Postgraduate Research

A growing number of theses have been produced on the area of church growth, which have been supervised by staff of the CCGR. These have been for the MA in theology and ministry and for the doctorate in theology and ministry.

These include:

• Mark Wigglesworth’s MA thesis which sheds significant light into Church of England figures. The thesis, “A Critical Evaluation and Theological Reflection on ‘Worshipping Community’, As Used By the Church of England Statistics”, shows that a new measure being trialed contains significant distortions. The measure itself has considerable merits, but can only provide meaningful data if used with significantly greater care.

• Chris Morgan’s recently completed MA thesis explores gender dynamics amongst students at a new church in the North East of England, shedding light on the rapidly changing world of higher education and how this impacts faith groups and challenging some existing assumptions about faith and students.

• Steve Lindridge is working on a doctoral thesis entitled ‘To research and critique how people of negligible or no previous contact with the church are coming to faith in Jesus Christ in fresh expressions of church’, looking in detail at particular Methodist fresh expressions of church.

• Patrick Parkes is exploring a possible doctoral thesis, ‘ An analysis of the missional and fiscal sustainability of the Church of England in the changing landscape of the twenty-first century’, with particular reference to the diocese of Exeter.