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Messy Church As a Fresh Expression of Church ...26 Unless you become like a child: Psychological type and Christian becoming at Messy Church Amanda Dawn Aspland Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds York St John University Faculty of Education and Theology April 2016 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Amanda Dawn Aspland to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2016 The University of Leeds and Amanda Dawn Aspland iii Acknowledgements I am incalculably indebted to my supervisors Revd Professor Andrew Village and Dr Ann Christie for their enduring help, direction and support over this course of study. They say that every quest is embarked upon by a hero and her trusted companions. Though I am reluctant to recognise myself as hero in the quest to complete this thesis, I am only too happy to recognise Andy and Ann as the trusted companions in the journey across the intellectual terrain. York St John University and the St Christopher’s Trust provided me with a generous bursary which enabled me to undertake this project as a full-time student. I am very much aware of the rarity of such funding in the world of practical theology and I am sincerely grateful to have been a recipient. I am grateful to Lucy Moore and the BRF for helping to generate interest in this research project and to all of the Messy Church leaders who signed up for the survey and returned completed questionnaires. Lay Reader and friend Mrs Hester Deacon was the person who originally encouraged me to explore my vocation through an exploratory year of part-time theological study. That led on to Lay Reader training and a Foundation Degree in Practical Theology and Ministry with York St John University. Without that opportunity to study under the supremely competent tutelage of Revd Dr John Lawson and his team at the Wakefield School of Ministry, I would not have been able to even consider taking on this post-graduate research project. It goes without saying that the support of my home church in the Parish of Christ the King, Meltham, has also meant a great deal. My family and friends have put up with my many attempts to explore deep and meaningful thoughts and concepts over meals, cups of tea, and walks in the countryside. They provided a host of conversational learning opportunities along the way. I am thankful for them all, but most especially my husband Steve, and my children Bethan and Callum. iv Abstract This study addresses a major concern in the debate surrounding Messy Church regarding its ability to nurture Christian discipleship in people who rarely attend traditional church. As a work of practical theology, empirical data and theological reflection are combined in order to generate increased understanding concerning Messy Church as a crucible for discipleship as child-like becoming. Discipleship is conceptualised as a dual process of intersubjective relationship and experiential learning. The concept of intersubjectivity in relationship is informed by Martin Buber’s seminal work I and Thou. Experiential learning is approached through psychological type preferences, learning styles and basic value theory which come together in Conversational Learning Theory (Baker, Jensen and Kolb 2002). The Messy Church values of hospitality, creativity and all age inclusion are shown to be potentially conducive to Christian becoming, provided that dialectical tensions within learning and relating are balanced. A sample of 260 helpers and 203 adults from 41 different Messy Churches completed questions designed to assess attitudes towards Messy Church values, religious, spiritual and relational outcomes and psychological type. Age profiles suggested that helpers were predominantly over 50 and adult participants were predominantly in their 30s and 40s. Psychological type profiles were similar to previous studies of conventional church (predominantly sensing and judging). The significant predictors of outcomes among adults who are not regular attenders of conventional church were intuition, feeling and judging along with active participation and duration of attendance. Participation stood out as the main significant predictor of outcomes in regular church attenders. Among helpers, hospitality was significantly predicted by extraversion, socialisation and child-led learning, creativity was predicted by being female, young, a leader and child-led learning, and all age inclusion was predicted by being a leader. Recommendations are made based on a wider inclusion of difference and a balance of dialectical tensions in learning. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... iii Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................ ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................ x Preface ....................................................................................................................... xi Part 1 What is Messy Church? Introduction to Part 1 ............................................................................................... 2 A typical Messy Church session ........................................................................ 6 Chapter 1 Messy Church and its context .............................................................. 11 Religion and secularisation .............................................................................. 11 Cultural context ................................................................................................ 13 Family life ............................................................................................... 13 Relationship networks ............................................................................. 14 Messy Church as a response to changes in the cultural context ............. 15 Ecclesial context............................................................................................... 15 Relational belonging ............................................................................... 16 Fresh expressions of Church ................................................................... 19 Messy Church as a fresh expression of church ....................................... 26 Chapter 2 Messy Church values ........................................................................... 29 Creativity .......................................................................................................... 29 Imagination ............................................................................................. 31 Purpose .................................................................................................... 31 Originality ............................................................................................... 33 Value ....................................................................................................... 33 Hospitality ........................................................................................................ 35 Service and affect .................................................................................... 37 Inclusion of the stranger .......................................................................... 38 Pastoral care ............................................................................................ 40 A threshold practice ................................................................................ 40 vi Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 42 Chapter 3 Who is Messy Church for? Exploring all age inclusion .................... 43 Age separation in the Church of England ........................................................ 43 Children as spiritual role models for adults ..................................................... 47 The purpose of all-age inclusion at Messy Church .......................................... 48 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 53 Part 2 Conceptual and theological frameworks Introduction to Part 2 ............................................................................................. 56 Chapter 4 Individual Differences ........................................................................... 58 Psychological type theory ................................................................................ 58 Instruments for measuring psychological type ................................................. 63 Psychological type differences and learning styles .......................................... 63 Church profiling and psychological type ......................................................... 65 Creativity and psychological type ...................................................................
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