ABSTRACT
The Church of England, in every age, has faced fundamental challenges. The single-most pressing challenge that the church faces is that of distraction; and its two sides are mission and management. Karl Barth argued that the vertical growth of the church – in both height and depth in relation to God – does not necessarily lead to any extensive numerical growth. The pastoral theologian Eugene Peterson once commented that the one thing he had learned in mission and ministry is how complex measurable growth can be. Factors producing numerical church growth and decline are always complex. The possibility of radical theology – from the Latin, radix, meaning ‘root’ – that gets to the heart of a matter, is quickly subsumed in cultures and agendas of conformity, management and productivity. Yet the church exists to glorify God and follow Jesus Christ.
