Temple Urban Tracts
Urban Tracts is a series of papers on urban mission and ministry commissioned in the lead up to the 40th anniversary of the Faith in the City report. The Brixton disturbances of April 1981 prompted, among other things, Archbishop Robert Runcie to set up the Archbishop’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas. This led to the publication of the Faith in the City report in December 1985 with its recommendations for church and nation, which proved a great stimulus for urban ministry across the whole UK church. In 2021 the issues of social inequality, racial justice, and the failure of the Church to flourish and grow in urban settings have not gone away.
To mark the upcoming anniversary, the William Temple Foundation is commissioning and publishing a new Temple Tract series on urban mission and ministry. The tracts are aimed at practitioners and church leaders, off ering reflection and experience from authors who have been involved in urban mission and ministry. We aim to highlight resources and lessons that are relevant for Christians in urban areas today and renew the challenge to the churches.
- Temple Tracts: regular contributions to public and political theology and social ethics aimed at a general audience.
- Temple Ethical Futures: specific contributions addressing ecological and digital agendas and alternatives.
- Temple Continental: contributions of a more specialist nature engaging theological thought with the latest currents in continental philosophy and political theology.
- Temple Urban Tracts: reflections on urban ministry and mission for practitioners and church leaders in the run-up to the fortieth anniversary of the 1985 report Faith in the City.
There is no financial charge to download any of our Temple Tracts, but we do ask for donations as a contribution to our costs and your email address (so that we can send you our quarterly newsletter). Please click on Yes, I’d like to donate now after your download. Your details will be held securely and never sold on, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Series Editor and Foundation Research Fellow Greg Smith has also been working with a number of others to develop a new website of resources for people interested in urban mission and ministry at urbanmissionuk.net.
‘The Word Became Flesh and Moved Into the Neighbourhood’ John 1:14 (MSG). From Mission to Movement: The Story of the Eden Network
Sarah Small (2026)
What does it mean to seek the renewal of neighbourhoods marked by deprivation, resilience, and hope? This Temple Urban Tract reflects on the vision and practice of Eden, a movement shaped by long-term, incarnational Christian presence on housing estates often described as ‘lying in ruins.’
Drawing on the biblical image of Eden as delight, this Tract brings together theology, story, and lived experience to explore themes of place, faithfulness, and restoration. It reflects on Eden’s origins, its learning over time, and the development of a shared model rooted in relationship, commitment, and staying power.
Attentive to both promise and challenge, this Tract offers a grounded reflection for churches and practitioners seeking faithful ways of engaging complex urban contexts today, and contributes to wider conversations in urban theology and mission.
Sarah Small co-leads the Eden Network, part of the Message Trust, alongside her husband Steve. Eden is a movement of urban missionaries who live in some of the UK’s most under-served communities. She and Steve live on the Merseybank estate in Manchester. Sarah is part of Ivy Church where she’s held a range of roles, and has an MA in Kingdom Theology. She’s a passionate speaker and activist – hoping to see the church at the heart of transformation in communities that have too long been forgotten.
Love Matters on Urban Estates: Relationships, Conflict and Reconciliation in Urban Ministry
Kat Gregory-Witham (2025)
What does it mean to nurture relationships, heal conflict, and practise reconciliation in urban contexts marked by both deep generosity and profound injustice? In this Temple Urban Tract, drawing on lived ministry in South West Burnley, Revd Kat Gregory-Witham brings together rich local experience, theological reflection, and two landmark reports — Faith in the City and Love Matters — to explore why relationships matter so deeply for wellbeing, faith development, and social flourishing. This Temple Urban Tract offers a sustained reflection on the central role of relationships in urban life, ministry, and public theology. Attentive to questions of conflict and shame, it reflects on the limits as well as the promise of relational approaches, and considers what a relational vision of Christian engagement might mean for churches and practitioners working in complex urban settings today.
Kat Gregory Witham is an Ordained Pioneer Minister in the Church of England. She is currently serving in the Parish of St Matthew the Apostle with Holy Trinity, Habergham Eaves in Burnley. Prior to ordination Kat was a Youth Worker and continues to be passionate about ministry with and amongst young people.
Dereliction, redemption and identity: Challenging injustice and encountering God in dereliction and green space. (2023)
Reuben Aspden
Reuben Aspden opens up the experiences of living and working in a community that is perceived as derelict and neglected. Aspden takes the reader on a journey through Possilpark, a community on the edge of Glasgow, from the perspective of someone serving as part of an intentional Christian community. Aspden reflects on different spaces across the community and the ways in which prophetic presence and eco mission can open up experience and encounter with God. Aspden uses local symbols of continuity, such as the Doocots (pigeon huts) to explore resistance and hope for the community and to reflect on their own community.
Between Two Worlds: Christian – Muslim Conversations and a journey of Discovery in Dundee (2023)
John Drummond Clark
John Drummond Clark tackles a common issue for urban Christians and churches; how to engage with, build relationships and dialogue with Muslims who live in their city. Drawing on many years of experience he advocates a Friendship First approach, which allows members of both faith communities to talk honestly about differences of belief and culture, while working together for justice and the shalom of their city.
Recognition, Cooperation and Power: The Issues that Hamper Missional Momentum in Urban Contexts (2023)
Erica Dunmow
Erica Dunmow reflects on her experience and learning as a national urban mission networker, in particular on overcoming the barriers to constructive mission relationships between mainstream denominations and Black-led and Black majority churches.
Whose Story Are We Telling? Reflections on Urban Ministry Over Four Decades (2022)
Hilary Russell
Hilary Russell, reflecting on over forty years in community work, offers her personal perspective on church activity, evaluating urban regeneration programmes, voluntary organisations, diocesan and national review bodies, and Christian social action and campaigning.
Just Learning with the Urban Church (2022)
Jenny Richardson
Jenny Richardson explores how radical theology enables learning through reflection on life experiences in a constantly changing urban context, the fresh discovery of the transforming power of God’s Spirit, and the impetus to engage in action to bring about transformation. She advocates the process of learning as key for the transformation of individuals, the church, and the wider world.
The Legacy of Daniels Ekarte: Implications for the Urban and Public Mission of African Churches in the UK (2022)
Israel Olofinjana
Israel Olofinjana examines the urban ministry and leadership of Daniels Ekarte in Liverpool and draws out its implications for the urban ministry praxis of African Churches in Britain, especially as it relates to Britishness, migration, and multiculturalism.
Remainer Reflections: Following Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Sepphoris (2021)
Sally Mann
In the latest instalment of our Urban Tracts, Sally Mann recounts her experience of staying put and ‘living deep’ within the Bonny Downs community in East Ham, London. She points to Jesus’s very particular locality in Nazareth, and reflects on the importance of both storytelling and place-making for communities such as Bonny Downs.
Going the Distance: 25 Years of Urban Presence (2021)
Paul Keeble
In the second of our Urban Tracts, Paul Keeble charts 25 years of the charity Urban Presence. Keeble argues passionately for the importance of long-term, ‘incarnational’ presence in inner city neighbourhoods, as opposed to short-term and episodic ministry from a distance. Manchester provides the context and a number of case studies for this work.
Urban Mission 40 Years On (2021)
Greg Smith
This first instalment of our Urban Tracts series offers an overview of urban ministry since the early 1980s and draws out some important lessons from the last 40 years. Are there distinctive characteristics and key principles that are transferable to new places, new times, and a new generation of practitioners? As we head, post-pandemic, towards a ‘new normal’ for urban society and the church there are exciting opportunities to be grasped, says Greg Smith.
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