Welcome
Welcome to the October edition of e-xpressions. Stories and updates on our website this month include:
- Church at Innsworth;
- Scarborough Deanery;
- XY Church update (an update to the XY Church story featured in issue 5 of expressions).
- The Ruth Project;
- Sanctum;
- ThE DEN.
October's podcast includes more from the Ruth Project, as well as news from River in the City in Liverpool, the latest on mission shaped ministry and a meditation from Fresh Expressions Associate Missioner and Emerging Church Development Officer for the Church of Scotland, David Currie. Listen online now!
Why do fresh expressions fail?
Establishing a fresh expression involves a risk of faith. It does not come with a cast iron guarantee of success. Learning comes through action and reflection, not so much through having a good grasp of the theory in advance. First attempts at anything new often result in lessons about doing it better next time and that is no failure. Sometimes fresh expressions seem to have failed when they have simply run their course. A project, perhaps with young people, was seasonal, it was never meant to be long term sustainable. If it has had a time of fruitful mission that is no failure.
But the important thing about risks of faith is that they are not about blind faith. They are about trusting God from a clear view of the realities of your situation, not about seeming to trust while you are not facing the realities of your situation. 308 Nailsea was an imaginative attempt to reach families on one of the more distant estates in the parish. Plenty was learned for future events with families, but in the end it mainly attracted visitors from other churches wanting to learn how to do something similar. It did not attract the people on the estate, despite being in the school that many of the children attended. The lesson being 'If it's not working, stop.'
There is no science which helps us know exactly when we have crossed the line between faithfully waiting for something to work and acknowledging that our much loved fresh expression is not reaching unchurched people. However the moment we realise that we are putting in lots of creative energy month by month for no effective missional purpose, it is certainly time to review.
Perhaps the key lesson is that fresh expressions are more likely to be fruitful if they grow out of relationships, than if they use an event to establish relationships.
We need to be more concerned about helping unchurched people find faith and Christian community and less concerned about the success of much loved projects in which we have invested our hopes and energies. This is not so much a time for 'heroic failures' as for learning from previous experience and trying again, under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
+Graham
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, Graham is making the mixed economy work.
A new look for mission shaped intro
Our freely downloadable mission shaped intro course has just been redesigned and refreshed.
The six-week course takes you on a journey looking at the ever-changing nature of our social communities and explores why the church needs to rethink its approach to those communities in meaningful and relevant ways.
Each 90-minute session has a presentation and accompanying teaching notes and handouts and is packed with movie clips, stories and active group participation.
The course is available to download from the mission shaped ministry website, a simple registration is required but the good news is that it is completely free. Why not have a look now.
Worthwhile coming and a challenge – opened my eyes to many things that are possible.
Thank you for being affirmative and challenging my thinking and at times being inspiring and prophetic.
Christmas is still coming...
A quick reminder that if you know of a fresh expression doing something special for Christmas, tell us about it now! From the exciting, to the weird and wonderful, to the (extra)ordinary stories of fresh expressions engaging with their contexts in relevant and accessible ways this Christmas, we want to hear about it. You can use our online form or email us at stories@freshexpressions.org.uk - why not take five minutes to do it now and help us to inspire others with your story.
Share
Discipleship continues to be an important part of the life of fresh expressions, and the Share website wants to help. The 
Discipleship section contains more than a dozen detailed pages, with principles, resources and practical advice.
The Networks pages on Share have been completely overhauled. Discover more about learning networks and how to join one. The fresh expressions movement has its roots in local stories - a collective narrative containing the voices of practitioners as they live out their calling to be church in a variety of contexts. Your voice is needed to be part of this!
Do you have a burning question about fresh expressions of church? Chances are, there might already be an answer in the Frequently Asked Questions part of Share. If it isn't, you can leave a question of your own in the comments area of the page.
Training, jobs and events
Our next vision day is in Liverpool - if you'd like to see a vision day in your area, please contact us on vision@freshexpressions.org.uk.
Free and rooted - Shaping the future of the Church is an event for church leaders and those training for leadership who are interested in what the future of the church might look like. The day is organised by the Centre for Pioneer Learning and hosted by Dave Male and Adrian Chatfield.
Looking further ahead, mission shaped ministry starts in January in Knaresborough, Norfolk, Greater Manchester and Rossendale, Colchester and Walthamstow - book your places now.
You can find other events and training opportunities (including a Christian Skaters day conference in Bristol) on our training and events page.
Our jobs page currently features a vacancy for Team Vicar at St Luke's in the High Street, Walthamstow. If you know of other fresh-expression-related jobs, please let us know on resources@freshexpressions.org.uk.
And finally
If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you check out our recently unearthed video from the Middle Ages - what is a fresh expression of church?
Have a good month,
The Fresh Expressions team.
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