Day: 21 March 2011

Bonus starter pack (making a difference – complete pack)

A superb resource for anybody considering, or involved in, growing a fresh expression of church, this pack contains a copy of the expressions: making a difference DVD and one each of the first seven Share booklets.

Pack contents

expressions: making a difference (DVD)

Twenty eight stories to inspire and challenge, illustrating lessons to be learnt as fresh expressions of church make a difference to people's lives.

expressions: making a difference

Starting and sustaining a fresh expression of church (Share booklets 01-08)

Omnibus booklet containing Share booklets 01-08, exploring the basics of growing a fresh expression of church. Explore how fresh expressions of church emerge, how and what to start, getting support and funding, finding the way, sustainability and building a team.

  1. How can fresh expressions emerge? (Share booklet 01)

    How can fresh expressions emerge? What sort of journeys do fresh expressions follow?

  2. How should we start? (Share booklet 02)

    How should we start? is all about a process we call 'exploring'. It's about discovery. What is God doing? What might he be calling you to do? Who can you work with?

  3. What should we start? (Share booklet 03)

    What should we start? is about discernment – finding out what God is calling you to do by discovering prayerfully what opportunities exist and what resources are available.

  4. How can we get support? (Share booklet 04)

    How can we get support? is about how to check out your ideas and plans with the people whose backing the venture needs. Fresh expressions of church never begin in isolation. They always need support from outside.

  5. How can we find our way? (Share booklet 05)

    How can we find our way? is about envisaging the journey ahead by making sense of the route already travelled.

  6. How can we be sustainable? (Share booklet 06)

    How can we be sustainable? is about considering sustainability in the very early stages of a fresh expression of church, not when the venture is well underway.

  7. How can we be a great team? (Share booklet 07)

    How can we be a great team? is about the vital importance of attending to the team (or missional community) throughout a fresh expression's life.

  8. How can we finance a fresh expression? (Share booklet 08)

    How can we finance a fresh expression? is about how to put down strong financial roots to allow for both start-up costs and long-term sustainability, helping you to weather the storms of economic instability.

04 How can we get support? (Share booklet 04)

How can we get support? is about how to check out your ideas and plans with the people whose backing the venture needs. Fresh expressions of church never begin in isolation. They always need support from outside.

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify common threads of finding support amongst those you are serving, key gatekeepers and the wider community.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

07 How can we be a great team? (Share booklet 07)

How can we be a great team? is about the vital importance of nurturing the team (or missional community) throughout a fresh expression's life.

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify the common threads of how the team enables the new church to emerge and sets its tone.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

06 How can we be sustainable? (Share booklet 06)

How can we be sustainable? is about considering sustainability in the very early stages of a fresh expression of church, not when the venture is well underway.

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify the common threads of a fresh expression's DNA and organisational structure that need to be built in from the start to ensure sustainability.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

05 How can we find our way? (Share booklet 05)

How can we find our way? is about envisaging the journey ahead by making sense of the route already travelled.

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify common threads of the involvement of the missional community and teams, their prayerful learning through experience and how that learning is applied in the next stage of the journey.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

03 What should we start? (Share booklet 03)

What should we start? is about discernment – finding out what God is calling you to do by discovering prayerfully what opportunities exist and what resources are available.

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify common threads of listening to your context – why listen, who and what to listen to and how to listen.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

02 How should we start? (Share booklet 02)

How should we start? is all about a process we call 'exploring'. It's about discovery. What is God doing? What might he be calling you to do? Who can you work with?

Instead of a step-by-step model, this booklet seeks to identify common threads of mission heart, team, values and focus.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

01 How can fresh expressions emerge? (Share booklet 01)

Society has changed at a dizzying rate in recent years. Today 60% of the UK population finds it almost impossible to connect with the Church. Many Christians are now tackling that challenge by developing fresh expressions of church to go out to where people are – and stay there.

But how can fresh expressions emerge? This booklet will help you to think about how the fresh expressions journey might start.

This Share booklet is one of a series which aims to help you to think about how to start, support and sustain a fresh expression of church. Buy multiple Share booklets for a discount (applied automatically at checkout): other offers and packs are detailed on the Share booklets page.

expressions: making a difference

Twenty eight stories to inspire and challenge, illustrating lessons to be learnt as fresh expressions of church make a difference to people's lives.

From the church for ragamuffins in Swansea, to the Divine Divas of Tadcaster, these new ways of being church demonstrate that God's Spirit is helping Christians live mission-shaped lives in a whole range of fresh contexts.

Fresh Expressions show how the Church can reach out in new ways to those around us. We should be encouraged and inspired by these projects which are showing God's love in practical ways all over the country. I hope this DVD will help other church communities realise the wonderful potential they have to make a difference wherever they are.

