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Being the People of God: Missional Ecclesiology for Uncertain Times
By Paul Bradbury, Isabelle Hamley, Andy Smith
SCM Press, 2025, £39.99
It is very hard to begin to do justice to this book. It is a wise and rich resource for those who seek to engage faithfully and theologically with the challenge of being Church today. Despite being written for the Church of England context, it is relevant to anyone on a journey of rediscovering what it means to be the people of God. Being the People of God contains contributions from 23 writers. They are a collection of theologians, practitioners, and educators who each draw meaningfully on their own experience. The book is separated into three parts and looks, in turn, at the Church and its vocation to ‘Being Worship’, ‘Being Witness’, and ‘Being Pilgrim’.
My choice to review a book on missional ecclesiology for the benefit of preachers may appear strange. However, preaching is an ecclesiastical term – it describes a church practice. Preaching happens within a liturgical, ecclesial context. So, considering our ecclesiology as preachers is always beneficial because we are invited to think afresh what it means to be church. Therefore, despite not addressing preaching directly, the subject matter of this book is inherently relevant.
As a preacher, I found the section on worship particularly encouraging. Specifically, I found it helpful to be reminded by Isabelle Hamley, Hannah Steele and Sharon Prentis that mission ought to be shaped by worship. Both mission and worship are ‘about the formation of God-shaped communities’ (2025, p. 80).
Thinking about how our preaching enables the formation of God-shaped communities sounds an excellent way in to revisiting our theology of preaching. The ‘Being Witness’ section of the book was also helpful. One of the things that Andy Smith invites readers to consider is the ‘movement from host to guest’ in the Church’s relationship to society (2025, pp. 140–141). This is shift which requires vulnerability. Jon Oliver’s distinction between listening for a community and the necessary task of instead listening with a community is a challenge to the posture of a church in mission. Furthermore, it is an affirmation of the recent shift in homiletical thought that seeks sustained congregational exegesis from those who preach regularly in a context. When allied with the insight about vulnerability, it is a timely reminder that as preachers we are called to be witnesses, preaching as ourselves. We, like the Church, cannot choose to keep ourselves above the fray and attempt to be a preacher for others. Instead, we are called to be a listener with them, and a witness among them.
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