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Towards a Theology of Church Growth

Towards a Theology of Church Growth

A major conference on church growth in Britain was held at St Johns College, Durham on the 12th and 13th September 2013. It was entitled Towards a Theology of Church Growth and included contributions from a range of leading scholars from a wide range of traditions, including:

  • Prof Alister McGrath – Kings College, London
  • Revd Dr Graham Tomlin – Dean of St Mellitus College, London
  • Sr Benedicta Ward – Emeritus Reader, University of Oxford
  • Revd Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes – Vicar of Belmont and Pittington, Diocese of Durham
  • The Rt Revd Martin Warner – Bishop of Chichester
  • Revd Dr David Goodhew – Director of Ministerial Practice at Cranmer Hall, St John’s College, Durham
  • The Ven Bob Jackson – Former Archdeacon of Walsall, Tutor at St John’s College, Nottingham and Visiting Fellow of St John’s College, Durham
  • David Marshall – Director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and Associate Professor of the Practice of Christian-Muslim Relations, Duke University Divinity School, North Carolina
  • Mark Bonnington – Fellow of St Johns College, Durham and Senior Pastor of Kings Church, Durham
  • Revd Dr Jo Bailey – Director of Anglican Studies, Duke University, North Carolina (until 2012)
  • Dr Dominic Erdozain – Lecturer in the History of Christianity at Kings College, London

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury said this of the conference, shortly after its announcement:

“The team involved in this conference have done ground-breaking work and it will be very worth the commitment to attend.”

The papers from the conference have subsequently been published as an edited volume: Towards a Theology of Church Growth (Ashgate 2015).