Ecclesial Futures is a “Diamond Open Access” international juried journal, partnering with @RadboudUniPress and @openjournalsnl. The journal publishes original research and theological reflection on the development and transformation of local Christian communities and the systems that support them as they join in the mission of God in the world. (publ. by Radboud UP)
Ecclesial Futures is a “Diamond Open Access” international juried journal, partnering with @RadboudUniPress and @openjournalsnl. The result for authors is free to publish articles, and for readers free to read articles. To keep up to date, subscribe by registering on the "Newsletter" button on the right of this page.
The journal publishes original research and theological reflection on the development and transformation of local Christian communities and the systems that support them as they join in the mission of God in the world. We are an international and ecumenical journal with an inter-disciplinary understanding of our approach to theological research and reflection; the core disciplines being theology, missiology and ecclesiology. Other social science and theological disciplines may be helpful in supporting the holistic nature of any research. The journal fills an important reflective space between the academy and on-the-ground practice within the field of mission studies, ecclesiology and the so-called “missional church”.
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Ecclesial Futures is an international, ecumenical peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality, original research and theological reflection. Please see the journal's Aims & Scope for information about its focus. Please note our journal only publishes manuscripts in English.
Ecclesial Futures accepts the following types of article: original research papers, narrative or literature reviews on a relevant subject, theological and missiological reflections, case study reports, conference papers and book reviews.
Here are examples of the kind of questions and subjects we would love to have addressed in the journal; they are only a sample but may help prospective authors to locate their work with us.
Ecclesial Futures is a double-blind peer reviewed, international and ecumenical journal. All reviewers must respond to these questions:
They then have the option to offer one of five possible responses to the article:
Once both reviews are received the issue editor makes the appropriate response to the author – and if moving towards publication works with them to improve their work according the recommendations. The Editor’s decision on whether an article is published is always final.
We wish to maintain the integrity of our peer-review process and to uphold high standards when evaluating work submitted to us. Once a paper has been assessed for suitability by one of the co-editors, it will then be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous expert referees.
Structure
If your article presents original research it should normally be compiled in the following order: title; abstract; introduction, literature review, materials and methods, results, analysis, discussion and theological reflection; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
Other innovative approaches to article writing are possible and welcomed by the journal and it is best to discuss these with the co-editors in the first instance and/or share a draft version of the paper with them.
Please note Ecclesial Futures is first and foremost a missiological and theological journal and your paper should reflect this emphasis throughout its various sections.
Word Limits
Please include a word count for your paper when submitting.
A typical article for this journal should be of around 6000 words. We allow some reasonable leeway on this but not more than approximately 10%; this limit does not include Tables and Figures; it does include Abstract, Footnotes, Figure captions, References and Acknowledgements.
Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words with the upper limit strictly adhered to.
Submitting your paper
Please submit two copies of the paper as follows;
Our very strong preference is for the Author-Date (Social Science) style over the Footnotes and Bibliography style.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Nigel Rooms
Church Mission Society and The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, UK.
Contact
Steve Taylor
Te Ara Poutama Tuatahi Co-designer, Angel Wings Ltd, Aotearoa, New Zealand; Senior Lecturer, Flinders University, Australia; Honorary Lecturer, Aberdeen University, UK.
Contact
Patrick Todjeras
Research Institute for Evangelism and Church Development, University of Greifswald, Germany.
Contact
Darren Cronshaw
Australian College of Ministries, Sydney College of Divinity and Stirling College, University of Divinity, Australia
Therese D’Orsa
BBI—The Australian Institute of Theological Education, Pennant Hills, Australia
Scott Hagley
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, USA
Elaine Heath
Neighborhood Seminary, N. Carolina, USA
Michael Herbst
Research Institute for Evangelism and Church Development, University of Greifswald, Germany
Christopher B. James
University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, USA
Dorte Kappelgaard
Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Kirkefondet
Pat Keifert
Church Innovations Institute, USA
Solomon Kgatle
University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa
Fundiswa Kobo
University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa
Sabrina Müller
Centre for Church Development, Faculty of Theology, University of Zürich, Switzerland
Nelus Niemandt
University of Pretoria, South Africa
Stefan Paas
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & Theologische Universiteit, Kampen, The Netherlands
Bokyoung Park
Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Korea
Andrew Recepcion
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy
Cristian Sonea
University of Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Kris Stache
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, USA
Lynne Taylor
University of Otago, New Zealand
Frans Wijsen
Radboud University, The Netherlands
Nigel Rooms and Steve Taylor
nigel.rooms@churchmissionsociety.org
Openjournals