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

Watch a selection of clips from this DVD

Read a transcript of this trailer

View this trailer on YouTube

What a fantastic DVD! To see such creativity, vision and innovation in helping reach people for Christ. Get a coffee, sit down, watch and be inspired!

Mark Russell, CEO, Church Army

Throughout our ten years as 24-7 Prayer we have understood the urgent need for fresh forms of church to reach current and emerging generations. This helpful resource shows the potential of Fresh Expressions to help us plant church that makes a difference. I recommend it highly.

Pete Greig, 24-7 Prayer and Alpha International

The Fresh Expressions team has done it again! Here are 28 stories to inspire and challenge you and renew your sense of possibility. They prove that the gospel is as contagious as it ever was, if only we open ourselves to communicating in languages and forms that our culture understands.

Roberta Rominger, General Secretary, United Reformed Church

If you ever thought 'church' was the same everywhere, this DVD will quickly change your mind! Fresh expressions is no longer theory, these stories inspire you to reach people you've never reached previously and enable the church to take its rightful place as the hope of the nation.

John Coles, Director, New Wine

This new collection of stories is an excellent and timely contribution from Fresh Expressions to the wider Church. They tell of the celebratory communities as people discover the depth and privileges of relationships within local contexts. But the stories also tell of the hard work, difficulties and challenges that are faced by leaders and communities as they seek to be faithful to God's promptings. As you watch and hear these stories my hope is that we all gain an ever greater confidence in developing disciples of Jesus that connect with the many ways God is at work in our local churches, circuits and wider communities.

Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Great Britain

Contents

  1. authentic(?), Glasgow (Starting from scratch)

  2. Boring Wells, Belfast (Becoming mission-shaped people)

  3. CCM Gorton, Manchester (Serving people from around the world)

  4. Church for the Night, Bournemouth (Being church in clubland)

  5. CoffeeCraft, Clee Hill (Creating mission in the countryside)

  6. Colin Brown, Falmouth (Establishing a fresh expression for artists)

  7. Divine Divas, Tadcaster (Building church around relationships)

  8. Exeter Network Church, Exeter (Discovering natural networks)

  9. Grafted, Newcastleton (Making disciples and creating leaders)

  10. Harvest New Anglican Church, Thanet (Reaching diverse networks of people)

  11. King's Cross Church, London (Planting church in a developing area)

  12. Monks Road Threshold, Lincoln (Creating church in an area of deprivation)

  13. re:generation, Romford (Growing a new generation of leaders)

  14. Reconnect, Poole (Building community and recreating church)

  15. safespace, Telford (Drawing on the wisdom of monastics)

  16. St George's, Deal (Growing church but staying fluid)

  17. Sanctus1 and Nexus, Manchester (Taking the next step)

  18. StreetSpace, Chard (Taking youth culture seriously)

  19. Streetwise, Sheffield (Helping the marginalised)

  20. The Beacon, Dartford (Forming church in a new housing area)

  21. The Lounge at Costa, Woodbridge (Engaging seekers in a market town)

  22. The Ruth Project, Stanley (Working where conventional church struggles)

  23. The Sunday Sanctuary, Portsmouth (Growing community through hospitality)

  24. The Wesley Playhouse, Howden Clough (Using buildings and exercising faith)

  25. 3.08@Kingshill, Nailsea (Learning from mistakes)

  26. Tubestation, Polzeath (Moving from community to discipleship)

  27. Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries, Wolverhampton (Growing church with young adults)

  28. Zac's Place, Swansea (Establishing church on the edge)

You can also purchase each of the 28 chapters as a downloadable video clip (£2 per story) using the links above or to the right.

Other purchasing options

To get the most out of this DVD, use it alongside the series of Share booklets, available separately or as part of the bonus starter pack.

SMASH

Nick Ash is a primary school teacher and a curate in Faversham. He tells of seeing the Holy Spirit at work in the SMASH after-school club.

I was ordained priest in July last year and have been working at St Mary of Charity Primary School, Faversham, since 1989. I am now teaching children of the children I first taught!

SMASH - handsThe development of St Mary's After School Club (SMASH) started in September 2009 when I approached two members of the church I attend, and asked them whether they would be prepared to help me re-launch an after school club I had been running a couple of years previously which I had to close down due to the pressure of my own training for ministry.

It immediately attracted a couple of very enthusiastic mums from the Parents, Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA). Not only did they start coming to SMASH with their children, who were in top infants at the time, but they even started attending the prayer meetings I held in one of the school rooms. These happened at the start of each of the days SMASH was held on.

