John Thornley Finney

John Thornley Finney (born May 1, 1932 ) is Bishop Emeritus of the Church of England .

Church offices

He was the first chairman of the Decade of Evangelism , which began in 1988 at the Lambeth Conference , the assembly of all Anglican bishops. Conference Resolution No. 43 identified evangelism as the primary responsibility given to the Church. All provinces and dioceses of the worldwide Anglican communion were called to place an emphasis on making Jesus Christ known to the people of the world. From 1993 to 1998 Finney was the suffragan bishop of Pontefract, West Yorkshire. After his retirement he was Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

Impetus for evangelism

He is the author of several books on evangelism and church renewal. He gave the study “Finding faith today. How does it happen? ”, Which examines the circumstances that led people in the Church of England to discover the Christian faith as their way of life. In his book “Emerging Evangelism”, he describes the human being of the present as a “strange bird” with one wing still living in the modern age and the other in postmodernism . He is skeptical as to whether these people can be reached with classic large-scale evangelizations and speaks out in favor of community-oriented faith courses such as the "Emmaus Course" that he helped develop. The existing parishes are to be supplemented by newly developed expressions of church (“ fresh expressions of church”).

Admission in Germany

Finney is a sought-after interlocutor for missionary-oriented groups of German Protestantism. Contributing to this was the fact that “Emerging Evangelism” 2007 in German under the title “How church grows beyond itself. Sustainable evangelizing in the 21st century. ” Was published by the Institute for Research into Evangelism and Church Development at the University of Greifswald . Finney was one of the speakers at the founding event of the "Center Mission in the Region" of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on June 8, 2010 in the Volkenroda monastery in Thuringia. The Emmaus Faith Course , published in Germany by the Greifswald professor of practical theology Michael Herbst , is also becoming increasingly popular in the Evangelical Church in Germany.

Publications

• Finding Faith Today: How Does It Happen? 1992, ISBN 0-564-08475-1 .
• Recovering the Past, Celtic and Roman Mission. 1996, ISBN 0-232-52083-6 .
• How church grows beyond itself. Sustainable evangelizing in the 21st century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7615-5571-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated May 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. Jump up ↑ John Finney, How the Church Outgrows Itself, p. 49
4. Jump up ↑ John Finney, The Church Outgrowth, p. 173
5. ↑ http://www.kirche-im-aufbruch.ekd.de/images/10-41_mehr-wert_Mission_in_der_Region_SONDERAUFLAGE.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.