission world and champions in the diocesan world. And then people come and are in the training session and often they’re people who know that what we’re offering is what they need. There’s just that sudden sense of oh these are the tools we need and if they could have stopped for a minute and thought about it, that’s what they would have said they wanted. I really love, in Winnie the Pooh, there’s a picture at the very first page of the book, where Christopher Robin’s coming down the stairs with Winnie the Pooh held by the leg, and Winnie is banging his head on every step. And he says, if only I could stop for a minute, I’m sure there’s a better way of doing this.

Tim Soerens [00:11:05] Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Tina Hodgett [00:11:08] And it feels as if the church is like moving so fast and it’s been doing things the same way for such a long time it’s like if only we could stop from it there must be a better way and I think – so we had a young priest the other day say, finish our training and go: these are the tools I need to go and do my thing. And it’s not like we’ve had original ideas, it’s almost as though the Holy Spirit has been preparing the way for the day when church leaders, through my colleague Greg working this stuff out over about 30 years and refining it more recently, it’s almost like it’s ready. It’s a ready package for us to bring it to the world and then for people to go, ah yeah, this is the thing I’ve been waiting for and the Holy Spirit’s going, well here you are, have it in your hand, but we’re still trying to articulate it. So it’s like receiving, receiving something, I think, for me. And then working out what it is, and then, working out how to use it.

Tim Soerens [00:12:12] I love that! A couple things that I’m hearing that are somewhat in common. One is that desire is the kind of raw material that we get to work with. And would you say that’s true?

Tina Hodgett [00:12:28] Yeah, always.

Tim Soerens [00:12:30] Right? That’s like, that’s the only thing that we have if we’re not going to try and, you know, do kind of power over or create a technique or just be in constant sales mode, that it always requires a posture of listening for the gift and the desire of others. And then I just really, and I firmly believe this too about what’s happening here: either the Holy Spirit is doing this work and then we pay attention to it and try and join or not. It’s kind of that simple at some level. It’s incredibly complex for how we go about that.

Tina Hodgett [00:13:05] Yeah.

Tim Soerens [00:13:06] If the Holy Spirit is not cultivating the work ahead of us, then it’s backbreaking work. It feels like, to the Winnie the Pooh metaphor, you know, we might even accidentally keep bringing Pooh down the stairs without meaning to.

Tina Hodgett [00:13:26] Yeah. And I don’t think I’d ever quite realised it until I said it then, that it’s been prepared way, way in advance. And it’s so much through people that God has visited and said, you’re going to be the person that spearheads this. You’re not… You’re the one I’m calling. And you see that pattern through the Scriptures, you know, God showing up with individuals often on the edges, and going – and often surprising – and God is going, you’re going to be the one that leads on this. And then you need the first follower. You need the people who can see God at work or see the genius in that person and go, well, I’m gonna, I can see this too, and I’m going to support you through it, which is probably in this particular situation, me, going: this stuff that Greg’s got, the church needs this. And, um… And we need to find ways to share it more widely and gather people round it.

Tim Soerens [00:14:32] Have you ever seen that short TED Talk that’s called How to Start a Movement, with the person at a music festival who’s dancing and then people start joining? That came to mind as you were talking because maybe that was Greg’s role was to kind of be the first person dancing for maybe a long time. It takes a lot of courage to dance by yourself but as the speaker in that TED Talk says, that’s not a movement, it’s you paying attention and having the courage to dance along and then others and then others. It’s a beautiful metaphor.

Tina Hodgett [00:15:13] Yeah. And that first person’s the first follower, and I think I’ve always wanted to be the mad person dancing, but actually, we’ve got to have the humility, haven’t we, to – and discernment – to join in with the person that’s the mad dancer and not see them as the mad dancer and think, how can we amplify this? And yeah, I think that whole role of the person who can join in and know all the people who can amplify because we wouldn’t be anywhere without a whole string of people who’ve opened doors for us in places we didn’t have access. So we have used our personal networks in the early days. I was just you know emailing everybody I knew and going: well we’ve got this thing and would you like to know a bit more about it and maybe you can contribute… Because what we found in having conversations with people was that we understood more and more, they were saying what they needed and we were going well yeah maybe we’ve got something that can help. So it was kind of like dough rising as well, that’s another metaphor.

Tim Soerens [00:16:27] I love that metaphor as well. Well, is there anything that’s on your mind right now as you, on behalf of Pioneering Parishes, are thinking about the future, as you’re thinking about the next faithful steps in trying to help cultivate a movement? Is there anything that springs to mind, a challenge, an opportunity, something you’re particularly excited about?