It was a small beginning, but as they enthused about it to their friends on the playground over the next few months more and more families started attending. By the end of the year we eventually had about six families being represented, so we started asking parents if they would like SMASH twice a month. Because of the positive response to this question we have now increased the event to twice a month from last September.

SMASH - smilesIt was during the first term of 2010 that one of the original mums involved with SMASH approached me and asked if she could have 'a chat'. We met over a period of weeks talking about her spiritual journey, and how she felt that she was wanting to find a new way of living. This led to talk of baptism, and eventually on December 11 we held a special baptism service in the newly acquired school chapel, with a gathering of a combination of church family and new friends from SMASH.

Having been without a chapel in the school since it was incorporated into a Head's office twelve years ago, it is lovely to have it back. It was created by chance after two classrooms had been knocked together leaving a space between it and the next door room, thus opening up a space just big enough to be turned into something useful. The Bishop of Dover, Rt Rev Trevor Wilmott, came along to one of our SMASH meetings on 18th January, and used the time to dedicate the chapel as a place for class assembly and prayer meetings. We are planning to run a Christianity Explored course there later in the year to deepen discipleship among SMASH members.

SMASH - drawingsSMASH uses a very simple formula. We meet at 3.30pm opening with a prayer and the lighting of a candle, when we remind ourselves of the words of Jesus which we say together, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'. We then have a game followed by a song, after which we play one more game and have one more song. After that we have a short time of Bible teaching, which usually includes some kind of interaction with the children. This then leads into a time when we do some craft, based on the theme of the teaching for the afternoon. An interactive time of prayer follows this, and we end by eating tea together. This has been a key part of the afternoon, as it is where relationships are built and deepened.

Despite the fact that St Mary of Charity Primary is a CofE Voluntary Aided school, most of those who attend it are unchurched members of the community. SMASH is therefore attracting totally unchurched people where church is not part of their normal frame of reference; their only link may have been when their children were baptised as babies. I feel strongly that SMASH must be for families and not just children, which is why I insist that it is not just another after school club, and that children must be accompanied by a parent or carer if they attend.

SMASH - sandwichWe are very excited with what God seems to be doing in our midst. It is like having sown a mustard seed, and we are now watching it grow under our noses. Others from the main church have felt called to this ministry, and the leadership group has now grown to six members.

It is wonderful to see how things have continued to develop. A child in my class, who attends SMASH with her mother, has recently asked to be baptised and I am now in the process of setting dates to see her with her parents and talk through what it all means. Also, a couple of the families are, without prompting, coming to the main church on a Sunday morning and getting involved in the new children's ministry that has recently been launched, called FLAME. This is seen by the vicar and ministry team as working in tandem with what we are trying to do in SMASH. In fact one of the mums from school wants to get more and more involved in the church and has already joined a house group. Is this surely not mixed economy in action – a fresh expression of church led by the curate of the local church, who is also a member of staff at the school where it all happens and who has helped to initiate a fresh look at children's work within the life of the church.

SMASH - grinFurther ideas we want to develop with SMASH are a summer beach outing with young families from the local Sure Start Children's Centre, alongside the SMASH families. A couple of staff from the Children's Centre have been helping to look after children aged 0-3 during SMASH meetings as a joint working initiative. They too are very excited by this idea, as it covers both our visions of trying to reach members of our local community, and serve them in different ways.

I admit that I am in a very fortunate position here, as I am able to develop these initiatives under the title of a new role I have been allowed to take on in my ordained capacity entitled 'Community Link Person'. It is funded through the rent charged to the Sure Start Centre, because it is built on the school site. It is paid to the trustees of the school, which happen to be the vicar and church warden, who have agreed to fund this new project with this money for one day a week. This new position has given me space and time to consider how I can make links between the school and the local community and how to develop more effectively the ministry and work of the Church school that I am a part of.

SMASH - light of the worldOne of the school's developmental aims has been to increase opportunity to explore spirituality, and provide space for developing that spirituality within individuals. SMASH helps towards meeting this goal; but more than this, its very presence within the life of the school speaks louder than any words can. It exists as an open invitation to anyone who feels they want to explore faith in a non threatening environment, where they will find Christians and members of the local school community enjoying each others company and having fun together.

I am very excited to see the way the Spirit is moving in people's lives. I feel that having the chapel back within the life of the school has put its spiritual heart back where it belongs, and in a very real sense I feel we are seeing the fruit of this action. I am encouraged through the backing of the Head for this work, and I am looking forward to developing this whole role further through conversations with the Assistant Diocesan Director of Education. With her I want to explore the possibilities of linking up with others who are involved in the same kind of ministry, so we can share good practice and good ideas for the future.