Fifteen academics, practitioners and doctoral students gathered for this year’s Mission Studies Day organised by the CTE Mission Research Network and BIAPT (British and Irish Association of Practical Theology). Participants represented a range of organisations including Tearfund, The Salvation Army, Youthscape, Roehampton University, Church Mission Society, The Institute for Children, Youth and Mission, Diocese of Chelmsford, St Padarn’s Institute and Liverpool Hope University.
Dr Katie Kraft, who works as a lecturer in International Development and is based at the University of East London but also works for World Vision International shared on Towards Hope: Children in relation to self, God, Others and Creation. She spoke about the way World Vision had developed a framework for measuring transformation towards flourishing in children through their global sponsorship programmes. They have interviewed 650 children across 22 nations. Dr Kraft reminded us that children have agency despite being in sometimes very difficult circumstances and can bless their communities. Dr Tim Davy from All Nations College gave a response to Dr Kraft by drawing on three stories of hidden girl children in the Old Testament (Miriam, the unnamed servant girl in 2 Kings 5, and the girl servant Rhoda in Acts 12), emphasising the agency of children as harbingers of hope.
In the afternoon, Dr Gemma Madle and Dr Hannah Bowden researchers from Youthscape gave a paper entitled Burning Down the House: Issues of Injustice for Young People and the Church and Dr Aimi King the chair of Urban Mission Alliance presented a paper called What’s in a building? Dr King said, “the Church of England might need to close church buildings if they are not able to meet the Carbon Net Zero target. However, mission with children in churches of high deprivation is centred on the church building. We need to consider how a move towards Carbon Net Zero might negatively affect the ‘safe spaces’ that churches provide in areas of high deprivation that children are reliant on.”
There were rich discussions and questions about children and young people’s spirituality, the intersectionality of justice issues and the need for the church to engage with the questions on the lips of children and young people.
The Chair of the CTE Mission Research Network, Dr Heather Major, said, “I am always encouraged and inspired by the Mission Studies Day. It is a privilege to witness people finding opportunities to engage in dialogue across a mix of backgrounds, specialties and experiences, connecting across disciplines and points in their careers. There was a lovely buzz of conversation during breaks and small group discussions, which demonstrated, yet again, that it is possible to bring together a diverse group of people.”
World Vision UK is a Charity and Network in Association with Churches Together in England.