Books by Christopher B James
“Both theologically astute and empirically grounded – it is a rare combination, and it is that co... more “Both theologically astute and empirically grounded – it is a rare combination, and it is that combination that allows Christopher James to draw practical wisdom from the experience of a diverse range of new Seattle churches. It is a story worth reading for anyone interested in the future shape of American congregations.” –Nancy T. Ammerman, Author of Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners
“Among the very top works in its field to emerge in the past few years. It offers a major contribution to the fields of missiology, evangelism, ecclesiology, and theological ethnography.” –The Reverend Christian Scharen, Vice President of Applied Research, The Center for the Study of Theological Education, Auburn Theological Seminary
“Seattle has been at the forefront in generating new forms of Church. Christopher James has produced an acute and nuanced study of the changing nature of churches in this important setting. This is a major contribution to the developing field of Ecclesiology and Ethnography and a must read for anyone interested in mission and the changing nature of the Church.” –Pete Ward, Department of Theology and Religion, St. John’s College, Durham University
National headlines regularly herald the decline of Christianity in the United States, citing historically low levels of confidence in organized religion, drops in church attendance, church closures, and the dramatic rise of the "Nones." Scarcely heard are stories from the thousands of new churches and new forms of church that are springing up each year across the country. In this book, Christopher James attends carefully to stories of ecclesial innovation taking place in Seattle, Washington--a city on the leading edge of trends shaping the nation as a whole. James's study of the new churches founded in 'post-Christian' Seattle offers both pragmatic advice and theological reflection. After an in-depth survey- and -interview-based analysis of the different models of church-building he identifies, James identifies five threads of practical wisdom: 1) embracing local identity and mission, 2) cultivating embodied, experiential, everyday spirituality, 3) engaging community life as means of witness and formation, 4) prioritizing hospitality as a cornerstone practice, and 5) discovering ecclesial vitality in a diverse ecclesial ecology. Stimulating, encouraging, and stereotype-shattering, this book invites readers to reconsider the narrative that portrays these first decades of the twenty-first century as a time of ecclesial death and decline, and to view this instead as a hope-filled season of ecclesial renewal and rebirth.
Resources by Christopher B James
If you’re a church planter, I wrote Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil for you. But, for some... more If you’re a church planter, I wrote Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil for you. But, for some church planters, the language and the length of the book can make it a difficult read. Moreover, church planters like you are probably eager to glean key insights that you can take into conversations and put into action in your context. I’ve put together this Official Church Planter’s Guide to help you and your core team focus on the chapters and sections that will be most useful to you and to propel you into meaningful discussions about how you can join with God in your context and bear faithful witness to Jesus among the people of your place.
Publications by Christopher B James
Creative Collaborations: Case Studies of North American Missional Practices, Dana Robert, Allison Koch-Yawnghwe and Morgan Crago, eds., Regnum Press, 2023
The rise of city-wide church networks is a distinctive feature of missional collaboration in Nort... more The rise of city-wide church networks is a distinctive feature of missional collaboration in North America. In response to declining denominational structures and rising polarization in faith communities, this form of missional collaboration aims to connect Christians and communities of faith around a shared geography, the city, and a shared value: mission. City-wide church networks have a common commitment to serve the city and to promote Christian unity, but their size, structure, composition, and leadership do not fit into a single template. Our introduction in this chapter includes three movements. We first introduce two city-wide church networks, noting their history, partners, key leaders, central programs, and key similarities and differences. We then turn from these two cases to consider the cluster of practices and broader conditions that enable this kind of missional collaboration to form and flourish across North America. Finally, we conclude by noting how this consequential missional innovation promises to provide a durable form of Christian witness. Drawn from interviews with 40 leaders and practitioners across North America, this work introduces city-wide church networks as a national phenomenon that invites ongoing attention from scholars and practitioners who wish to understand or support Christian thought and missional practice.
Co-researched and written with Dustin Benac
Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil, 2021
Essays on the New Worshiping Communities Movement, 2018
How might a more robust understanding of what makes "church" open us up to the new forms of churc... more How might a more robust understanding of what makes "church" open us up to the new forms of church best suited for what God is doing amid our changing American context?
Encyclopedia of Christian Education
Practical theology is an interdisciplinary approach to theology that emphasizes attention to conc... more Practical theology is an interdisciplinary approach to theology that emphasizes attention to concrete situations and practices in the discernment of faithful practice and the development of theological norms. While for centuries the discipline focused solely on the application of Christian theology to ministry, since the 1960's practical theology has come to be understood as critical, theological reflection on practice oriented toward renewed forms of practice. Some in the field, such as Don Browning, have asserted that all theology, properly understood, is practical theology, envisioning it as a fundamental theological discipline that encompasses historical, biblical, and systematic studies, situates them in the concrete contexts from which they arise, and orients them toward their proper, practical ends. Along with Browning, Johannes van der Ven,
Journal of Missional Practice, vol. 3 (2013)
What practices can sustain missional practice and spiritual vitality among church planters? Takin... more What practices can sustain missional practice and spiritual vitality among church planters? Taking cues from Ignatius of Loyola, who gains authority by virtue of the missionary order he founded, as well as contemporary missional practitioners, this article proposes a rule of life for a church planting Practices for a Missional Church Planting Order | Journal of Missio...
