The new report examines how the \u201cvirtues\u201d of resource churches can \u201ctip over into
excess\u201d and calls for \u201cvigilance and discernment\u201d. It acknowledges, for example, that the \u201clanguage of generosity can mask dynamics of power . . . Gifts can bless and release but they can also bind and control.\u201d Similar reflections are required for the other virtues, it suggests: \u201cThe attendant dangers of courage are unreflective arrogance and an unfair distribution of the costs of change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report acknowledges that questions have been asked about whether the level of investment in resource churches is \u201cjustified or fair\u201d. It argues that, \u201cto invest in this way is not so much an ideal configuration of the Church\u2019s resources as a dramatic intervention in response to extended and widespread decline.\u201d But there is also a need to \u201cexplore how financially sustainable resource churches are\u201d. A 2021 CARU report on the resource church in Portsmouth concluded that city-centre examples may \u201ccontinue to be financially dependent on the wider Church\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of resource churches is \u201cnot one of unqualified success\u201d, the new report says. \u201cNot all planting strategies have been able to show sufficient contextual sensitivity and the \u2018soil\u2019 of some contexts is very difficult to plant into. At times, a \u2018low\u2019, informal style among church plants can be a flexible connection point, at others it may be perceived as an imposition or make only a shallow connection with local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact that resource churches are \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d in the Evangelical tradition may have theological causes, it suggests, noting \u201cthe revivalist concern for individual salvation and societal change\u201d. Evangelical networks are \u201chighly structured and well-resourced\u201d, it says; and the rise of such networks has coincided with \u201ca time of experimentation with local structures and . . . the pursuit of a more explicitly strategic focus by senior leaders in the Church of England\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> I was impressed by this thoughtful report on resource churches by Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication, Faith in the North, and Cranmer Hall. Looking at both their virtues and how these can \u2018tip over into excess\u2019, hence need for vigilance & discernment https:\/\/t.co\/4WC1rpuKIJ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IE2AHl3RQ4<\/a><\/p>— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) July 8, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>