Anglican Theological Review
Renewing Ministry for a Changing Church
Call for Papers: A Special Issue of the Anglican Theological Review
Across the United States, Canada, and beyond, churches are grappling with the
realities of post-Christendom and post-colonial contexts, declining institutional
participation, and the need for more collaborative, contextual, and Spirit-led forms of
ministry. In many cases, it is becoming clear that an inherited model of one-priest-per-
congregation is no longer sustainable. Some people have looked for inspiration to
Roland Allen’s early 20th-century critiques of Western missionary paternalism and his
vision for indigenous, self-supporting, and Spirit-driven churches to inspire fresh thinking
about how ministry is shared and sustained. Others have found in baptismal
ecclesiology, mutual ministry approaches, and the shared ministerial vocation of all
God’s people rich resources for reimagining leadership, formation, and mission today.
New models and resources continue to emerge that are contextually responsive.
This special issue of the Anglican Theological Review is devoted to exploring ministry in
a changing church—one that faces shifting demographics, evolving understandings of
mission, and urgent calls for renewal in ecclesial life and leadership. We invite
established and emerging scholars, clergy, and practitioners to submit research and
practice-based reflections that take stock of and extend Anglican theologies of ministry
for a new era.
This special issue seeks contributions that critically and creatively engage with
contemporary challenges and opportunities. We are especially interested in papers that
consider how traditional Anglican approaches to ministry might inform or be adapted to
ministry in contexts shaped by globalization, secularization, Christian nationalism,
migration, ecological crisis, economic inequality, digital culture, and new forms of
community life.
We invite submissions on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:
Contextual case studies of shared or collaborative ministry models
Historical and theological studies of the mutual ministry movement
Theological reflections on Spirit-led mission in postcolonial contexts
Reappraisals of Roland Allen’s theology of mission and its contemporary relevance
Formation for ministry in today’s church
Pastoral and liturgical implications of shared ministry models
Comparative perspectives from across the Anglican Communion
Constructive proposals for renewing ministry and mission in changing contexts
Please submit a brief proposal (a page or less) to guest editor Jesse Zink at
jessezink@montrealdio.ca. Proposals should specify if it is for a research article (of
7,000-8,000 words) or a “Practicing Theology” essay (of about 3500-4000 words that is typically more reflective and with fewer or not footnotes–that is, without the lengthy citational/scholarly apparatus).
The deadline for proposal submission is October 5th, 2026. Authors will be notified by
November 1 if their proposal has been accepted and article manuscripts will be due by
March 1, 2027.
At the Intersection of Church and (Post)modernity: Reaching Toward an Anglican Ethics
of Sexuality
Call for Papers: A Special Issue of the Anglican Theological Review
Adam A. Hamilton-Ferguson, PhD, Guest Editor, State University of New York, Cortland
The Rev. Charles Graves IV, Guest Co-Editor, Executive Council, General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church, Shaker Heights, Ohio
The genesis of this Special Issue can be found in The Journal of the General Convention of
…The Episcopal Church, Baltimore, 2022 (2023), when a resolution was passed to “authorize a
Task Force on Relationship Diversity” (2023: 779). The Task Force’s mandate was to “engage in
prayer, review, and theological study around the diverse types of families, households, and
relationships represented among members of this Church, paying particular attention to areas of
significant and continuing change in recent years” (2023: 779).
Following the 2024 General Convention in Louisville, the Task Force reconvened and decided
that: a) In the present-day political climate, this work was not only desirable but mission-critical
for the Church; b) We needed to establish public clarity around our mission and mandate; and c)
The most egregious and pressing problem was one of messaging. To that end, the Task Force
decided to work with scholars in the fields of Theology, Queer Theory, and their convergences
and divergences to produce a refereed scholarly publication to underscore both the gravity of the
discussion and therefore its necessity. What is, perhaps, nearly as problematic is that The
Episcopal Church, in contradistinction to the Roman Catholic Church and many Evangelical
denominations, does not have a clearly-articulated position on sexuality and sexual practices,
save for the expectations of clergy members in Canon III, or the associated disciplinary practices
for the violations of those expectations in Canon IV. To this end, we also welcome submissions
from working Rectors as they reconcile these theological debates with their personal vocation
and parish community practices.
The essays in this issue will represent a spectrum of careful thought, theological scholarship, and
theological praxis as the Task Force prepares to present its final findings in Phoenix in 2027.
Suggested topics will include:
-Holistic relationship & sexual ethics within The Episcopal Church (TEC), not limited to the
LGBTQIA+ community
-Cohabitation and/or sexual behavior outside of marriage as modern common practice
-Welcoming single and/or childless adults as fully as “young families”
-Discernment-based vs Rules-based approaches to relationship/sexual ethics within TEC
-Singleness, intentional celibacy, and asexuality as separate, faithful, ways of being
- What does it mean to “pattern [one’s] life and [family/household] in accordance with the
teachings of Christ” (BCP 544)?
-How can the church theologically wrestle with “ethical nonmonogamy” and polyamory?
-How does polygyny in the Hebrew scriptures impact the modern church’s diverse households?
Essays will follow The Chicago Manual of Style, and listed References must have a
corresponding in-text citation. Likewise, the essays must be between 7,000-8,000
words—longer manuscripts will be asked to revise and resubmit within the word count.
Abstracts of 100-150 words (with five to seven keywords) will be due to the Guest Editors via
adam.ferguson@cortland.edu no later than 20 December, 2025.
Following review, the manuscripts will be submitted through the ATR portal at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/atrev
and follow the official guidelines for submission and style sheet: https://www.anglicantheologicalreview.org/write/info-for-authors/
We anticipate publication of the Special Issue by Fall/Winter 2026.