Mixed Ecology: Inhabiting an Integrated Church

Ed Olsworth-Peter, Director of Innovation and Development at St Mellitus Theological College, explores what an integrated mixed ecology of Church looks like in a post pandemic world. As society begins to come to terms with the cultural and financial impacts of the last couple of years, the way we meet as church and how we reach out to those within our communities needs to be reconsidered.

Much has been written about the mixed economy/ecology of Church over the last 15 years across a range of traditions and denominations, but what hasn’t been explored as such is the connectivity and dependency between different local expressions of church, and the value of ‘co-growing’ alongside one another for their mutual health and missional development. More than ever there is a need for the church to be ‘one body’ – unified yet distinctive, aware of the gift of its breadth in a ‘global’ ecosystem that together recognises and resources different expressions of church.

This book will help church leaders and worshipping communities to understand their place within the mixed ecology, the value of growing their own local ecosystem, and how to develop a physically gathered, digital and hybrid ecology of Church. Offering cultural, ecclesiological and missional insights, coupled with practical application, it draws on the voices of respected theologians, authors and church leaders in the UK and USA.

Wise, generous and invigorating, Ed Olsworth-Peter’s exceptional volume is a gift to the church.’
The Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson, Bishop of Kensington

Ed explores, in creative, visual and attractive ways, a mixed ecology approach which is coherent, culturally-savvy and adaptable to a wide variety of contexts.
Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich

His is a beautiful book about connectivity, conversations and collaborations. It helps us see the Church as a living eco-system and encourages us to let it grow. Images and ideas abound for practitioners to imagine and then create a Church of diverse praise.
The Revd Dr Victoria Johnson, Dean of Chapel, St John’s College, Cambridge and member of The College of Archbishops’ Evangelists