Being Church offers ideas and strategies, based on real experience and detailed reflection, on processes that offer support and challenge to church leaders and especially clergy, in relation to the diocese and ecumenical relations.

In the first chapter of this timely and incisive collection of essays on being Church now, Robin Greenwood writes: 'The contemporary world's story is one of violence and exclusion at a time when the Christian Church in the West . . . is experiencing humiliating challenges . . . In the face of most people's bored disengagement with organized religion, we experience both the complacency of preserving outworn routines in the local church and institutional panic that the old order is slipping away.' How is this situation to be addressed? One answer is through the healthy and creative growth of Local Ministry that focuses on deliberately interrelational and inclusive practices of gospel community in a mission-shaped Church, for in every age and place the Church has to be refounded. The short reflections in this book give snapshots of imaginative developments in some parts of the Anglican Communion (the British Isles, New Zealand and the United States) and explore ideas about the future identity of the local church. With a view to encouraging the strengthening and deepening of the Church's response to the Great Commission, Robin Greenwood and Caroline Pascoe have produced a valuable addition to current thought on the Local Ministry movement.

* Robin is a highly regarded practical theologian well-known for his work in the field of mission, ministry and church transformation

Each chapter gives material for the members of the group to read in advance. There is a framework or plan for a group meeting, with detailed ideas for activities and discussion. There is also general advice about group processes, including recruiting and running such groups. There is a framework for prayer, and biblical themes to be considered in context. The sessions are equally for seekers and confirmation candidates, and for teenagers as well as adults.

This book provides a Lent course for churches to reflect on themselves and develop greater awareness and practice of love, integrity, learning, and character. The short chapters interweave with the liturgical events of the church's year through Lent to Pentecost and emphasis is placed on seeing this period as a single movement and a time for renewal. Each one of us is challenged to let go of our addictions, strengths and ways of coping, to risk being out of our depth in the current of God's stream of grace. The book incorporates short, accessible chapters, including practical activities and advice which can be used as a resource in local churches as part of planning a series of services or meetings in this period or alternatively each section is also designed so that individual readers can use it for Lent and Easter reflection.

This text argues that in the Local Ministry movement every Christian person has a gift to offer. When the split between clergy and laity is overcome and the original concept of the laity as all God's people is recovered, everyone is free to use these gifts, allowing the Church to be Church. This vison of collaborative ministry gives the opportunity to explore the many connections between faith and life and should be a force for renewal in the Church.

Ministry is for everyone, not just the clergy. The leadership of every church, parish and congregation in the land is the responsibility of the whole of that community. Churches need leadership, but that leadership will empower the whole congregation, fusing them into a dynamic, outward looking community, bearing witness to the powerful message of the Gospel. This book provides practical resources for groups of people who want to: work with God for the well-being of the world: becoming a ministering community: develop local, collaborative and supportive ministry: encourage a partnership between clergy and laity: grow dynamic leadership for mission: sustain and support local ministry teams: introduce local ordained ministry into a team.

Transforming Priesthood offers a major theological reappraisal of the present and future role of the parish priest in Britain. Although written primarily with Anglicans in mind, the book is full if insights for partner churches - especially for those in which professional ministers and lay people recognize the need to collaborate effectively in carrying forward the mission and ministry of the whole Church. 'At last, here we have a practical, imaginative, and intelligent vision of priesthood for today's Church of England and beyond it. Dr Greenwood is widely experienced in parish ministry as well as at diocesan level and in academic theology. He is both realistic and theologically perceptive about contemporary England and its churches. His analyses are convincing; he is in touch with the livliest developments at local level and in theological thinking; and at the heart of his prescription is a relevant and passionate affirmation of the Trinitarian God. The result is a book that should not only stimulate debate of the right kind at a time of momentous change in all churches, it should also help to nurture Christian vocations, both as laity and parish priests.' David F Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge.