Welcome
Welcome to the August edition of e-xpressions. Stories and updates on our website this month include:
- Kairos;
- River in the City;
- Messy Church, Cowplain - update;
- Tubestation (featured on expressions: the dvd - 2) with a Tubestation - update;
- Heyford Chapel (featured on Share).
August's podcast includes more from Messy Church, Cowplain (the original Messy Church) and the very latest news from Tubestation, the church for surfers in Polzeath. We also report on developments at Methodist Conference and the Church of England's General Synod. Listen online now!
Lessons from down under
I recently spent two weeks in New Zealand, teaching about fresh expressions of church, at the invitation of the Anglican dioceses of Christ Church (South Island) and Wellington (North Island). The experience I brought from the UK was well received, but, as happens when the international body of Christ is functioning healthily, I brought back insights relevant for back home. I will mention two.
The first was a commitment to develop young leaders. In both cities I spoke at gatherings of young adults who had a capacity for leadership and a heart for mission. Like the church in the UK, the church in New Zealand is ageing and many churches have only a handful of young adults, if any. In Christ Church they are being gathered together regularly for food, teaching and encouragement and to create networks of friendship and mutual support. This has been made possible by the recruitment of able (nearly as) young leaders to head up the initiative. It was very impressive and will prove to be a vital investment in both the present and the future. In England we face the same issue and are beginning to respond. For example, the diocese of Carlisle has a ‘Younger Diocese’ initiative, involving interns and the development of a youth congregation in each deanery. Fresh Expressions has just established a Young Adult roundtable, convened by Zoe Hart. The strength of the Christ Church initiative is that young leaders do not have to cluster in a few larger churches to survive. They can be networked, supported and developed as leaders and gradually impact the whole diocese.
This is an Anglican example, as I was the guest of Anglicans, but the same principles are applicable to all traditions. My other experience was of the willingness of different denominations to work together to establish a Fresh Expressions Initiative for New Zealand. This was partly a matter of size – a smaller population makes 'go it alone' approaches less viable. But primarily it was the sense of a shared opportunity and that it would be crazy not to work as partners. Anglican, Methodist, Weslyan, Presbyterian, Baptist and Salvationist met around the table and discussed how, rather than whether they could do this together. In the UK also the ecumenism with a future is partnership in mission. It brings us together with a shared and acknowledged weakness: ageing congregations and a changing culture, with a common rediscovery that the church is missional, rather than some Christians do mission, and with a shared sense of the Holy Spirit's initiative and call. It would be as crazy not to be partners in mission in the UK as in New Zealand. Thank God for down under!
+Graham
Bishop Graham is now writing regularly in the Church of England Newspaper - you can read his contributions each month on the Bishop Graham in the CEN page of our website - this month he takes things One step at a Time.
Share
- If we pioneer a fresh expression, what would the experience look like?
- Is there a bird's eye view of how a fresh expression takes shape?
- Is there a way of discovering where we are in the process?
These questions and more are answered in the 
Developing section on Share, which has been extensively updated.
Share thoughts is a free, monthly e-newsletter which has gone global. Fresh Expressions Canada have posted the rural-themed edition on their website to help their practitioners. Subscribe to Share thoughts here.
The weekly Share guest blog continues to be published at the beginning of each week. Contributors come from a variety of countries and church backgrounds, and recent subjects include church for skateboarders, pioneer ministry, reinventing church and creating new parables. For a weekly thought or challenge, visit the Share blog.
Break Out
This national gathering of pioneer ministers attracted delegates from across the UK to hear keynote speakers Rt Revd Ken Clarke, Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh; theologian John Drane and psychologist Dr Kate Middleton.
Ken Clarke opened the gathering at King's Park Centre, Northampton, by encouraging the pioneers to 'hear rightly the noises around you and interpret them accurately' and 'expect everything to be different to what you expect. The biggest challenge in pioneering ministry is ourselves; the most difficult person to lead is me.'
Drawing on Colossians 4, he described Archippus as 'one of a great army of unknowns to build the Church, God uses everybody.' He urged pioneers to do their very best in completing, fulfilling and finishing their received ministry.
Dr Kate Middleton spoke about the psychology of the pioneer and asked the delegates to explore their calling and leadership style. She told them to beware of the pitfalls; did they share the unhealthy psychological profiles of leaders in other areas of life? She advised them to follow the advice from Romans 12:11 (The Message), 'Don't burn out; keep yourself fuelled and aflame.'
John Drane's main focus was 'from one pioneer to another - insights from St Paul for today's missionary calling.' He particularly looked at Paul as a mission strategist who read the culture, identified the possibilities, understood the people, and developed an attitude. John warned, 'One of the biggest dangers in fresh expressions today is that we end up doing the same things over and over but just in a trendier version.'
Using the analogy of his favourite gardening jumper which was now a little worse for wear, he said of the Church, 'What we have is comfortable but frayed around the edges. Can pioneers knit it into a new shape to make Christian community of the future?'
Summer festivals
You can still catch fresh expressions speakers at the following locations:
At Soul Survivor week C, Graham Cray will be chairing a panel of practitioners exploring models of youth congregations (14.30, 19th August), teaching on Lessons for young leaders from Timothy and Titus (14.30, 20th August) and leading a seminar on the last year in popular music (16:00, 18th August).
Then he'll be at Momentum leading three seminars on planting fresh expressions of church (09:30, 22nd/23rd/24th August) and again on discerning leadership (14:30, 25th August).
And if you're at Greenbelt on Saturday 28th August you might want to visit the new Methodist venue where you can hear from Stephen Lindridge, Ian Bell (VentureFX) and pioneer minister Simon Sutcliffe. A whole host of fresh expressions leaders and practitioners will also be present throughout the festival leading worship, speaking and sharing, including Ian Mobsby, Ian Adams and the teams from Transcendence, Grace, Blesséd, Contemplative Fire, Feig, Messy Church, Moot, Sanctus1 and StillPoint.
Training, jobs and events
It's not too late to sign up for one of the mission shaped ministry courses starting this Autumn in Edinburgh, Kent and South East, Gloucester, Toronto, North East, York, Surrey and Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, Plymouth, South Wales, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, Stoke on Trent or Greater Manchester and Rossendale (January 2011). Contact your local course on the links above for details.
Other events are on our training and events page. You can also find out details of ordained pioneer ministry training, post-graduate training and other related training.
If you are aware of any jobs in fresh expressions, we'd be delighted to advertise them on our jobs page.
And finally
Does your fresh expression have an interesting tale to tell? Tell us your story...
Have a good month,
The Fresh Expressions team.
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