Month: December 2013

Down Community Church

County Down, in Northern Ireland, is the setting for a missional community reaching out to people who feel they 'don't fit' into a traditional church context.

A group of friends, including pastors Karen Sethuraman and Gordon McDade, had a vision that was launched in a hotel in the market town of Ballynahinch in October 2010 as Down Community Church or dcc. Karen and Gordon tell of the story so far.

The vision was conceived after many years of effective community outreach by active churches. The challenge came when it consistently proved difficult to integrate our new community contacts into the life of a more traditional model of church. We used to hear the same phrase again and again, 'I don't fit in there', and so we started to ask the searching question, 'What would it be like to plant a church for people who feel they don't fit?' We've been trying to answer that question for the last three years! In the process, we have discovered that there is a vast chasm between church and community when it comes to spiritual transformation and discipleship. We have not taken in any way from the other churches in the community but are seeking to be a different kind of spiritual community with the specific focus of reaching people across the whole community who have no connection with church.

Down Community Church - group on sofaIt has been a very steep learning curve for us, not least because we initially failed to appreciate how inaccessible even a contemporary expression of church with songs, prayers and a talk, could be to people with no church background. So began a season of what came to be known as 'unlearning' which proved to be both unsettling and yet creative as we explored relevance and innovation together in the pursuit of meaningful belonging and believing.

Over time, and with many mistakes, a template has evolved within our journey that enables our fledgling community to engage with God and what it means to know and follow Jesus. For us, belonging is paramount and – because we see ourselves as a family and intentionally relational – a domestic motif has emerged to help us define and develop our model of community. Our vision has been galvanised by our values of grace, acceptance, equality, creativity, generosity and risk.

The Sunday morning gathering is known as the Living Room. Set up in café-style, there is endless coffee and extensive use of visual media in seeking to be culturally relevant with a recognition of the power of story and a conversational teaching component which is dialogical and interactive. There are about 50 people connected to dcc currently and attendance can be anywhere from 5 to 30, understandable in a world where commitment in general can be erratic and changeable. We have been constantly challenged by the need to reflect on our use of language and on our understanding and explanation of the gospel.

Down Community Church - groupAt the heart of the community are strong friendships based on accepting one another as we are – no matter what. Down Community Church is an open community where you can be yourself and – whether on a journey with God or not – be loved and supported. That support has meant trips to hospitals, courts, pubs, drying-out wards, prisons and homes of all kinds. The good news of Jesus has transcended divisions of class, politics, gender, sexuality, age, culture and ethnicity. Failure is never final in our community.

On alternate Wednesday evenings, we hold the Kitchen; a smaller group in a home with a culture of fun and family and faith. The model is conversational as we discuss and apply bite-size chunks of Bible to increasingly hungry appetites. This is where we are seeing significant spiritual growth in the community.

We are intentionally programme-light in dcc to enable us to engage in community events and so make new connections where we are. We enjoyed learning Irish recently and made some new friends there; it was wonderful to have an Irish carol at our Christmas gathering last year. And we have held our own events, which we call 'gates' – ways – into dcc. These can be curry nights, pub quizzes, sports events; all are organised simply to meet people. We have partnered with other community groups to run a food bank, do a litter lift and reach out to families bereaved by suicide. There is no them and us in dcc, in our community everyone is us.

We have set ourselves up as a limited company with charitable status and have a small board of directors who lead the community. We anticipate that future leadership in dcc will be nurtured from within the community itself. All of us within the current leadership team have other jobs, working in A&E, in coaching and consultancy, even selling beds, to sustain ourselves.

Down Community Church - kitchenWe have experienced some hostility from local churches but enjoy considerable favour from the community, who have strongly encouraged us to stay and value our friendship. We are a different kind of church. We have hundreds of followers on social media and a number of sponsors who give generously to our mission. We have had opportunity to share our story of unlearning and innovation with many organisations and conferences and received such interest and support.

We are excited to link up with the fresh expressions movement and are keen to learn from the journeys of others.

Church: what time is it? (Rich Tweedy)

Rich Tweedy asks what time it is.

Pioneer ministers are restless people.

