Fresh Expressions 1

Fresh expressions + Missional Opportunities

+Graham Cray

what’s going onall around the country• God’s Spirit is on the move• Christians are trying new things• new types of churches are being

formed• lives are being changed

mission-shaped church“church planting

and fresh expressions of church in a changing contextChurch of England General Synod, February 2004

Edinburgh

Some examples

Menu• Fresh expressions of church

–Why–What–How

Fresh Expressions 5

Why?

Fresh Expressions 6

why fresh expressions?Because this is what the Church does

The church is “missionary by its very nature” and it becomes missionary by attending to each and every context in which it finds itself.Bevans & Schroeder ‘Constants in Context’

Edinburgh

why fresh expressions?Because this is why the Spirit is given• The continuing conversion of the church

to incarnational witness does not mean selling out to the …. cultures that form our context.

• Our conversion is to more faithful witness, to more loving and creative translation of the gospel. …

• God’s Spirit is promised to us for precisely this continuing task …’Darrell Guder ‘The Incarnation and the Church’s Witness’

why fresh expressions?• they are a response to the decline of Christendom

•and major changes in• Western culture

baptismeducationmarriagefestivalsSundaysicknesscrisisbereavement

The mission task:from doorto fontto altar &out to the world

Culture and the rhythm of the year lead people to

the church door

The mission task becomes:• go to where people are• form communities of faith• make disciples there

Culture leads people to many other doors.

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Five shifts in societyChanging

Sundays

Changing relationships

Changing cultures

Less faith knowledge

Religion to spirituality

Church at different times

Church for different networks

Church in different cultures

Church for beginners

Church for disconnected explorers

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Christendom contextSocietyFringeChurch

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Secular pluralism

Church

The Netherlands

Fringe churchgoers(less often but at least 6x yr. ) 3% 1.6m

Open de-churched 5% 2.3m

Closedde-churched 28% 13.7m

Opennon-churched 1% 0.6m

Closednon-churched 32% 15.6m

Unassigned 2% 1.1m

Other religions 6% 3.2m

Regular churchgoers (at least monthly)15% 7.6m

Occasionalchurchgoers(less often but

at least annually) 7% 3.4m

Base: UK All adults aged 16+ (unw. 7069 w. 7000) Population = 49.0m

UK Church attendance and experience segmentation in 2006

why fresh expressions?•Because God is blessing this ministry

Methodist Statistics for Mission for

fresh expressions Fresh Expressions 18

fe growth in Methodism

Fresh Expressions 19

1552 fresh expressions in 2012 In 82% of Circuits

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100

100

200

300

400

500

600

Number of fresh expressions start-ing

Meeting monthly or more

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Weekly

Fortnightly

Monthly

437

153

952

Total 155245,969 people attending77% are not existing church folk

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When did the fxC start?

Most cases are post Mission-shaped ChurchAll dioceses have seen a rapid increase Dioceses reveal different histories

Six dioceses• Nearly 4000 people have been

involved in the start up of the 361 examples.

• Attendance now at them is over 14,000, plus a fringe.

• For every one person sent, over two and a half others are now there.

• Any church with a growth rate over time, of 250%, deserves notice.

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Six dioceses

• On average, of those who come, 35% are the de-churched.

• It is striking that 42% are from the non-churched.

• No parish church has figures like this; some have virtually none of either.

Canon Dr George Lings

Momentum

• Most of the growth has happened in the last three to four years.

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What?

Fresh Expressions 25

what is a fresh expression?

• a fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of people who do not attend any church– it will come into being through principles of

listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples

– it will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context

A fresh expression of church is

• Missional – it seeks to benefit non-churchgoers

the mission of God“The mission of the Church is the

gift of participating, through the Holy Spirit, in the Son’s mission from the Father to the world.James Torrance

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you… Receive the Holy Spirit.John 20:21f

Edinburgh

A fresh expression of church is

• Missional – it seeks to benefit non-churchgoers

• Contextual – it seeks to fit the context

Context• despite a dominant Western culture,

the key to planting a fresh expression is local context

• what forces shape a locality, whether neighbourhood or network or a combination of the two?

