Fresh Expressions of Church

FRESH EXPRESSIONS WYCLIFFE COLLEGE Bishop Graham Cray

THREE YEARS PROGRESS 21,500 copies sold National Evangelism Officer (Paul Bayes) Senior Staff coordinator in 40 dioceses ‘ Fresh Expressions’ organisation (+Methodist) 635 registered projects, 35% of parishes in 2005 count. New legal Framework: ‘Bishop’s Mission Order’ Mission leadership criterion for all ordinands Pioneer ordained ministers

THREE YEARS PROGRESS Pioneer lay ministry guidelines Resources: books, pamphlets, DVDs, ‘ Share’ - Online guide www.freshexpressions.org Training courses: ‘Mission Shaped Intro.’ ‘ Mission Shaped Ministry’ Additional financial provision, national & diocesan.

A SHIFT IN CULTURE ‘ Essentially the Fresh Expressions program is not simply about a kind of scattered set of experiments; it’s about that gradual, but I think inexorable shift, in the whole culture of our church that has been going on in the last few years, and which will undoubtedly continue to grow and develop.

PART OF THE BLOODSTREAM And that shift in culture is about the way in which discovering new expressions of the Church’s life has now, rather paradoxically, become part of the blood stream of the traditional, mainstream churches’ life.

Rowan Williams To be, so to speak, an ordinary average Anglican, to be an ordinary average Anglican diocese, to be an ordinary average Anglican bishop, now involves you in thinking about, planning for, and involving yourself in, some quite extraordinary and, on the face of it, sometimes rather un-Anglican bits of new life.

BEING THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND So you’re going to hear something now about being the Church, and being the Church of England, not about something marginal, something eccentric, but about the very life blood of who we are and what we are .’

THE NEW FRONTLINE FROM - How to share the gospel Alpha, Emmaus Etc. TO - How to be church So that people can hear and see the gospel. FROM - Church ‘where’ people are TO - Church ‘how’ people are.

A CHANGING CULTURE Greater mobility A network society Weakening neighbourhoods Porous boundaries

MISSIONARY CONTEXT ‘ Ministers in the Church of England must pursue their vocation increasingly aware of the missionary context in which the church is set. In previous generations ministry was exercised in a culture where Christian beliefs and behaviours were the norm: today’s context is more of a spiritual and moral market place.’ Criterion H

Church attendance segmentation in 2006 Fringe churchgoers (at least 6x yr. ) 3% Open de-churched 5% Closed de-churched 28% Open non-churched 1% Closed non-churched 32% Unassigned 2% Other religions 6% Regular (at least monthly) churchgoers 15% Occasional churchgoers (at least annually) 7% Base: UK All adults (unw. 7069 w. 7000) at TAM Wave 2 Leaving aside the minority who are of other faiths, the UK adult population segments fairly evenly between the Non-churched, De-churched & churchgoers.

Percentage of child population in Sunday School UK, 1900-2000 ©UK Christian Handbook Religious Trends 2001/2001 No.2

CONCLUSION The existing parochial system alone is no longer able to deliver its underlying missionary purpose. We need a mixed economy of the old and the new.

NOT EQUIPPED ‘ We know that our much loved and treasured parochial system is not equipped to meet all the challenges of young, mobile populations, whose patterns of life and work are not those of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.’ +Rowan Williams

COMMUNITY CHURCH? ‘ A church in every community in the land” is an empty boast if it boils down to there being a church in a given geographical area, without any reference to accessibility or culture.’ +Michael Nazir-Ali

OUR PEOPLE? ‘ The Anglican pattern of ministry, built around parish and neighbourhood, can lead to a way of thinking that assumes that all people – whether attending or not attending are basically ‘our people’. All people are God’s people, but it is an illusion to assume that somehow the population of England is simply waiting for the right invitation before they will come back and join us.’

OUR PEOPLE? The social and mission reality is that the majority of English society is not ‘our people’ – they haven’t been in living memory, nor do they want to be. The reality is that for most people across England the church, as it is, is peripheral, obscure, confusing or irrelevant.’ ‘ The task is to become church for them, among them and with them, and under the Spirit of God to lead them to become church in their own culture.’

THE CHURCHES’ RESPONSE New forms of church plant - into networks From cross boundary to non-boundary Churches transitioning to cell Fresh expressions of church

CALLED TO PROCLAIM AFRESH ‘ Which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation.’ ‘ Bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation.’

FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH Alternative worship communities Base ecclesial communities Café church Cell church Churches arising out of community initiatives Multiple + midweek congregations Network focused church School based or linked congregations

FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH Seeker church Traditional church plants New monastic movements Traditional forms of church inspiring new interest Youth congregations Fresh expressions for children Fresh expressions for under 5s and their families

CHANGE OF EMPHASIS Unplanned consequences of other pieces of Christian ministry Church where people are, not bridges to get people to church Church more deeply related to daily life Church when people can attend

Changing Sundays Church at different times Fresh expressions of church Changing relationships Changing cultures Less knowledge of faith Deeper spiritual hunger Church for different networks Church in different cultures Church for beginners Church for explorers

Post Alpha congregations COME, Ignite Nightclub Chaplaincy Maidstone Café Church Bobbing Y Youth Congregation Whitstable Carpenter’s Arms network church plants - Deal + Sandwich New congregation and café services in school hall Bearstead Time Out Canterbury Alt Worship service after Choral Eucharist Cranbrook Crosslinks Community Regeneration - Dover Harvest New Anglican Church Thanet (Cell)

8 ‘til late Greenerway CoNnect Bridging the Gap Lighthouse 8 til late 8 til late Emerge Centrepoint Balcony Nelson Stepping Stones Trans 4m Greenerway “ NO LIMITS”

FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of 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.