There's a driving sense of urgency that we need radical ways of doing and being church – and that if we miss the immediacy of this challenge, the church will die. At the same time there's a frustration that other people just aren't getting it. I've learned that one of the first tasks of pioneers, therefore, is to enable others to see the urgency in such a way as to recognise how to respond to it.

I'm working as a curate in a group of churches in rural west Worcestershire, which is led by the effervescent David Sherwin. It is growing a remarkable blend of both traditional and radical forms of church. We face similar issues to many rural churches: traditional Sunday services attracting 10 people, mostly aged over 60, where three decades ago there would have been 40 people of all ages.

It's not hard for a traditional church stalwart to see that there's a problem here. The issue is to understand why it has occurred – and only then can new forms of church be considered. For this, it is important to explain what time it is. I have had to go on a 'journey' myself in order to be able to recognise and answer that question.

I originally trained as an astronomer. Thus, when some years later I joined a large and inspirational New Wine church in Cheltenham, I was perplexed by one recurring theme: that we live in a post-modern culture and need to engage with it. My science training makes me realise there are certain incontrovertible facts: the earth goes round the Sun, the speed of light is constant, entropy always increases; I'm therefore not very receptive to post-modern denials of objective reality. However, there came a point when I realised that it doesn't matter what I think of the philosophy itself, the fact is that the culture has changed from the one I was trained in, and 'post-modern' is a meaningful and accurate description of this new culture.

I then realised that if the gospel is to be communicated in the 21st century, it has to be done in ways that are meaningful to people living in a post-modern world – not in ways that I personally feel more comfortable with.

This journey helps me to couch the urgency of the present in terms that regular churchgoers seem to find helpful. I find myself saying, 'You and I were born and brought up in the modern era, within Christendom. However, we now live in a very different world, which is post-modern and post-Christendom. Therefore, what worked 30 years ago doesn't work now. This isn't your fault: it's a symptom of the culture around us changing so rapidly.'

Pioneer ministers will know that the post-modern world opens new opportunities; we recognise that people are keen for authenticity; more open to spirituality, and desire genuine relationships. Thus our job is to enable established churchgoers to recognise and embrace these opportunities. Explaining the obvious problem of declining congregations in terms of the cultural changes points the way to how a fresh expression of church might be an effective response – and this means more people buy into the vision.

In west Worcestershire we've therefore had some success with a Sunday morning café church in two of the villages because it's high on relationship and low on religious structure. It's vital that it's welcoming to those who would rarely step inside a church and that it's family-friendly – but it's also an opportunity for elderly stalwarts to get out of the house, meet people and have a chat. It's still early days and we're constantly learning and growing but it is an exciting journey to be on.

  • Some readers may recognise 'what time is it?' as one of the worldview questions advocated by NT Wright in books like The New Testament and the People of God. The other questions are 'Who are we?', 'Where are we?', 'What's the problem?' and 'What's the solution?' Each of these might usefully be asked in most church contexts.

Vitalise – update Dec13

The Christmas story is being re-told for smartphone users in a new project by the Vitalise fresh expression of church in Wolverhampton.

Using the gifts that God has given them has prompted many talented members of Vitalise to use dance, drumming, rap and drawing – among other things – on a blog which can be accessed via QR Codes around the city centre. By scanning a code on their smartphone, people will see how the creative arts have been used by the Wolverhampton-based community to reflect characters involved in the Nativity.

The Christmas QR Codes blog has been created by Vitalise, which is predominantly made up of young people and adults under 30, as their 'Christmas present' to the city – something that can be given away for free. Posters advertising the QR Codes are displayed in coffee shops, YMCA hostels and many other places.

Deborah Walton took on the leadership of Vitalise earlier this year and tells us more.

Vitalise - treeIt struck me when I arrived that we had quite a mix of young people; some go to church with their family on a Sunday and then come to us later on in the day while others have only ever gone along to church for Christmas and other special occasions – if at all. But what is interesting is that, whatever links they've got or haven't got, many don't have an opportunity to express their faith in the way that they would want to.

If they are part of a church, they might get asked to make tea or coffee or welcome people when they arrive or help with children's work but many are not using their own gifts. So, when I came, I started by asking them, 'What are you good at? What do you really enjoy doing?'

