Richard described the difference between and MPhil and a Phd:
An Mphil will describe something that is happening. The boundaries of the Mphil are looking at and describing what is happening and the ideas that are behind it. Other disciplines that interact with the study are brought in as appropriate.
A Phd includes the same things as an Mphil but the area of study is potentially something quite significant that involves pushing the area of the research to the absolute limit. The Phd is proof that you are an expert in a particular area.
Richard was also checking my motivation for study. I think he wanted to know if I am motivated enough to see the study through. My motivation spring from the last four years as a full time "professional" minister. After the first couple of years I began to feel like I had used up my resources and I needed to do some more reading, it struck me that the simplest way to get a guide for reading is to get a supervisor.
There is a part of me that would like to become a partner in the training of future ministers. Having completed a research degree of some description would prepare me for any opportunities that might come my way in the future.
The subject of mission and church planting fascinates me. I began my training as a church planter and am really interested in some of the creative church planting that is happening in the UK at the moment. I am involved in the
Incarnate Network, which is a network of people church planting within a roughly Baptist sphere.
We talked about my subject area in depth and Richard suggested that my initial proposal was enough for an Mphil but it asked no questions so would be merely a descriptive piece of work that probably could not be developed into a Phd. We talked about the things that might make it more of a significant work. We talked about significant figures influencing church planting and emerging church networks in the uk. Richard suggested that the most significant church planter in English Baptist history would be
Spurgeon. I'm not keen to research Spurgeon though. There must be hundereds of people who could claim an intimate knowledge of Spurgeon. I would rather research some one less well known. We talked about the possibility of looking at
Dan (Daniel) Taylor, who was a significant force behind the
New Connexion of General Baptists who planted many churches mainly in the Midlands.
Long Whatton, the church I did my training in was a New Connexion church plant. My former mentor, Frank Rinaldi, researched the New Connexion for his thesis which was called "
The Tribe of Dan: From revival to denomination". The New Connexion formed with the Particular Baptists to become what is now The Baptist Union of Great Britain.
Richard suggested a question that might inform and guide my research:
"How might revisiting a particular monent in church planting (New Connexion) inform and challenge the reality of church planting withing the Baptist Union of Great Britain 1980-2005"
There are some statisitcs about the late 20th and early 21st century of church planting in an article by Stuart Murray Williams on the Incarnate Network web site:
http://incarnate-network.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15
Richard suggested that the building blocks would be:
- Looking at the historic moment.
10,000 word proposition paper looking at everything that affected that period of church planting including:- sociological
- politics
- power
- theological convictions
- Generalised study of church planting. Including the qualitative research.
- Nature of culture.
- Nature of church growth.
- Nature of power and organisation.
Questions I need to ask:
What are the New Connections motivations?
What is the social backdrop?
Are there creative connections between the areas?
Ask yourself what are the creative connections. What are you looking for?
Put it down on a research proposal defining the two key areas of research and the associated themes.
Task:
Write a two paragraph history of the New Connexion
I just spotted this free bibliography manager.
http://www.zotero.org/ works in the Firefox web browser. Not tested it yet but Tim has a review here:
http://www.bigbible.org/blog/ 2006/10/zotero-endnote-free-bibliography.htm
I met with Richard Kidd on Tuesday last week. I was late, whenever I meet Richard I seem to be late. It is a 60 Mile journey from my house to Luther King House, but it took me over two and a half hours to get there. The traffic in Lancaster and Manchester is diabolical.
Once I had managed to come down from the stress of the journey I had a good discussion with Richard. He had read through my proposal and made the following observations:
- A Thesis needs an argument. My title is too vague and needs some more shape and specific direction.
- I need to pin down the cultural side of the study. I could for example look at the research done by political parties amid their rapid decline in membership. This may present some opportunities for discussion.
- Are the churches that I am wishing to study simply reclaiming values that are intrinsic in our heritage but have been lost at some point?
Richard thinks 3 more months working on the proposal would be a good idea.
It does not look like I have posted my developing thoughts on my research. I have submitted a short research proposal through the
Partnership for Theological Education in Manchester. The college that I am asociated with (
Northern Baptist College) is a part of PTEM. I am meeting
Richard Kidd (
blogging here) to talk about it on Tuesday when I am on my way to the Incarnate Houseparty. My proposal is here:
Initial Research Proposal
Mark Berry points to the
Henry Maryn Centre (thanks Mark). He sites John Drane (
who is visiting our church later this year) who gave a lecture there in 2001. It looks like there is a load of interesting stuff here that I will start to work through (when I have some time).
