This volume seeks to draw together scholars from biblical studies, systematic and historical theology, and practical theology to reflect on how the concept of participation can help us to think theologically about church planting. Participation promises to offer a unique theological lens through which to see church planting; for the concept of participation is crucial for understanding the relationship between the church and mission of God. As the New Testament writers remind the early church over 130 times, their participation “in Christ” is central to life of the Church. Participation refers not just to the task that Christian disciples are given to do, but something of their identity: it tells us who they are. It is therefore crucial for any one trying to do ecclesiology; the church is not just a community of likeminded believers, but rather, they are those who participate in the mystical body of Christ.
BLOGPOST: Read an interview with Joshua Cockayne about the book on the SCM Press blog here.
Edited by:
Joshua Cockayne
Imprint: SCM Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780334063797
ISBN 10: 0334063795
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 30 January 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
ELT Advanced
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction: Participation, Authority and Church Planting (Joshua Cockayne) Part 1: Biblical Perspectives 2. Planting Diversity in God’s People: Evidence from the Old Testament (Dru Johnson) 3. Roles and Participation: Exodus as Our Guide (Elizabeth R. Hare) 4. Participation and Mission in the Gospel of John (Michael J. Gorman) 5. Passengers or Participants: A Missional Reading of 2 Peter 1:3-8 (Peter Nevins) 6. Participation in Christ’s Reign in the Book of Revelation and in New Church Communities Today (Helen Miller) Part 2: Doctrinal and Historical Perspectives 7. Persons in Communion: The Significance of the Trinity and Participation for Christian Mission (Alan J Torrance) 8. Social Dynamics Within the Mixed Ecology of Church: Insights from Paul’s ‘Body of Christ’ Metaphor and the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching (Christian Selvaratnam) 9. Apocalypse, Participation, Missional Disillusionment, and Burnout (Jarred Michelson) 10. Church planting and ‘failure’: participation in the crucified life of God (Stephen Squirrell) 11. Trinitarian fullness and church planting in the context of decline (Andy Hood) 12. The Participation Problem: Lay-Led Church Plants in a Sacramental Denomination (Brogan Hume) 13. A Missiologist reads Andrew Davison’s Participation in God: What do we learn? (Nigel Rooms) 14. Beyond Ecclesiocentrism (Pete Ward) 15. Neurodiversity and church planting: participation as radical inclusion (Elli Wort and Nicola Harris) 16. Power, Pace and Participation: Reflections on Church of England’s ‘resource’ church through a case study of St Frideswides, Bletchley (Ben Aldous, Ayo Audu and Catherine Butt) 17, Model driven church vs pioneering in context: body, form and praxis (Alli Williams) Conclusion
Joshua Cockayne is Academic Dean at at Cranmer Hall in Durham and the Director of the Bede Centre for Church Planting Theology.
Reviews for Participation and Church Planting: Perspectives from Scripture, Doctrine and Practice
While missiology in general has made a 'Copernican shift' (David Bosch) towards missio Dei theology around the middle of the twentieth century, church planting, with its deep roots in evangelical pragmatism, has often stuck to older paradigms of church growth, soul-winning and activism. This much-desired volume brings church planting up to date by rooting it in participation in God's mission, exploring notions like humility, receptivity, and sacramentality. I highly recommend it. -- Stefan Paas