Tina Hodgett [00:16:50] What a lovely question. I feel I’ve been talking quite a lot. I’ll tell you there’s a book coming out. We’ve got a book coming out and I think that will be another kind of catalytic thing. You tell me a bit…

Tim Soerens [00:17:07] Does it have a title?

Tina Hodgett [00:17:08] Well, it’s called Into All The Parish: tools for… I can’t remember quite the rest, but Into All The Parish, yeah. And you’ve written books as well, have they helped your movement making?

Tim Soerens [00:17:25] Yeah, you know, we’ve talked about this in the past a little bit, but another visual that has been really animating for me and for our work is what has called the two-loops theory of change, where you have one loop that is a normal default or dominant system that tends to be in decline, and then an emergent system, and the beginning is naming and framing with language. And so I do think that writing and even conversations like this is really, really important because it is a kind of flag that we can wave to people that perhaps God has been speaking to or where there is desire and yearning, where there’s like, yes, you’re putting language to something that’s been swelling up within me -as well as all the incredible tools for folks that want to be resourced like you’re talking about. But yeah, with some friends, I wrote a book called The New Parish and – about seven or eight years ago – and then a follow-up that was more for everyday Christians called Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church Right Where You Are. And those publications have absolutely been catalytic and framing in meeting heaps of new friends and colleagues.

Tina Hodgett [00:18:39] Yeah, so in the last minute, if people want to join in with what God’s up to in the world and the church at the moment, how can they be part of movement making or movement connecting?

Tim Soerens [00:19:05] Well, my first invitation would be to… think about their actual lives and where those actual lives get played out. So I’m a big fan, obviously, of geography, of local places and spaces. And I think a powerful question to connect with God’s movement is to simply ask out loud and even better with a couple of friends and maybe other people that are following Jesus, maybe even people from your congregation, what might be some of God’s dreams for this place? And I think that question, and I do think it’s plural, probably not singular, I think asking that over and over again and being open to what might that look like, creates a whole new path for us. And I think the more of us that are asking, you could say, that question of what God is longing for, what does God desire, in a very real place with real people and real systems and real histories and real power dynamics and real complexities… I think taking action into that, even experimentally, is the way of the future, which is incredibly complex and chaotic in many ways. But I think that’s where the movement is. And then if we can share those stories of experimentation, whether things work or not, I think we’re all going to be able to tell our friends and our kids and nieces and nephews incredible stories of how we got to join what God was up to, at least in part, in our day. Final remarks for you, Tina. What would your, your advice be to join in movements?

Tina Hodgett [00:20:48] Yeah, I think I’d just match it with one of our core questions, which is, who do we aspire to be for God and our local community? And again, it’s place-based. And it’s in the now. And it’s very powerful.

Tim Soerens [00:21:06] Yes, it is.

Tina Hodgett [00:21:07] And it’s about the being as well as the doing and uniting them.

Tim Soerens [00:21:13] Yes.

Tina Hodgett [00:21:16] So I’m feeling very moved, so I think we should finish before I have to go.

Tim Soerens [00:21:22] I think you’re right.

Tina Hodgett [00:21:23] Really lovely to chat to you. Tim Soerens [00:21:26] Same, same to you now, what an honour. Thank you so much.

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Editorial: Movements, communities and sodalities | ANVIL volume 41 issue 1

by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross

Welcome to a bumper issue of ANVIL. The idea for this issue was prompted by the launch of Aspen in November 2025. Aspen is a spread-out community, set up to look after the charism of pioneering mission (or whatever name you prefer to use) and to generate more of that practice. It is a response to the movement in mission we have seen grow in Britain and other post-Christian contexts over the last 30 years.

We have included in this issue the founding Aspen document that describes the purpose and charism of Aspen, and I (Cathy) have written a reflection or commentary on the process of setting it up. It’s a particular kind of community, a sodality to use the mission jargon. That community is a contribution to the ongoing movement in mission in post-Christian Britain and beyond. We thought it would be interesting to explore further the combination of movement and community in mission. It is of particular interest to us in CMS as we have been through a refounding process over the last six years or so. Our participation in mission globally has pivoted towards catalysing, co-creating and contributing to mission movements as we seek to notice and join in with what God is doing at the edges. This issue is focused towards post-Christian contexts (one of CMS’s areas of participation in mission). We hope a future issue might be able to build on this by exploring the theme further for other movements in mission.