Andrew Jones (aka Tallskinnykiwi) and
Mark Berry (of Way out West) have both posted a reading list for the Missional minded reader. Thanks both of you.
http://markjberry.blogs.com/way_out_west/2005/12/emergingmission.html
http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2005/12/best_books_on_e.html
Bosch, 1991, Transforming Mission, Orbis Books, 0883447193
Grenz, 2000, Renewing the Centre, Baker, 0801022398
Brewin, 2004, The complex Christ, SPCK, 0281056692
Nussbaum, 2005, A Reader's Guide to Transforming Mission, Orbis, 1570755949
Raschke, 2004, The Next Reformation, Baker, 0801027519
Mann, 2005, Atonement for a sinless society, Authentic Media, 1842273558
Murray, 2005, Church after Christendom, Paternoster, 1842272926
Murray, 2004, Post-Christendom, Authentic Media, 1842272616
McLaren, 2004, Mission Implausible, Paternoster, 1842272950
I recieved an e.mail today from "S", some of which is below. (S, if you would like to own your work, I'll happily attribute it to you or remove it if you prefer).
> With regards to the missiological aspects, you mention, from what I can
> recall, about 19th century missiologists engaging with culture. You are
> right in your assumption that this engagement tended to be somewhat
> one-sided, at least initially, but by the late 19th century there was
> significant movement on the part of missiologists in other directions.
> Now, they were thinking differently as a result of theological shifts-
> particularly within the field of Christology and as a result of the work
> of Max Muller, the rising anthropologists and a myriad of other
> influences, many scientific, some with their roots in the new critical
> history which was emerging. By the beginning of the 20th century then,
> we see that there is very direct engagement on the part of missiologists
> and missionary thinkers with culture, as evidenced by the work of C F
> Andrews of India, J N Farquhar, also of India, and very many others. A
> dialogue with culture is opening up, particularly through direct contact
> with Science and with non-Christian religions- in fact, the degree of
> dialogue which I have discovered is of a very high quality and we have
> largely forgotten how much those 19th and 20th century thinkers
> pioneered radical new ground, ground which we are often only
> rediscovering today. I heard Professor Keith Ward of Oxford lecture the
> other day and almost everything he said could be found in the teachings
> of the 17th Century Cambridge Platonists, who also, by the way, have
> much to say to missiology. The work of Bishop Spong is basically just a
> reworking of 19th Century Liberal theology. But, to return to
> missiology, I think that you have a vast field there from which to
> choose topics of research, particularly within a 19th C context.
>
> You also mention, again if I recall correctly, wanting to explore some
> postmodern writers. Have you considered Stanley Grenz, an American
> Baptist who died very recently at the age of only 57yrs and who wrote
> some excellent and throught-provoking stuff on evangelical dialogue with
> postmodernism? His main work 'Renewing the Centre' is well worth a read.
>
Glen read through my initial discussion document
(here). He observed that my main interest seemed to be in cultural shifts.On the subject of cultural shifts he suggested that as well as cultural and religious shifts there were also political shifts. The aspect of being conquered (as in the exile) reflected on the cultural and religious shift.
Reflecting on my observations on the 19th Century missionaries he suggested a couple of things:
- Modernity was settled in the 19th Century.
- Different dynamics were at work, the missionaries left a culture to engage with a different culture.
I'm not entirely sure that the dynamics were as different to our contemporary situation as Glen marked out. The 19th Century missionaries on the whole did not leave their cultures to engage those they wished to convert. On the whole they sought to convert them to their culture and the gospel, seemingly unable to separate the two. It was pioneer missionaries like J Hudson Taylor who left the missionary compound to discover how the people he wished to reach lived, then adopted their culture, living like them and dressing like them who bore similarities to our situation today. My contention is that we need to leave the safety of our religious compounds to engage with the culture. We would be following their lead.
Glen is right in saying that our cultures are transforming, so the step is not so radical. Perhaps it is because the step is not so radical that it is harder to make.
Reflecting on my study focus, Glen agreed that I need to narrow it down (which is exactly what Keith said). However he said that it would be helpful to broaden my reading in order to find a narrower focus!
He suggested:
- Free Chruch, Free State by Nigel Wright, in which Nigel makes reference to a missionary Journal article about culturation.
- Transforming Mission by Bosch
- A Bosh reader by Nussban
- The complex Christ by Kester Brewin
- The next reformation by Karl Rasker
- Translating the gospel from culture by Sammer
- Mission implausible by McLaren
- The spirituality of people who don't go to church by hay and hunt.
- The last couple of titles by Stuart Murray.