It was sad to hear some of the responses. 'I'm really good at dance but I guess you are never going to need that' and 'I'm good at rapping but you don't have that in church do you?' So we began to think, 'How can we communicate the Bible in a way that's missional? How can we use what people want to do for God? How can we make the most of our unique context? How can we give back to Wolverhampton?'

So I sat down with a member of Vitalise who's brilliant at strategic thinking and we started to brainstorm ideas around creativity and Christmas.We decided to look at key figures such as Mary, Joseph, Gabriel, and the shepherds – and tell members of our community,'Pick a character that speaks to you and decide what you want to do to interpret their story.' There was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we wanted it to be diverse. Some ideas didn't work out but we have been working on this since August so we allowed time for that to happen! The wonderful thing is that we haven't had anything submitted for the project that we couldn't use.

Vitalise - phoneThe creative expressions are very raw because we haven't edited or changed them in any way. It may not all be theologically sound but their hearts have gone into it and that's amazing because some of those involved have been genuinely on the margins. When I arrived, somewere the people who sat at the back and didn't join in but this has been quite a transformational project. It has enabled some people to make a massive statement of faith to their friends and family because it has allowed them to say something about their faith they may never have said in the normal way of things.

It is very important to me that this isn't seen as a one-off project and my hope and prayer is that these gifts of expression can continue to be used to speak of God. The dancer, for instance, has now set up the Vitalise dance group which will perform at the Fusion Mass covenant service towards the end of January which the Vitalise community is hosting with our partners in Wolverhampton Central Parish and the Methodist Church. She's now working on a routine for the newly formed dance group to express the Vine and the Branches reading from John 15. We are hoping we can keep developing these things.

I am often asked things like, 'Why should there be fresh expressions of church? Why is it important?' My response is that it is really important because we are able to engage differently which is what we have done with this project which would have been much more difficult in an inherited church context. The Vitalise community includes people of different denominations and so we sit in a 'neutral' place in terms of the wider city. I genuinely believe in the 'both/and' of mixed economy and this is a really good illustration of the practical outworking of this theory: we have advertised some traditional carol services happening in the city in other Churches on our Christmas blog as well as our own.

‘Franchise’ church? The same but different

Graham Cray's monthly e-xpressions column.

One of the distinguishing marks of a fresh expression of church is that it is appropriate to its context. Because of this, some have questioned whether models used in many contexts are true to this value. Don't they seem to be more of a franchise approach than a contextual approach?

A primary feature of our Western context is a consumer culture. Within that, franchises are a mixed blessing as they are part of a marketing strategy designed to win our loyalty through their logos, products, reputation, and so on. As such, they are to be treated with caution by those of us who are their target markets. We always have to ask what underlying values are being carried and what worldview is being reinforced. As with much fast food franchising, do they encourage something unhealthy? But, at the same time, franchising is also a perfectly acceptable way to give a product or service identifiable identity and make it known. All 'consumers' need to develop skills of discernment: I confess a love for things Apple but I still have control of my choices.

But when all of this is applied to models of fresh expression or to resources for missional church, there are substantial limits to the appropriateness of the marketing analogy. Just because there are support organisations behind café church at Costa, Messy Church or cell church, does not make those models a Trojan horse for consumerism. Logos are not an evidence of inappropriate compromise with culture: they are one of the ways to communicate in it. That's why Fresh Expressions has one.

Faithful daily discipleship requires discernment with all brands and franchises. Equally, discernment is required about the choice of model of fresh expression of church but it is discernment of a different kind. Consumers are expected to ask, 'What would be good for me?' Pioneers of fresh expressions ask, 'What would be good for them? What model of fresh expression would most appropriately and faithfully shape a community of God's people for, and among, these people, this context?'

A major danger from our consumer society comes from our culture's liking for instant, 'off the peg' solutions. One of the most frequent mistakes made is to short circuit the process of discernment, of listening to God in – and for – a context; by taking something off the shelf or by assuming that something that worked well somewhere else will automatically work where we are.

No-one is suggesting that the shape of each fresh expression must be unique, only that it fit its context as it seeks to win unchurched people to faith. In our franchise culture it would be strange if contextual church did not include models which work in a wide variety of settings. The fact that the model may be appropriate in many other contexts is neither here nor there. The question is, 'What does God want here?' The key is always appropriateness to context and the opportunity being opened by God. So don't clone, listen to God first. Which is the group to whom God is sending you? Who is not being reached through your existing work?

