The Centre for Church and Mission in the West (CCMW) is a modestly sized research unit, established in 2018, as a collaboration of practical theologians, missiologists, and church law experts, working at the Theological University Kampen, now Utrecht (Netherlands). In addition, external researchers are invited to join as visiting fellows.
The CCMW’s mission is contributing through high-quality research to the sustainable innovation of the church and its mission in the secularizing parts of the world. While drawing on a wide range of theological research traditions, the CCMW concentrates on the study and innovation of Christian practices, inside and outside the church. Working in an ecumenical spirit, the CCMW operates in the Reformed tradition with a view to renewing this tradition for the improvement of church practices and the mission of the Christian church in the West.
The CCMW’s current research programme (2018-2023) is titled ‘Salvation in the 21st Century’. In order to realize this programme, the CCMW has set itself three strategic aims.
- The CMMW aims to be a national hub for interdisciplinary theological research in missiology, practical theology, and church polity.
- The CCMW aims to be agenda-setting for international academic theological research into the relationship between lived soteriology (views of salvation) and ecclesial/missional practices.
- The CCMW aims to be a welcoming and stimulating context for PhD students in the interdisciplinary fields of practical theology, missiology and church law.
The Centre is based at and facilitated by the Theological University Utrecht (TU/U). Its members conform to the research-mission of the TU/U in order to direct their research at “God in the reality of his revelation”. From this broad approach, the CCMW wants to direct theological research to enrich the understanding of and practice within church and society in the context of the West.
