Public Missiology Initiative

An invitation to listen, connect, and build together

Something is stirring across the church in Ireland. At the same time, Irish public life is becoming increasingly complex. The Public Missiology Initiative exists to help the church listen deeply, discern faithfully, and imagine a bold public witness for this moment.

Irish culture is a set of questions that demand bold and radical answers.

Fintan O’Toole

Across Ireland, questions around housing, mental health, loneliness, identity, poverty, migration, care systems, and community life are becoming increasingly urgent.

These are not distractions from mission.

They are the context in which the church is called to live and witness.

Public Missiology explores how the church participates in God’s mission within the realities of public life.

It asks:

How do churches engage faithfully with the issues shaping society?

What does gospel witness look like beyond church walls?

How do Christian communities become signs of hope, belonging, justice, and renewal?

Public Missiology is not primarily about politics. It is about the church learning how to embody the good news of Jesus in the places where people live, work, learn, create, lead, struggle, and belong.

HOW WE ARE LISTENING

In Irish public life.

To explore these questions, IBI and Praxis are initiating an 18-month journey of listening and discernment: a shared process to listen deeply, connect widely, and discern a radical, bold witness in Irish public life.

Listening to Church & Mission Leaders

We want to listen first to church and mission leaders across the island — across traditions, generations, ethnicities, places, and forms of ministry. Your hands are already in the soil, learning what faithful witness looks like where God has placed you.

Listening to Christians in Public Life

We also want to listen to Christians embedded in public life — education, health, community work, politics, business, the arts, justice, care, advocacy, and beyond to help us read more deeply what is growing in Irish soil.

Listening with Wider Conversation Partners

And we want to listen to wider conversations asking similar questions. Prof. Gregg Okesson and mission faculty from Asbury Theological Seminary* will serve as conversation partners in this process — helping us deepen our listening, sharpen our questions, and discern how public witness might grow from Irish soil.

QUESTIONS WE’RE ASKING

What tangled issues are emerging in Irish public life?

What do they reveal about our models of church and mission?

Where is Christian witness already taking root?

What kind of resourcing is needed for the future?

PUBLIC MISSIOLOGY INITIATIVE

Research Team

Donna Jennings

Patrick Mitchell

Linda Desmond

Simon Kilpatrick

GET INVOLVED

Join the Conversation

We would love you and voices within your networks to be part of this journey.

FIND OUT MORE