Current research being conducted in various Church of England dioceses highlights 20 different models of fresh expression, and is open to discover more. The strength of many of these models is that considerable expertise has been gathered about them. Once we are clear what is appropriate to context we are not left to make it all up ourselves or reinvent the wheel – but local fine tuning will always be necessary. In an era of new missional imagination, don't short circuit the work of the Spirit by foreclosing the decision about the model of church too early.

The team that wrote Mission-Shaped Church coined the term fresh expressions of church, in part to avoid the limits of some existing 'brands'. We wanted something broader, more open to new missional imagination. Almost inevitably in our culture it has become a sort of brand itself – but its core DNA is that church must be contextual not cloned. We wrote that to begin with the church may mean that the mission is lost, but to begin with the mission can mean that the church – appropriate contextual church – is found.

Please don't begin with cell church, Messy Church or café church as your starting assumption. Begin with prayerful discernment. Follow the missionary Spirit in your setting and the appropriate model of church will be found.

+Graham Cray

Time for a change?

Graham Cray's monthly e-xpressions column.

I am delighted with the appointment of Canon Phil Potter to be my successor as Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions Team. Phil is experienced in fresh expressions and pioneer ministry at local church, diocesan, national and international levels and will bring fresh vision and considerable expertise to the team.

His appointment also gives me the opportunity to reflect on the management of leadership transitions in fresh expressions of church as a whole. Leadership transitions are tricky for a number of reasons.

Pioneers are not all the same. Sometimes the founding leader or team has the gifts and calling to grow a fresh expression to maturity. Sometimes their gifts are primarily start-up gifts and it is vital that there be an earlier transition to someone with the ability to mature the fresh expression while not losing its missional edge. This is not a transition from a missional to a pastoral role, but the necessary change to make continuing mission sustainable. Some leaders also find it hard to let go, even for the benefit of the fresh expression they have planted.

One vital transition is from founding leadership to indigenous leadership. If the fresh expression has come into being through cross cultural mission, one crucial evidence that it has taken healthy root in its context will be that it is possible for a local leader or leadership team to take it on. Even when the founding leader or team has nurtured 'local' leaders it can still be hard to hand over the reins. Inevitably any leaders whom we have discipled will be less experienced at the start of their leadership than we are at the end of our time in leadership. Inevitably some things will not be done 'as well' for a while. But how else can new leaders learn?

Different phases of the life of a fresh expression require different gifts. It will often be important to hand responsibility on to people who won't do things our way, because they have different, but the right gifts for the future. At the same time it is vital that there be continuity in vision. Leadership transition should not often involve a change in fundamental DNA. I have seen a fresh expression nearly wrecked by a new leader imposing an entirely different model once they had been appointed.

It is very rare for there to be a right or easy time for a leadership transition. Many of our best laid plans for succession fail because life happens, circumstances change, or key people lapse as disciples. A leader moves on earlier than planned, or stands down for personal reasons, and an unexpected vacuum has to be contained. My advice is not to rush to fill the vacancy. A temporary 'interregnum' draws new leadership gifts out of unexpected people. A leader's departure can reveal both whom they have equipped for leadership and who might have been held by their presence.

Leadership transitions are not a cause for fear. The overall leader of the fresh expression, always there, is Jesus present through the Holy Spirit. He never retires or resigns. He will continue to lead the fresh expression until, and after, a new chief assistant leader is appointed. One of the remarkable things about the growth of the fresh expressions movement has been the number of new, and often unexpected, lay leaders it has produced. So use a leadership vacancy to see who else God might be calling. It is a matter of discernment whether the fresh expression needs a leader from within or from outside its ranks. Sometimes an internal appointment is necessary for continuity; sometimes an outside appointment is needed for the sake of fresh energy and perspective.

Finally: no transition is perfect. There is always loss and gain. The Archangel Gabriel already has a job! The whole story of the church is one of God's grace, through imperfect leaders and imperfect Christian communities. It is the grace of God, nor our imperfect processes, in which we are to trust.

+Graham Cray