Find out more about the measure passed by the General Synod of the Church of England in February 2007
The Church of England General Synod approved in February the Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure. The Mission part of the Measure creates a new means to give legal recognition to fresh expressions of church through a Bishops' Mission Order. The Measure itself now needs to be approved by Parliament. The way in which the Order will operate and marks of good practice in fresh expressions of church are developed in a new draft Code of Practice which is now in the public domain and can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
This will be a key development for all Church of England work on church planting and fresh expressions of church in the coming decade.
The Code covers the legal processes by which a Bishop's Mission Order will be granted including who initiates the process and the kind of consultation required. This is necessary material but will be dry reading.
However the Code also covers a lot of useful material on good practice in fresh expressions of church including questions to ask when you are beginning something new, the kinds of ministry which will be helpful, the importance of good consultancy and support and how to support something constitutionally within an Anglican framework. There is a useful Appendix at the end on worship in fresh expressions of church within the Anglican canons and guidelines.
news
