In the contemporary church, the word ‘mission’ has become synonymous
with pace, expansion and results. And yet such an approach can often
leave those with a responsibilities in mission or ministry feeling
exhausted and overwhelmed. Not only that, but mission which focuses on
the rapid and the growing fails to recognise the rich resources the more
contemplative Christian traditions can offer our post-secular society,
and especially those who would call themselves ‘spiritual but not
religious’.
In ‘The Seeking Heart', Ian Mobsby calls for an approach to mission
which takes a deeper, slower spirituality more seriously. Drawing on the
work of a wide range of figures within the Christian tradition, from
John of the Cross and St. Hildegard of Bingham to John Taylor, Mobsby
boldly calls the church and to a new kind of mission which takes
spirituality more seriously, and offers a model to demonstrate what such
an approach might look like in practice.
Ian Mobsby is Associate Missioner of Fresh
Expressions and founder of MOOT, a worship community exploring fresh
ways of being the church in the centre of London.