KEY PRINCIPLE 1 Inculturation (Embodying the Gospel) Planting not cloning. 'Dying to live’ Something new grows

THE PRICE OF MISSION The church must always be willing to die to its own cultural comfort in order to live where God intends it to be. John 12:24 ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit.’

DYING TO LIVE ‘ The seed loses its previous identity, which was to be part of the sending church with its particular manifestation and culture. It will become something different from what it was before. Dying to live is inherent in the planting process.’ Mission Shaped Church

INCARNATIONAL Entering their world. Taking it as seriously as they do. Helping them to find Christ there.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23 19 I have made myself a slave to all so that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law 22 I have become all things to all people 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel

PAUL’S MISSIONARY METHODS 'As far as possible he (Paul) has deliberately identified himself with those whom he has sought to win for the gospel.' Morna Hooker ‘ I do it all for the sake of the gospel.’ 1 Cor. 9:23

PAUL’S MISSIONARY METHODS ‘ What Paul describes is the self- identification of Christ with men and women which, in turn, results in their sharing in what he is.’ Morna Hooker ‘ Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.’ 1 Cor. 11:1 A slave Outside the Law

INCULTURATION ‘ Inculturation is essentially a community process “from below”. Its purpose is to allow the gospel to transform a culture from within. No serious attempt at inculturation can begin with a fixed view of the outward form of the local church.’ Mission Shaped Church

MISSIO DEI Christology > Missiology > Ecclesiology

KEY PRINCIPLE 2 FROM - Detailed advance planning TO - Discernment in context. ‘ Seeing what God is doing and joining in.’

MISSIO DEI 'It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfil in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.' Jurgen Moltmann

CHURCH AS POINTER TO GOD’S FUTURE Our greatest need is for a baptism of imagination about the form of the church We have given too much attention to church as a passing on of the inheritance of the past and too little to church as an anticipation of God’s future.

A FORTASTE OF GOD’S FUTURE ‘ The Church does more than merely point to a reality beyond itself. By virtue of its participation in the life of God, it is not only a sign and instrument, but also a genuine foretaste of God’s Kingdom, called to show forth visibly, in the midst of history, God’s final purposes for humankind.’ Eucharistic Presidency

WATCHING ‘ We must relinquish our missionary presuppositions and begin in the beginning with the Holy Spirit. This means humbly watching in any situation in which we find ourselves in order to learn what God is trying to do there, and then doing it with him.’ John V Taylor

Watch this space! ‘ God continues to create new futures in the most inauspicious of places.’ ‘ The biblical narratives are full of stories about places and people without hope who became centres of the Spirit’s creative, world changing, activity.’ Roxburgh + Romanuk

THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT ‘ If God’s Spirit is among the people of God wherever they are, then those are the places where it is possible to incarnate a missional life.’

LEADERSHIP ‘ Leadership is about cultivating an environment that innovates and releases the missional imagination present in a community of God’s people.’ ‘ An environment in which the Spirit given presence of God’s future may emerge among the people of God.’

TOGETHER TO GOD’S FUTURE ‘… do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, beautiful as that place may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have been before.’ Vincent Donovan

HEALTH WARNING! DON’T TAKE ‘MODELS OF CHURCH’ OFF THE SHELF? FOLLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT? AN INVITATION TO IMPROVISE!

Prayer and Support Connection Listening and Following God’s call Loving Service Evangelism and Disciple- Making Forming Community Evolving Worship

Celebrating and building on what is mission-shaped in traditional forms of church… … and finding new, flexible, appropriate ways to proclaim the Gospel afresh to those who do not relate to traditional ways the mixed economy

THE CHALLENGE TO THE DIOCESES ‘ It is for dioceses to think creatively about how to connect the old and the new, to encourage traditional parishes to share prayer and energy with new initiatives in church life, and above all to help break down the perennial suspicion between the historic mainstream and the risk-taking innovators. The historic mainstream, after all, had its origins in risk-taking innovators.’ ++Rowan

SYMBIOSIS ‘ We are going to have to live with variety. The challenge is how to work with that variety so that everyone grows together in faith and eagerness to learn about and spread the Good News.’ ++Rowan ‘ The brightest hope for church after Christendom is a symbiotic relationship between inherited and emerging churches. We need each other.’ Stuart Murray

WHAT IS CHURCH? ‘ 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

CHURCH EXPRESSES CHRIST ‘ If Christ is the embodiment of God, and the Church is his body on earth. Then no single expression of church can ever exhaust Christ.’ ++Rowan Williams

THE MARKS OF ANGLICANISM The Declaration of Assent The Lambeth Quadrilateral The Scriptures The Creeds The Dominical Sacraments Historic Episcopacy locally adapted A national church A international family A liturgical tradition (Shared frameworks) ‘ Lets wait and see.’

THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE ‘ If the decline of the Church is ultimately caused neither by the irrelevance of Jesus, nor by the indifference of the community, but by the Church’s failure to respond fast enough to an evolving culture, to a changing spiritual climate, and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit

THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE - Bob Jackson Then that decline can be addresses by the repentance of the Church. For true repentance involves turning around and living in a new way in the future. A diocese or parish which, out of repentance, grows a new relevance to the contemporary world, may also grow in numbers and strength , because the Spirit of Jesus has been released to do his work.’

Fresh Expressions of Church

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