Frog Orr-Ewing

King's College London, Theology and Religious Studies, Alumnus

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Rector, Latimer Minster. Executive Director, Anglican Leadership Institute. Senior Theological Advisor, Missional Labs.
PhD on Victorian Church Planter, Thomas Gaster and Church Missionary Society, India. Main period is 1857-1904. Other interests in contemporary missiology, evangelism and congregational studies.
Former associate lecturer Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Programme director MA Mission 2020-2023, Fellow in Mission at University of Winchester 2018-23.

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Karima Fadhlaoui-zid

Raouf JAZIRI

University of Sousse

Christian Sorand

Aix-Marseille University

France Mesmer

Université libre de Bruxelles

Kerim Maamer

Université libre de Bruxelles

Loueslati Besma

Sarra El Kamel

University of Tunis El Manar

Lotfi Cherni

Najoua Tobji

Ecole Nationale d'Architecture de Tunis

Bruno D'Andrea

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

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Drafts by Frog Orr-Ewing

A Reckless Culture of Risk Aversion.

Risk aversion (the antonym is risk preference) is about how much an individual or organization di... more Risk aversion (the antonym is risk preference) is about how much an individual or organization dislikes risk. Given the enormous challenges facing British Christianity, and especially the Church of England, a question that has persistently arisen for me is: Is the prevailing culture of risk aversion within the Church unnecessarily bringing about her decline in both health and number? Are we as a church blind to our own risk aversion in some areas, and thus invest our talents wisely and profitably? In so doing are we in fact being unintentionally reckless. Author experience, bias and perception shapers. My own perceptions of culture in the Church of England have been shaped by daily school chapel in the liberal catholic tradition for ten years, lay involvement as a student and financial professional in evangelical churches by immersion and variety, theological study at Wycliffe hall, a curacy at St Aldates Oxford, several years as vicar of a multicultural innercity parish in Peckham, and five years working with the Oxford centre for Christian apologetics and Wycliffe Hall as a Missioner and tutor, and planting a new Minster church and community on a farm in Buckinghamshire. Questions of Culture for the British Church. It was perhaps the " African " Peckham which threw my own British cultural biases and assumptions into their starkest relief and forced me to ask whether instincts or impressions I had as a leader and a pastor were as truly scriptural as I had assumed. I was invited to view the Church of England, of which I was a lifetime member and now a vicar, through the eyes of Africans, Caribbeans, Eastern Europeans and an ethnic mix from social groups D and E. And by this I do not mean the 'church' as the body of Christ, but rather the specific outworking of this organic and mysterious body in her Anglican garb and culture. Leading a congregation of approximately 40 cultures, in a densely populated area of London with over 200 first languages spoken in schools, opened my eyes to the bureaucracy and organisational culture of the Church of England as exotic, strange, foreign, at times imperialistic and suspicious of other cultural ways of operating. So much can be learned from the unspoken signals, signs and reflexes of an human organisation, the methods of communication, the use of power, respect, authority, and praise. Types of behaviour that are encouraged, efforts rewarded and people promoted or held back speaks volumes as to the operant culture. As Kate Fox's fascinating and popular read 'watching the English' has shown, when one turns the tools of anthropology upon one's own culture it is amazing what we find. It takes a form of courage to view ourselves and the church to which we belong and operate through these other eyes and ask the challenging questions. These are kind questions, wanting to understand the reasons why 'we do things this way'. In this paper I would like to ask some questions about the culture of risk in the Church of England, and the way in which this inhibits our ability as a church to respond to the enormous challenges we face.

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A few Lessons for Church growth and planting new worshipping communities from the Victorian Anglicans

The Church of England has a rich history of entrepreneurial approaches to church growth and had r... more

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Books by Frog Orr-Ewing

Rev. Thomas Joseph Gaster: An Urban Missionary in Historical and Theological Context

PhD Kings College, London. An exploration of new parochialism of the end of C19th which combines... more PhD Kings College, London.
An exploration of new parochialism of the end of C19th which combines research into a specific missionary , Thomas Gaster, with the Church Missionary Society, in India. Then an examination of missionary evangelicalism and its fusion with the parish which led to a unique engagement of mission and church-planting. Including a history of All Saints Peckham and some modern reflections on Victorian Church growth.

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