DRAFT RESEARCH TOPIC

1. TITLE
“Stressing the Wineskin, Losing the Wine: Issues in Contemporary British Third Wave Ecclesiology and Church Planting.“

2. BACKGROUND
The Pentecostal outpouring of the early twentieth century affected main line denominations internationally by the 1960s. The resulting renewal became known as the charismatic movement. By the 1970s, it had overflowed traditional church boundaries and many new congregations were started in response to perceived institutional limitations. In acknowledgment of such a pedigree, this movement of independent evangelical and charismatic churches has been called the “Third Wave”.[1] Today, the British New Church Movement is made up of 250,000 believers, and faces a number of unique challenges.

Whereas the initial leaders and members of British Third Wave Churches were aware of what they were leaving, younger leaders are not able to define themselves by such a contrast. This has often led to a crisis of vision, compounded by the need for effective succession management.

The current debate as to the significance of the “postmodern turn” has added to this anxiety. Church planting conferences and books often emphasise supposed cultural changes and publicise the existence of many successful models of church. Apart from noting these phenomenon, there is little help on offer towards those who would like a theological basis for their choice between models and their affirmation or opposition to cultural trends.

The resources for such reflection should be found in ecclesiology. However, both Evangelicalism and neo-Pentecostalism are renewal movements. As such they assume the churches’ existence and self-definition, and are not as helpful a resource in this matter as might otherwise be thought.

The proposed research would suggest an appropriate ecclesiology for British Third Wave Churches based on the original desire to move away from institutionalism. The usefulness of such an approach would be demonstrated through analysing current church planting concerns. It is hoped that a number of issues would be explained: the tendency to reproduce models just as institutional as the formats they were meant to replace; the reluctance to relate to the ordinary life of church members; and the relatively low priority of mutual aid and concern when compared with activism and evangelistic programmes are just some examples.

3. JUSTIFICATION
The research needs to be done at this time because of a heightened anxiety in the Third Wave church planting community. This centres around the nature of church, and its context, but is missing a theological dimension. It is hoped that church planters and leaders caught up in such anxiety could benefit from this study.

4. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Institutionalism in the church is the tendency to mistake the formal structures of church for its essence. On what basis can this be defined so that the church can deal with it? Such institutionalism neglects the service of believers in their ordinary work and family. How can a healthy emphasis on the spirituality of the ordinary life be reasserted? How do answers to these questions affect the way that churches are planted? Rather than the tendency towards intellectual promiscuity that entertains a variety of new ideas in quick succession with the hope of finding a quick fix, Third Wave churches need to be committed to an ecclesiology that is both biblical and in line with its own values. Suggesting what this looks like is the heart of the research problem.

In fact, very little research has been done on the nature of Third Wave church planting. A certain amount of anti-intellectualism inherited from its Pentecostal roots has not helped. The insights of ecclesiologists drawn from the wider church will need to be viewed in the light of Third Wave distinctives, and the recent literature addressing the missional nature of the church assessed.

The basic hypothesis to be suggested is that the church finds its definition in three dimensions: community, worship and mission. A proposal will be made as to how these three elements become institutionalized; how this can be opposed; and how they connect with the image of God and the curse that scars it within the related categories of family, marriage and work. The interaction of the church with the world is a highly important question in church planting and this will be addressed under the same scheme. It is proposed that an ecclesiology drawn from the essential nature of church rather than its formal structures, is particularly appropriate for British Third Wave church planting.

5. FIELD OF STUDY
The field of study borders theology proper and applied theology. The kind of research will be literature based combined with field reflection and practitioner interaction.

6. SCOPE
Focusing on the needs of contemporary Third Wave church planters, the research will be informed by ecclesiology from other traditions but will not have the reform of those traditions in mind. Whilst seeking to learn the lessons of church planting in other cultures, the focus will be the modern Western context. Whilst being interested in the very pragmatic approach of the church planting world, this document will seek to underline the theological.

7. METHODOLOGY
Relying mainly on the writing of key thinkers, it is important for this study that the conclusions are both practical and accessible for church planting practitioners. Therefore research will be accompanied by field observation and interaction.

8. SOURCES
Contemporary free church thinkers in the church renewal sector will be contrasted with a more holistic and theological approach; hence a variety of text will be used as a foil for contextual analysis.

9. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
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