Pathways: Local Mission for All Kinds of Churches

Pathways: Local Mission for All Kinds of Churches is written to help leaders of churches organise the effort and activities of the church around fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ. The Pathways paradigm empowers ordinary church members to work together to help unchurched people become fully devoted followers of Jesus.

The theoretical framework for pathways is based on historical and contemporary examples of effective churches and mission movements, from the Celtic monastic movement, to Wesley and through to 21st Century Australian churches. The book is based on over a decade of field testing the Pathways paradigm in dozens of local church settings in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The model has proven effective in a wide variety of traditions and cultures, from welfare-class church planting contexts through to traditional conservative churches in leafy suburbs; and from the outback to the inner city.

The central concept of Pathways is that unchurched people can be reached and discipled through activities intentionally designed and coordinated as a series of simple, obvious and attractive steps. Important factors within and between each activity work together to encourage participants to respond positively to take the next step in their discipleship journey.

Using real life examples, the book describes each step and discusses the requirements to establish an effective mission pathway tailored to the community in which the church is located and the traditions within which the church operates.