• disciple-making is a process of inculturation, involving the reading of a local culture

One size cannot fit all

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A fresh expression of church is

• Missional – it seeks to benefit non-churchgoers

• Contextual – it seeks to fit the context

• Formational – it aims to form disciples

Discipleship the key

“When dealing with discipleship, and the related capacity to generate authentic followers of Jesus, we are dealing with that single most crucial factor that will in the end determine the quality of the whole – if we fail at this point then we must fail in all the others. Alan Hirsch

www.freshexpressions.org.uk

A fresh expression of church is

• Missional – it seeks to benefit non-churchgoers

• Contextual – it seeks to fit the context

• Formational – it aims to form disciples

• Ecclesial – it intends to become church

Church is diverse• ‘If ‘church’ is what happens

when people encounter the Risen Jesus and commit themselves to sustaining and deepening that encounter in their encounter with each other, there is plenty of theological room for diversity of rhythm and style.’

• Rowan Williams

Edinburgh

fresh expressions not…• the opposite of ‘stale’• a rebranding of

existing work• a bridge to existing

church• the opposite of

traditional (instead, the complement)

• church-lite

Edinburgh

fresh expressions instead…

• ‘deep church’• taking:

– the right shape– in the right place

• at a price… the comfort and convenience of those who plant it

Edinburgh

How?

A process of discernment

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

Listening• to the Spirit• to the church• to the community or network

Somewhere Else - Liverpool

A process of discernment

loving and

serving

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

Grange Park Church, Northampton

Talking Point

Stepping Stones

Grange Park Church, Northampton

A process of discernment

loving and

serving

buildingcommuni

ty

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

Service, to community, to church

“I did not sit in lounge dreaming up what to do, the community asked.The mission initiatives create the relationships and the relationships form the community.Everyone who has joined the fresh expression has come in this way.Katie Miller, Marlpit, near Norwich

The fruit of discernment

“Pioneering ministry cannot be done to a community by someone who knows what they need, it can only be done with a community by someone who shares their need.”

Angela Shier Jones

Create community• Fresh expressions are often

catechumenate communities at the start:

• comprising people who are exploring faith and are on a journey towards it.

• They need to belong before they can believe.

Fresh Expressions 51

A process of discernment

loving and

serving

buildingcommuni

ty

exploringdisciplesh

ip

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

Intentional“ make the fresh expression itself

about discipleship from beginning to end.

“ aim to provide an experience of Christian community for those with little contact.

“ allow for the long journey people go on as they come from initial attention to openness to respond to the gospel.Paul Moore

Discipleship is contextual

“The church creates the conditions where people can live the Christian life.“Not franchise church planting.“What is God doing among these people in this particular place?

Chris Russell, St Laurence, Reading

Discipleship in fresh expressions

•One to one•Small groups•Courses•Participation in serving teams•A rule of life

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A process of discernment

loving and

serving

buildingcommuni

ty

exploringdisciplesh

ip

church

takingshape

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

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re-imagining worship

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Staging posts: marked in worship

pattern and creativity• pattern for secure context and

appropriate repetition• creativity for participation and

engagement of the imagination.

A learning environment

• ministry of the word

• creating a learning culture

• multisensory learning

• participative• no unchallengable

experts in an internet age

A process of discernment

loving and

serving

buildingcommuni

ty

exploringdisciplesh

ip

church

takingshape

underpinned by prayer, ongoing listening and relationship with the wider church

listening

do itagai

n

Vital Church Planting Conference 61

Zac’s Place

Resources www.freshexpressions.org.uk

making a difference

Available at freshexpressions.org.uk

mission shaped introsix-session courseintroducing freshexpressions of church

Share bookletsa series of bookletsexploring how tostart and sustaining afresh expression ofchurch

Fresh!an introduction tofresh expressions ofchurch and pioneerministryChurch for everyContextthe theology andpractice of freshexpressions of church

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Fresh expressions + Missional Opportunities

+Graham Cray