There is a lot in the issue so do take your time with it but we are really thrilled with what has come together. ‘Movements’ is a slippery concept and I (Jonny) have written an article on some of their contours. I fear this may not be tight enough for some people who want to pin down what movements are but the very nature of movements is such that they keep moving and evade definition! And as I say in the article, attempts to pin them down often end up feeling more like descriptions of pyramid selling. Mission community and movement are nothing new so it’s great to have Ade Green’s article on being a Franciscan, one incredible movement that has been running for over 800 years. It makes quite a good ‘compare and contrast’ with Matt Richards’ article on new monasticism and mission.

We all need friends for the journey and at CMS, as we have been networking with others involved in mission in similar spaces to us in post-Christian contexts, we have really enjoyed the friendships that have emerged. Street Psalms and the Parish Collective, both of which are based in the US, are sister communities. Tim Soerens and Kris Rocke both share lots of wisdom in conversation with Tina Hodgett and Johnny Sertin respectively. Katharina Haubold reflects on the Fresh X-Network through conversation with others who have been part of the movement in Germany around mission and fresh expressions. We have had good friendship with Katharina and others in Germany over many years now. That in itself is illustrative of how movements work, though making connections, sharing ideas and friendship, and mutual encouragement and learning. Common Grace is a movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand that is focused on activism and justice, seeking to transform unjust structures in society. Alex Johnston tells their story in a way that we found very compelling. We hope that international flavour is helpful. We’d like to deepen that further.

There are further articles reflecting on practice. Idina Dunmore reflects on her experience of being part of a mission community, Servants Southall, London. Kairos is a new movement and community in Yorkshire catalysed through the Methodist church’s New Places for New People work. Liane Kensett tells their story and how they have developed a rhythm to the community’s life as they seek to reimagine what that might look like if we become future-facing. Harvey Kwiyani and Nuam Hatzaw have a conversation around Harvey’s book Decolonizing Mission. This conversation took place at the Assembly which is our annual get-together with people in the network. This is also movement, through a slightly different filter – exploring mission practice and the contours of a missiology after empire, after colonisation. The reflection on Aspen and its founding document, as mentioned above, also feed into this focus.

At CMS we have been pondering what sort of spirituality enables a life lived in mission. Ian Adams has been conducting lots of conversations with people about their own practice under the header “Presence”. Together with a couple of others, this has been distilled to a pattern of five principles to aid a life of prayerful presence, a mission spirituality if you will. This is being offered as an invitation across CMS to live a life of prayerful presence in mission. It seemed a perfect fit with this issue of ANVIL and we are grateful to Ian for letting us include it, to invite you into that too.

To top it off, there is a series of book reviews. Several of those are books that accompany this issue particularly well so do enjoy those too. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this issue. Everyone does so voluntarily as a gift of their time and energies, which we really appreciate.

About the authors

Jonny Baker is the director of mission in post-Christian Britain at Church Mission Society (CMS).

Cathy Ross is a lecturer on the MA Programme at CMS. Her research interests are in the areas of hospitality, feminist theologies and missional practice.

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A new book which has been called “a ‘must-read’ for all who want to see their local churches thrive” has just been published.

It has been written by our very own Rev Tina Hodgett and Rev Greg Bakker, founders of Pioneering Parishes, which provides tools, practices and postures to help churches go into all the parish. The training helps churches cultivate an environment in which new things can thrive in an appropriate way for their context and community, helping engage with people who are unconnected.

In August 2023 Church House Publishing asked Tina and Greg to write a practical book for church leaders on culture change. They prepared a proposal for the editorial board and were delighted with the affirmation that what they proposed was a “hopeful, conciliatory and constructive contribution to contemporary church life and the church’s mission”. After three years of work, Into All the Parish: Pioneering Practices for Every Local Church is available now.

Into all the Parish moves away from attempts at rejuvenation of the parish church based on replicable strategies or programmes into a ‘way of being’. Reviews of the book are pouring in and many are commenting on the ‘practical companionship offered’ for congregations wishing to make this change.

One review says:

“For leaders, dreamers, and blue-sky thinkers, this book offers plenty of imagination and possibility. It challenges churches to pay attention to where God is already active in their parish. For anyone longing to see faith become more connected, hopeful, and rooted in everyday community life, Into All the Parish offers a way to do church differently.”

