Stephen Pickard – författare

Seeking the Church offers students, teachers and scholars an introduction to key themes for a contemporary doctrine of the church. The book considers some fundamental questions: What does it mean to seek the Church? How is this related to the search for God? Who are the contemporary travellers seeking God but not interested in the Church? What is the relationship between the Triune God and the Church? How might the Church recover a pace and presence in tune with the Spirit of Christ? Where does energy come from for a resilient discipleship in the contemporary world? Is community a good idea?Chapters cover sources, images, models and practices of the Church. Faulty doctrines of God are examined for their impact on the relationship between the church and the world, leadership and mission. At the heart of the book is an emphasis on movement and pilgrimage with the Triune God. Later chapters offer a fresh examination of familiar themes in ecclesiology: the marks of the Church; structure and polity in terms of freedom; and word, sacraments, witness and care in relation to energy. The result is a dynamic systematic ecclesiology that concludes with a provocative account of the ‘slow church coming’. Questions and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter make this a particularly useful text for students and teachers.

This book examines the theological foundations of a collaborative approach to Christian ministry. The discovery that Christians are members 'one of another' creates energy and joy in ministry and empowers the Church in an age of mission. Outlining the present challenges for ministry, Stephen Pickard offers an historical perspective on ministry over the last century; develops a theory of collaborative ministry based on a dialogue between theology and science; and explores some implications of collaborative ministry for lay and ordained people of the Church. This book breaks new ground in its theory of collaborative ministry through a dialogue with the sciences of emergence. It also offers fresh insights on important texts in ministry; relationships between Christology, Pneumatology and ministry; a relational ontology of ministry; episcopacy, ecumenism, ordination vows; and wisdom for team ministry.