Ecclesial Belonging as Salvific Praxis: Toward a Concrete Methodist Ecclesiology

McNish, Isaac

doi:10.2478/holiness-2025-00002

Abstract

If the church may be described as an ‘actual communal expression of salvation,’ how do ordinary Methodists experience and articulate the significance of belonging? This paper explores the salvific dimension of belonging through a case study of a Methodist church in Cornwall, UK. Drawing on a practical theological reading of Philippians and in dialogue with Tom Greggs’ Dogmatic Ecclesiology, I argue that belonging is a concrete ecclesiological concept which serves as a vital locus of salvation in the world today.

References

Aasgaard, Reidar. ‘My Beloved Brothers and Sisters!’: Christian Siblingship in Paul. London: T&T Clark, 2004.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Abraham, William J. Divine Agency and Divine Action: Systematic Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Alexander, Loveday. ‘Hellenistic Letter-Forms and the Structure of Philippians.’ Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37 (1989): 87-101.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ammerman, Nancy T. Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Astley, Jeff. ‘The Analysis, Investigation and Application of Ordinary Theology.’ In Exploring Ordinary Theology: Everyday Christian Believing and the Church. Edited by Jeff Astley and Leslie J. Francis. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Astley, Jeff. Ordinary Theology: Looking Listening and Learning in Theology. Farnham: Ashgate, 2002.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Barth, Karl. The Epistle to the Philippians. London: SCM, 1962.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3^rd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Baumeister, Roy F. and Mark R. Leary. ‘The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.’ Psychological Bulletin 117, no. 3 (1995): 497–52.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bellah, Robert N., Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler and Steven M. Tipton. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. 3^rd edition. University of California Press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bennett, Zoё, Elaine Graham, Stephen Pattison and Heather Walton. Invitation to Research in Practical Theology. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Berger, Peter L. A Rumour of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bird, Michael F. and Nijay K. Gupta. Philippians. NCBC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bockmuehl, Markus N. A. The Epistle to the Philippians. BNTC. Hendrickson, 1997.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cacioppa, John T., James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis. ‘Alone in the Crowd: The structure and spread of loneliness in a large social network.’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97, no. 6 (2009): 977-991.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cameron, Helen, Deborah Bhatti, Catherine Duce, James Sweeney and Clare Watkins. Talking About God in Practice: Theological action research and practical theology. London: SCM, 2010.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Campbell, Ted A. Wesleyan Beliefs: Formal and Popular Expressions of the Core Beliefs of Wesleyan Communities. Nashville: Abingdon, 2010.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cartledge, Mark J. Practical Theology: Charismatic and Empirical Perspectives. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2003.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. Testimony in the Spirit: Rescripting Ordinary Pentecostal Theology. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. The Mediation of the Spirit: Interventions in Practical Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Clapper, Gregory S. The Renewal of the Heart is the Mission of the Church: Wesley’s Heart Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Eugene: Cascade, 2010.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Collins, Kenneth J. The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Colyer, Elmer M. The Trinitarian Dimension of John Wesley’s Theology. Nashville: New Room Books, 2019.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dabney, D. Lyle. ‘Pneumatology in the Methodist Tradition.’ In The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies. Edited by William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Blasio, Emiliana and Donatella Selva. ‘Emotions in the Public Sphere: Networked Solidarity, Technology and Social Ties.’ In Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society. Edited by Bianca Fox. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dulles, Avery. Models of the Church: A Critical Assessment of the Church in All Its Aspects. New York: Image, 2002.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Engedal, Leif Gunnar. ‘Loneliness.’ In Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. Edited by Glen G. Scorgie. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Engelke, Matthew. ‘Material Religion.’ In The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies. Edited by Robert A. Orsi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fee, Gordon D. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fowl, Stephen E. Philippians. THNTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fox, Bianca. ‘An Introduction to Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society.’ In Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society. Edited by Bianca Fox. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Gill, Robin. The ‘Empty’ Church Revisited. Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology. Farnham: Ashgate, 2003.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Giordan, Giuseppa and Enzo Pace. ‘Introduction,’ in Mapping Religion and Spirituality in a Postsecular World. Religion and Social Order 22. Edited by Giuseppa Giordan and Enzo Pace. Leiden: Brill, 2022.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Greggs, Tom. Dogmatic Ecclesiology: The Priestly Catholicity of the Church. Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. The Breadth of Salvation: Rediscovering the Fullness of God’s Saving Work. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. The Church in a World of Religions: Working Papers in Theology. London: T&T Clark, 2022.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Guinness, Os. Signals of Transcendence: Listening to the Promptings of Life. Downers Grove: IVP, 2023.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Haralambos, Michael and Martin Holborn. Sociology Themes and Perspectives. 7th edition. London: Collins, 2008.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Healy, Nicholas. Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hellerman, Joseph. Philippians. ECGNT. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2015.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hiebert, Paul G. Transforming Worldviews: An anthropological understanding of how people change. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jeanrond, Werner G. A Theology of Love. London: T&T Clark, 2010.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Krause, Neal M. Aging in the Church: How Social Relationships Affect Health. West Conshohocken: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Leary, Mark R., and Ashley Batts Allen. ‘Belonging Motivation: Establishing, maintaining, and repairing relational value.’ In Social Motivation. Edited by David Dunning. New York: Psychology Press, 2011.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lim, Michelle H., Kelly-Ann Allen, Michael J. Furlong, Heather Craig, and Doug C. Smith. ‘Introducing a Dual Continuum Model of Belonging and Loneliness.’ Australian Journal of Psychology 73, no. 1 (2021): 81–86.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lodahl, Michael. ‘Was There Room in Wesley’s Anthropology for Anybody, Particularly that of the Lowly Jesus?’ In This is My Body: Philosophical Reflections on Embodiment in a Wesleyan Spirit. Edited by John Thomas Brittingham and Christina M. Smerick. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2016.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Maddox, Randy. ‘Salvation as Flourishing for the Whole Creation: A Wesleyan trajectory.’ In Wesleyan Perspectives on Human Flourishing. Dean G. Smith and Rob A. Fringer. Eugene: Pickwick, 2021.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Marsh, Clive. A Cultural Theology of Salvation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. ‘A Training-ground for forgiveness: Methodism and “Fellowship.”’ In Methodism and the Future: Facing the Challenge. Edited by Jane Craske and Clive Marsh. London: Cassell, 1999.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
McLoed, Hugh. The Religious Crisis of the 1960s. Oxford: Oxford University press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Milden, Kayleigh. ‘”Are you Church or Chapel?” Perceptions of Spatial and Spiritual Identity within Cornish Methodism.’ In Cornish Studies. Volume 12. Edited by Philip Payton. University of Exeter Press, 2004.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Morris, Wayne. Salvation as Praxis: A Practical Theology of Salvation for a Multi-faith World. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Neutel, Karin B. and Peter-Ben Smit. ‘Paul, Imprisonment and Crisis: Crisis and its Negotiation as a Lens for Reading Philippians.’ Journal for the Study of the New Testament 44, no. 1 (2021): 31-55.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Poswolsky, Adam Smiley. Friendship and the Age of Loneliness. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2021.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Price-Tebbutt, Nicola V. ‘Connexionalism in Flux: In British Methodist Context.’ In Thy Grace Restore, Thy Work Revive: Revival, Reform, and Revolution in Global Methodism. Edited by Sarah Heaner Lancaster. Nashville: Wesley’s Foundry Books, 2022.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Probert, John C. C. ‘Can a Study of History Help the Recovery of Cornish Methodism?’ The Journal of the Cornish Methodist Historical Association 11, no. 1 (2009): 12-19.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Roberts, Robert C. Emotions in the Moral Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Root, Andrew and Blair D. Bertrand. When Church Stops Working: A Future for your congregation beyond more money, programs, and innovation. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press 2023.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Runyon, Theodore. The New Creation: John Wesley’s Theology Today. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Samuel, Kim. On Belonging: Finding Connection in an Age of Isolation. New York: Abrams Press, 2022.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sayers, Mark. Disappearing Church: From cultural relevance to gospel resilience. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Shier-Jones, Angela. ‘Conferring as Theological Method.’ In Unmasking Methodist Theology. Edited by Clive Marsh, Brian Beck, Angela Shier-Jones and Helen Wareing. London: Continuum, 2004.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. A Work in Progress: Methodists Doing Theology. Peterborough: Epworth, 2005.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Smith, James K. A. How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Still, Todd D. ‘More than Friends?: The Literary Classification of Philippians Revisited.’ Perspectives in Religious Studies 39, no. 1 (2012), 59-60.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stowers, Stanley K. ‘Friends and Enemies in the Politics of Heaven: Reading Theology in Philippians.’ In Pauline Theology, Volume 1: Thessalonians, Philippians, Galatians and Philemon. Edited by J. M. Bassler. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. Sources of the Self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Trueman, Carl. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. Wheaton: Crossway, 2020.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Trustees for the Methodist Church Purposes. The Methodist Worship Book. London: Methodist Publishing, 1999.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wesley, John. ‘Preface.’ Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739. In The Works of Rev. John Wesley. Edited by Thomas Jackson. 14 volumes. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wilkens, Steve and Mark L. Sanford. Hidden Worldviews: Eight cultural stories that shape our lives. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Willett, Joanie. ‘Cornish Identity: Vague Notion or Social Fact?’ In Cornish Studies. Volume 16. Edited by Philip Payton. University of Exeter Press, 2008.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Witherington III, Ben. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wright, N. T. Paul and His Recent Interpreters. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
—. Surprised by Hope. London: SPCK, 2011.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wright, Sarah. ‘More-than-human, emergent belongings: A weak theory approach.’ Progress in Human Geography 39, no.4 (2015): 391-411.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. 6^th edition. London: SAGE, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Ecclesial Belonging as Salvific Praxis: Toward a Concrete Methodist Ecclesiology

Abstract

Paradigm

My account