The Power of All: Building a Multivoiced Church

Whenever renewal occurs, everyone in the church is drawn into involvement in the church’s mission. But within a generation or two, vitality wanes and ministry is left to religious specialists. In The Power of All , renewal leaders Stuart and Sian Murray Williams confront this thought-provoking dilemma by asking: how can a New Testament model help empower and renew the church in today’s post-Christian society?

Follow the authors as they outline how early churches were multivoiced, valued the gifts of all, and expected that the Holy Spirit would speak through all members of the community. Discover the growth and opportunities that occur when wenurture the wider community’s spiritual talents.

"Bold, original, and practical, The Power of All is full of stories of congregations in trouble and congregations coming to life. The authors have written a multivoiced book on multivoiced church life; the medium and the message work together. Wonderful."
—Alan and Eleanor Kreider, authors of Worship and Mission AfterChristendom

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Stuart Murray helps direct the Anabaptist Network in Great Britain, and serves the network as a trainer and consultant with particular interest in urban mission, church planting, and emerging forms of church. He has written several books on church planting, urban mission, emerging church, the challenge of post-Christendom, and the contribution of the Anabaptist tradition to contemporary missiology. He is the author of The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith, Planting Churches in the 21st Century: A Guide for Those Who Want Fresh Perspectives and New Ideas for Creating Congregations, and Church Planting: Laying Foundations.

Sian Murray-Williams was born in Scotland but grew up in Wales in a Welsh-speaking family, moving to England in childhood. After obtaining a degree in English Literature, she started work in Washington DC with the Baptist World Alliance before returning to the United Kingdom to work with the Baptist Missionary Society, for part of this time as Director for Missionaries. She then trained for the Baptist ministry at Regent's Park College, Oxford, obtaining a BTh degree. Prior to this she also trained as a spiritual director. Sian and Stuart were married in 2000, after which Sian served as the minister of Littlemore Baptist Church, near Oxford. She is now a tutor at Bristol Baptist College. She is also currently moderator of the Baptist Union's Faith and Unity Department.