Parish city missions & class reconciliation

One of the reasons Chalmers advocated territorial city missions was to reunite the classes, particularly by the clergy’s concentrated evangelistic efforts in the slums.  It was ultimately a missionary policy, yet it had distinct advantages for the social fabric.  Here’s an interesting quote that helps illumine Chalmers’ rationale for the parish plan in urban context:
In a provincial [...]

Read Full Post »

The influence of locality on the Gospel laborer

The following is an excellent quote from Thomas Chalmers in his Christian and Economic Polity of a Nation (1821).  In it, he demonstrates one particular viture of the locality principle, on which the parish system is built – it facilitates the zeal and perseverance of the Christian missionary:
” He, with a select and appropriate vineyard [...]

Read Full Post »

The retreat of the gathered church

I recently read an article entitled “Thomas Chalmers and the Communal Ideal in Victorian Scotland” (1992) by Stewart J. Brown, a recognized Chalmers scholar.  In it, he traces the development of the territorial mission program from Chalmers into the Free Church and, even somewhat surprisingly, back in the established Church in the late 1800s.
Brown makes [...]

Read Full Post »

Laidlaw’s Plea and Plan

“A Plea and Plan for a Coöperative Church Parish System in Cities,” by Walter Laidlaw
In this essay, published in the American Journal of Sociology (1898), Walter Laidlaw advocates among the Protestant church a voluntary ‘cooperative parish system’ in the large cities of the United States for the spiritual, moral, and socio-economic benefit of the people. [...]

Read Full Post »

The Man of the Manse

Not long ago, I stumbled across a great treatise in Pastoral Theology from the Puritan era, The Country Parson: His Character and Rule of Holy Life, by George Herbert (better known for his poetry).  Herbert, though a conformist to the Church of England, was obviously highly regarded among the non-conformists.  Richard Baxter had this to [...]

Read Full Post »

Locality & Zeal

Lately, I’ve been considering that the commitment to give oneself to the spiritual care of a particular locality and the zeal to do so are cooperative. Zeal for evangelism is a kindled sense of duty to one’s neighbor. It will impel a Christian to go after him, precisely because he will never come [...]

Read Full Post »

The Flexibility of the Parish Principle

Here’s a great quote from Thompson’s Parish and Parish Church (1948 ) concerning the flexibility of the old parish principle to the modern urban context.  While it was written from within the milieu of the established Church of Scotland, I would suggest that the idea carries over:
“The problem which faces the Church, therefore, is mainly [...]

Read Full Post »

Parochial Vision: A Review

In Parochial Vision: The Future of the English Parish System (2004), Nick Spenser offers a very intriguing argument for the reimplementation of the ‘minster’ church model of England’s early medieval period. His main argument is that parish system of the Church of England is in major decline due to demographic shifts, the disappearing of [...]

Read Full Post »

Gospel dissemination

The labor of the Gospel is the labor of sowing seed.  The seed is the imperishable doctrine of Christ, and His ministers are privileged to share in this service.  We scatter the Word.  For many who hear it, there is no lasting benefit.  For others, there is.  And when it does, it bears fruit – thirty, sixty, or a [...]

Read Full Post »

Parish & Parish Church, Part 3

This is a third installment of my review of the fascinating work, P. D. Thompson’s Parish & Parish Church. If you’re interested in the history of Christian missions and of the parish plan and are just joining us, click here to read the first.

* * * * *
In chapters 5 & 6, Thompson moves from [...]

Read Full Post »