The United Reformed Church's new Coordinator for Fresh Expressions is Linda Rayner.
The half-time appointment will run alongside Linda's work as Learning and Development Officer (Elders and Congregations) for URC North West Synod. Linda will join the national Fresh Expressions team on 1st September 2011.
She said,
It's such an exciting position to be in! I believe that new ways of looking at church and new ways of bringing the Word of God to people is the way that the Church needs to move forward. Churches are beginning to look at modern-day culture and how we can reach out to those who have no previous experience of church or knowledge of Jesus – I'm delighted that the URC is supporting them in this new outreach.
Of course, traditional church is still very important and it's absolutely vital that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We are not here to do away with all that many hold dear in worship and service styles; instead we want to complement much of the good work that is being done in a way that is described as 'mixed economy'. That is the best of conventional church working side by side with fresh expressions of church, creating communities of faith in the communities we serve. It's marvellous to welcome people into our services but some people would never dream of coming into a church building. Fresh Expressions helps to take church out to where the people are - and stay there - to help them grow in faith and discipleship. I'm thrilled to be involved.
Linda has direct experience of new ways of doing church through her involvement in a café-style church in Bramhall. She previously worked in marketing, recently as marketing manager for JCB and The JCB Academy – a new school for students who choose to specialise in engineering.
Francis Brienen, the United Reformed Church's secretary for mission, and Fiona Thomas, the URC's secretary for education and learning, commented,
We're absolutely delighted with Linda's appointment. Having a Fresh Expressions post in-house is a major step forward for the URC and we're confident that she is the perfect person to promote fresh expressions of church throughout the denomination with energy, enthusiasm and commitment. And of course, Linda's URC through-and-through – and because of this and her existing work as a learning and development officer, she's already part of many of the relevant networks and will be able to hit the ground running. In short – we're thrilled!
Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, added,
I'm delighted that Linda will be taking up this post. Her experience as a training officer and of fresh expressions in the North West will equip her very well for her new role. Her appointment will strengthen our work with, and within, the URC.
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