Rev Marie Meredith, vicar to the churches of Great Wyrley: St Andrew’s and St Mark’s

Another says:

“Long gone are the days when ‘pioneering’ was seen as being in opposition to ‘traditional’ parish ministry. Here is a clear demonstration of how cultivating a pioneering disposition enables parish church congregations to explore afresh their identity and vocation for the present time.”

Rev Canon Jane Maycock, Canon Missioner, Durham Cathedral

CMS’s Jonny Baker, director of mission in Britain, says of the book:

“If I was new in a ministry post or on the PCC in a parish church, I would be thanking God for this book! It is short, sharply focused, and extremely practical. It will really help you lead a church through a process of culture change giving the best chance possible of taking the whole church with you on the journey. The five dynamics explored arise from distilled wisdom learned from putting this into practice in a parish setting over many years and you can tell.”

Lots of lay people and clergy working across the country are already benefiting from the book, as this review shows:

“Into All the Parish is the best kind of “self-help” book – opening space for gathered communities to discern together the movement of the Holy Spirit in their midst. Led by discerning questions, each chapter prompts readers to consider an area of parish life where small shifts might lead to significant relational and spiritual flourishing. No act is deemed too small to be significant and no hope too large to be attainable. Highly recommended for churches desiring to reach the whole parish but uncertain how or where to start.”

Stacey Van Dyk, Children & Families Ministry Leader

The book has also reached the attention of bishops with Mike Harrison, the bishop of Exeter, saying:

“A wise, accessible and practical guide to helping Christian communities discern how God’s Spirit is at work inside and outside the Church. Tools are provided helping congregations to ensure principles eclipse preferences, abundance mind-sets hold sway over scarcity narratives, and different ways of doing and being church are held together synergistically. All this wrapped up in a missional understanding of being caught up in God’s sacrificial loving movement towards the world – personified in Jesus and inviting our participatory involvement. Recommended!”

And Jonathan Frost, bishop of Portsmouth, giving heartfelt approval:

“I am delighted to read this contribution to the vital task of parochial ministry. God’s church needs pioneering ministry in every context. Wherever Tina Hodgett and Greg Bakker share their rich experience, new life happens, and the hope of God’s kingdom becomes breaks out. I commend this work with all my heart”

Buy Into All the Parish: Pioneering practices for every local church now.

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Have you ever felt a “holy discomfort”? That nagging sense that God is calling you to serve, but perhaps not in a way that fits into a traditional Sunday morning box?

Recently, I stood in the Bishop of Exeter’s Palace to celebrate with a group of people who felt exactly that. I love that pioneer training with CMS doesn’t just happen in Oxford or in one single place. It’s happening – and growing – across the UK.

The latest CMS Pioneer Graduation gathered students from across the South West, including Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

The palace was filled with creativity, warmth and joy. There were interactive worship displays, beautiful sung worship led by a harpist, moving student testimonies, lots of delicious food and, of course, as befits a celebration, much cake.

A celebration of community 

This was more than simply a celebration of completing a course or receiving a certificate. Again and again, students spoke about finding a home. They spoke about finally discovering a language for what they had sensed God calling them to for years. They found a way of looking at mission – a missiology – that made sense of the places they were serving, and training that helped them do what they do with greater confidence, wisdom and courage.

That is one of the great gifts of pioneer training. It names and nurtures what God is already stirring. It helps people understand that mission does not only happen in familiar church settings, but also out at the edges – in the overlooked places, among those who may never walk into a church building, in communities where fresh expressions of Christian witness and discipleship are needed.

Some of the creative demonstrations of work by graduating students

Jesus calls us to the edges with him 

I had the privilege of sharing a few words during the celebration, and I found myself returning to a theme that has been growing in me for some time: Jesus as the Great Disturber.

That might sound like an odd thing to say at a graduation, but I think it fits. Jesus has always had a habit of lovingly disturbing people into new possibilities. That disturbance is not there to crush us, but to awaken us. It is often how mission begins.

Because pioneering is not first about having all the answers, having a perfect plan, or building something impressive. Pioneering begins with a willingness to follow Jesus into places that are unfamiliar, overlooked, risky, and sometimes uncomfortable. And that is right at the heart of CMS.

You may not always feel ready. You may not always feel confident. Some days you may feel small, uncertain, or underqualified. But the good news is this: God has always loved working through ordinary people who say yes.