Witness: Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, 2013
In the midst of the decline of mainline denominations and the rise of the “nones” in the U.S. som... more In the midst of the decline of mainline denominations and the rise of the “nones” in the U.S. something surprising is happening.[i] Church planting is booming. According to Stetzer and Travis, the number of new churches started annually jumped from approximately 1500 in the late 1900s to 4000 by 2006.[ii] Such a spike is not only the greatest surge in church planting in the last century but Warren Bird claims it has yielded such a flurry of planting that the number of churches opened annually has outpaced church closures—a much more discussed and visible reality.[iii] This rising phenomenon calls for sociological study, not only to describe and explain its occurrence, but also to understand the factors influencing the vitality of these new congregations.
This essay contributes to this needed area of study by seeking to bring insights from organizational and religious ecology perspectives to understanding the influences upon the vitality of new congregations and their networks. An organizational ecology approach “focuses on the influences of the characteristics of organizations and of the demography and ecology of the populations in which they operate.” [iv] Thus it explores not only the impact of internal factors such as the church’s attributes, but also of external ones, such as the existence and characteristics of other churches. Animating this study, then, is the question: What are the most relevant ecological factors impacting the vitality of new congregations and church planting initiatives in the U.S.?
In the final section, I employ the most relevant theories toward an analysis of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a new church planting initiative on the West Coast of the United States. Based on the factors identified as pertinent to new congregations generally, I highlight some of the features of C4SO that promise to be either liabilities or assets.
[i] Mark Chaves, “All Creatures Great and Small: Megachurches in Context,” Review of Religious Research, 47(4) (2006), 329-346; Michael Hout and Claude Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review, 67(2)(2002), 165-190.
[ii] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, “Who Starts New Churches?: State of Church Planting USA” (Leadership Network, 2011), 2.
[iii] Warren Bird, Warren, “More Churches Opened Than Closed in 2006,” Rev Magazine (August 2007), 68.
[iv] Michael Hannan, “Ecologies of Organizations: Diversity and Identity,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1) (2005), 54.
Witness Journal
Originally published in Witness Journal 2012: V 26: 29-43.
Social Encounters: The 2013 Proceedings of the APM (2013)
This paper explores the implications of missional theology for Christian religious education in c... more This paper explores the implications of missional theology for Christian religious education in congregations. In particular, it draws on recent notable missional titles to do three things: 1) to clarify the meaning and aims of missional education as Christian education that specifically privileges the goal of helping Christians discover and live into their identity as God's cooperative partners in the missio dei, 2) to identify key characteristics of missional education, namely, attention to identity and acuity, life as the classroom, and Scripture as mission narrative, and 3) offer a modest proposal for missional education in the congregational setting through small communities of shared practice.
Conversations Journal Blog
Conversations Journal Blog
Book Reviews by Christopher B James
Missiology: An International Review, 2019
Amid a growing body of church-planting literature written by hyperbolic champions, Church Plantin... more Amid a growing body of church-planting literature written by hyperbolic champions, Church Planting in the Secular West is a refreshingly measured work by "skeptical advocate" Stefan Paas. An experienced church planter and Professor of Missiology and Intercultural Theology in Amsterdam, Paas boldly dissects dominant rationales for church planting and offers a clear-eyed assessment of widely taken-for-granted claims about its evangelistic effectiveness in the light of credible research.
Missiology: An International Review
Missiology: An International Review
Witness: Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, vol. 25
Uploads
Books by Christopher B James
“Among the very top works in its field to emerge in the past few years. It offers a major contribution to the fields of missiology, evangelism, ecclesiology, and theological ethnography.” –The Reverend Christian Scharen, Vice President of Applied Research, The Center for the Study of Theological Education, Auburn Theological Seminary
“Seattle has been at the forefront in generating new forms of Church. Christopher James has produced an acute and nuanced study of the changing nature of churches in this important setting. This is a major contribution to the developing field of Ecclesiology and Ethnography and a must read for anyone interested in mission and the changing nature of the Church.” –Pete Ward, Department of Theology and Religion, St. John’s College, Durham University
National headlines regularly herald the decline of Christianity in the United States, citing historically low levels of confidence in organized religion, drops in church attendance, church closures, and the dramatic rise of the "Nones." Scarcely heard are stories from the thousands of new churches and new forms of church that are springing up each year across the country. In this book, Christopher James attends carefully to stories of ecclesial innovation taking place in Seattle, Washington--a city on the leading edge of trends shaping the nation as a whole. James's study of the new churches founded in 'post-Christian' Seattle offers both pragmatic advice and theological reflection. After an in-depth survey- and -interview-based analysis of the different models of church-building he identifies, James identifies five threads of practical wisdom: 1) embracing local identity and mission, 2) cultivating embodied, experiential, everyday spirituality, 3) engaging community life as means of witness and formation, 4) prioritizing hospitality as a cornerstone practice, and 5) discovering ecclesial vitality in a diverse ecclesial ecology. Stimulating, encouraging, and stereotype-shattering, this book invites readers to reconsider the narrative that portrays these first decades of the twenty-first century as a time of ecclesial death and decline, and to view this instead as a hope-filled season of ecclesial renewal and rebirth.