And as I said to the graduating students: “Your ‘yes’ matters. So, as you graduate, don’t just think, ‘I’ve finished something.’ Think, ‘I’m being sent.’”

Rt Rev Mike Harrison, Bishop of Exeter, and I handed out certificates to around 24 students, each one representing a story of faithfulness, courage and calling.

As ever, the certificates only told part of the story.

The real story is what comes next: the communities that will be served, the conversations that will be had, the experiments that will be tried, the friendships that will be formed, the prayers that will be whispered, the people who will encounter Jesus in new ways because these pioneers said yes to his call.

Are you being called to something new? Find out about training with CMS

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‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’.  This was a proverb I learned growing up, and as I look out of my upstairs office window typing this I see a row of castles opposite.

by Rev Tina Hodgett

When the weather is good my neighbours sit in their gardens and pretend the others in the other gardens are invisible.

In ancient Biblical times people lived in tents that could be moved.  You’d see people coming from a long way away and would prepare to meet them on arrival, not knowing if they brought gifts or threat. In either case, as Abraham knew (Gen 18), offering lavish hospitality was a way of making it more probable the outcome of the visit was a good one for all.

Hospitality is about a posture of openness to the stranger. It is about holding a space for them and yourself to meet on shared ground as fellow human beings. A fellow human being is in need of water in the desert. She or he needs freshly prepared nutritious food, shade, rest. When we encounter others as fellow human beings – subject to bodily needs, physical and psychological safety, and a need to make meaning in our lives – we are more likely to see a stranger as an opportunity to share connection. Not barricade ourself into the castle of seeing people we don’t yet know as a potential threat.

When you read this it will probably be in the raw bright days after Easter Sunday. The encounter between Jesus and the couple on the road to Emmaus may be in your mind.  Sometimes we focus on what happens at the table in that story, but Jesus is hospitable way before that. In his tone of voice, body language, humble listening and responding to them in their distress and confusion, he has created space for them to see more and become more while they are together on the road.

This is what Pioneering Parishes aims to do and aims to help churches to do; create space for others to see more and be more through encounters with Jesus and others on the road.

Is being hospitable an important value for your congregation? Discover who your congregation aspires to be for God and your local community at the next Pioneering Parishes Values Setting and Embedding Workshop. Find out more.

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A year ago, Jonny Baker asked me if I would contribute to a “little” idea he’d had: to write some reflections and liturgies on Jesus’ encounters from the fringes…

That “little” idea turned into more reflections and liturgies, then 20, and before we knew it (it turns out there are lots of edges to explore within the Gospels) it became 40 chapters. Throw in another 40 spiritual practices and we found ourselves with a chunky book, over 200 pages, with some beautiful artwork thrown in. The book you now know as Fringe Dweller was born.

How did this happen?

I remember thinking at the Fringe Dweller book launch (which I’ll talk about later), “How did this happen?” I had only recently finished studying at CMS, which I found both life-giving (the lectures and conversations) and particularly challenging (the essays).

I recall my tutor running up to me on the day we received our first marked essays and asking, “Why didn’t you tell us you were dyslexic?” She then proceeded to go through my essay (which, by the way, was okay), chuckling as she noted the glaring giveaways that my brain was wired slightly differently. If I’m honest, it didn’t get easier, but the regular feedback given to my work was that my ideas were interesting, creative even, and that my voice in it all was strong.

As I settled into study, I knew I’d found a home of sorts at CMS – an incubator for creative thinking, to listen, communicate ideas, and cultivate the voices and hunches I’d had about faith and life that perhaps weren’t always safe to verbalise in other spaces. I say this because, without those spaces of freedom to speak out, to agree and disagree with friends, my participation in Fringe Dweller would certainly be absent. It’s likely Jonny would have gone ahead anyway, but my voice would not be there. Homes are important, and the best ones are where it is safe to share your voice.

Riding the wave

Fast forward a few years, and I find myself in a beautiful Anglican church in Ealing for the book launch of Fringe Dweller. I still don’t know how we got here but I’m riding the wave. Jonny and I wanted to make the book launch more than a celebration of our work and certainly more than us talking about it; we wanted to create an experience for people, regardless of what tradition or place they’d come from.

If you haven’t seen any of the Fringe Dweller artwork designed by Jon Birch yet, they really bring the book to life. Jonny and I decided we’d get them blown up into large prints and hang them from the balcony of the church to create an exhibition.