Resources by Christopher B James
Publications by Christopher B James
Co-researched and written with Dustin Benac
This essay contributes to this needed area of study by seeking to bring insights from organizational and religious ecology perspectives to understanding the influences upon the vitality of new congregations and their networks. An organizational ecology approach “focuses on the influences of the characteristics of organizations and of the demography and ecology of the populations in which they operate.” [iv] Thus it explores not only the impact of internal factors such as the church’s attributes, but also of external ones, such as the existence and characteristics of other churches. Animating this study, then, is the question: What are the most relevant ecological factors impacting the vitality of new congregations and church planting initiatives in the U.S.?
In the final section, I employ the most relevant theories toward an analysis of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a new church planting initiative on the West Coast of the United States. Based on the factors identified as pertinent to new congregations generally, I highlight some of the features of C4SO that promise to be either liabilities or assets.
[i] Mark Chaves, “All Creatures Great and Small: Megachurches in Context,” Review of Religious Research, 47(4) (2006), 329-346; Michael Hout and Claude Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review, 67(2)(2002), 165-190.
[ii] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, “Who Starts New Churches?: State of Church Planting USA” (Leadership Network, 2011), 2.
[iii] Warren Bird, Warren, “More Churches Opened Than Closed in 2006,” Rev Magazine (August 2007), 68.
[iv] Michael Hannan, “Ecologies of Organizations: Diversity and Identity,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1) (2005), 54.
Book Reviews by Christopher B James
“Among the very top works in its field to emerge in the past few years. It offers a major contribution to the fields of missiology, evangelism, ecclesiology, and theological ethnography.” –The Reverend Christian Scharen, Vice President of Applied Research, The Center for the Study of Theological Education, Auburn Theological Seminary
“Seattle has been at the forefront in generating new forms of Church. Christopher James has produced an acute and nuanced study of the changing nature of churches in this important setting. This is a major contribution to the developing field of Ecclesiology and Ethnography and a must read for anyone interested in mission and the changing nature of the Church.” –Pete Ward, Department of Theology and Religion, St. John’s College, Durham University
National headlines regularly herald the decline of Christianity in the United States, citing historically low levels of confidence in organized religion, drops in church attendance, church closures, and the dramatic rise of the "Nones." Scarcely heard are stories from the thousands of new churches and new forms of church that are springing up each year across the country. In this book, Christopher James attends carefully to stories of ecclesial innovation taking place in Seattle, Washington--a city on the leading edge of trends shaping the nation as a whole. James's study of the new churches founded in 'post-Christian' Seattle offers both pragmatic advice and theological reflection. After an in-depth survey- and -interview-based analysis of the different models of church-building he identifies, James identifies five threads of practical wisdom: 1) embracing local identity and mission, 2) cultivating embodied, experiential, everyday spirituality, 3) engaging community life as means of witness and formation, 4) prioritizing hospitality as a cornerstone practice, and 5) discovering ecclesial vitality in a diverse ecclesial ecology. Stimulating, encouraging, and stereotype-shattering, this book invites readers to reconsider the narrative that portrays these first decades of the twenty-first century as a time of ecclesial death and decline, and to view this instead as a hope-filled season of ecclesial renewal and rebirth.
Co-researched and written with Dustin Benac
This essay contributes to this needed area of study by seeking to bring insights from organizational and religious ecology perspectives to understanding the influences upon the vitality of new congregations and their networks. An organizational ecology approach “focuses on the influences of the characteristics of organizations and of the demography and ecology of the populations in which they operate.” [iv] Thus it explores not only the impact of internal factors such as the church’s attributes, but also of external ones, such as the existence and characteristics of other churches. Animating this study, then, is the question: What are the most relevant ecological factors impacting the vitality of new congregations and church planting initiatives in the U.S.?
In the final section, I employ the most relevant theories toward an analysis of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a new church planting initiative on the West Coast of the United States. Based on the factors identified as pertinent to new congregations generally, I highlight some of the features of C4SO that promise to be either liabilities or assets.
[i] Mark Chaves, “All Creatures Great and Small: Megachurches in Context,” Review of Religious Research, 47(4) (2006), 329-346; Michael Hout and Claude Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review, 67(2)(2002), 165-190.
[ii] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, “Who Starts New Churches?: State of Church Planting USA” (Leadership Network, 2011), 2.
[iii] Warren Bird, Warren, “More Churches Opened Than Closed in 2006,” Rev Magazine (August 2007), 68.
[iv] Michael Hannan, “Ecologies of Organizations: Diversity and Identity,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1) (2005), 54.