As it did with the book, it brought an already beautiful space to life. It was wonderful to see people arrive into the church, and as soon as they saw the prints, I saw smiles, gasps, and in one case, people were visibly moved by what they were seeing and experiencing.

In one of the chapters, we query why so often street preachers go in with a hard sell, often bypassing most of Jesus’ life and starting with what happens at the end. Some, but not all, of the illustrations are of Jesus. Some are of him walking with people, one is of him laughing with friends as he pours drinks (my mum’s favourite), and one is of Jesus in deep grief. It was interesting to watch where people were drawn. We need to know that Jesus laughs, walks with us, and knows grief, and people were free to spend time with the artwork.

Jonny and I were interviewed about the book, its origin story, and how we made decisions on choosing the stories. Truthfully, there was little to no strategy in choosing the passages other than where Jesus was being with or advocating for people who had been sidelined for whatever reason.

Creative responses

One of our real hopes for the book is that by putting the stories and reflections in people’s hands, we’d get some interesting and creative responses back. We figured between us both we could pull enough favours from creative friends and family to make the evening a little less Dave and Jonny-focused, and we were overwhelmed with people agreeing to take part.

We kicked off the artists’ reflections with an original liturgy from Tina Hodgett called ‘Lock Picker of Closed Doors’, which we used in the book. It was a wonderfully traditional yet fresh way to start our artists’ reflections. Liturgy was not something I was brought up with in my tradition, but there was something stirring to hear young and old read the words “We come to you, seeking the gifts we need from the No One of Nazareth”.

Other highlights included songwriter Chris Read’s reflection of the chapter ‘Eating with Scum’, taken from Matthew 9 – you could have heard a pin drop as he concluded his composition with the same name.

We also had a reflection from Iva Decheva, a South-East London artist who, using incredible colours of blue, silver and green, weaved and embroidered the rippling waters of healing at the pool of Bethesda (John 5) as she imagined the view to be from the sick man.

Iain Cotton (who creates tiles for CMS graduates) took us somewhere deeper still, as he explained his craft and approach to creating his tiles while reflecting on Jesus, the Fringe Dweller.

The artists’ reflections finished with Jonny’s son, Harry, who had written a stunning reverse poem that had many of us feeling all sorts of emotions. His reverse poem ‘Flip the Script’, which riffed off a chapter from the book with the same name, had us all in the palm of his hand.

Strange times

The challenge in the chapter is to flip the scripts or stories we all have and hear, whether they be internal, in our communities, churches, or elsewhere. Harry’s poem was like breathing fresh air, as he challenged narratives that have unfortunately found themselves saddled up to the story of Jesus, the Fringe Dweller. “We have to flip the script,” the repeated refrain from Harry, and in every artist presentation, it felt that was exactly what took place. Our hope is that it would encourage and give permission for others to do the same. It was a wonderful ending to a beautiful evening.

Both Jonny and I noted that the book has come out at an interesting time. It is a strange time to be human, and certainly a strange time to share our faith with other Christians that seem to be living life reading from a completely different script to us. We hope that Fringe Dweller will offer a helpful narrative, particularly to those leading and dwelling in the fringes. We are grateful to all the artists for being generous with their art; it made the evening quite special and, to be honest, reaffirmed our hope for the book: that if we can offer these stories to and with people, wonderful and diverse reflections will come back to us.

If you haven’t got hold of your copies of Fringe Dweller yet, you can get it from getsidetracked.co. We’d love to hear your own reflections and thoughts on the book, as well as those you are connecting with on your context.

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At Pioneering Parishes, we are persuaded that pioneers and parishes need each other.

But the dynamics between pioneers and advocates are often challenging and disruptive. To foster better understanding and coloration in mission, Rev Greg Bakker and Rev Tina Hodgett, leaders of Pioneering Parishes, have created the beatitudes for pioneers and priests.

Last year, on our blog we featured a series on the Pioneering Parishes Beatitudes. Beginning with an introduction and then looking at each beatitude in more detail. You can see all the posts here:

• Introduction to Pioneering Parishes beatitudes
• Aspiring to be our best
• Show interest
• More in common than you might think…
• Equality…
• Think Win/Win
• Journey Together
• Practise the Better Way

Now we have put together the beatitudes into one download. Making it easy to share them with your priest or pioneer and see if you can support each other to be who you each aspire to be for God and your community?

If you would like support in working with either a priest or pioneer, Pioneering Parishes can help. Take a look at our training courses or get in touch with us via the link at the bottom of this page.

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