Day: 9 December 2013
Keeping the momentum going
Graham Cray's monthly e-xpressions column.
As I reflect on 2013, there are many encouragements.
This year, the central statistics reported to the Methodist Conference were extremely heartening and we have also had some really good research information drawn from in-depth studies of dioceses carried out by the Church Army Research's Unit. Watch out for news of the full findings, which will be released at the Faith in Growth Research Conference on 16th January 2014 and on our website.
There is clear evidence of momentum.
There are tens of thousands of people in fresh expressions of church, the great majority of whom would not be part of any church apart from this; indeed many have never been part of any church before this! Both the Methodist statistics and the Anglican research show that the greatest momentum has been in the past few years. God's Spirit is clearly at work and the planting of a fresh expression of church is proving to be one of the most fruitful means of re-evangelising Britain.
I am encouraged by the diversity. In the first dioceses to be studied by the Church Army's Research Unit, there were as many as 20 different models. There is evidence of missional imagination – rather than the cloning of ideas which worked somewhere else – with local context and the leading of the Holy Spirit clearly being taken seriously.
We are learning more about developing discipleship in fresh expressions of church. Our Discipleship Round Table includes leaders from a number of very different fresh expressions which have all been established for some years. Much of the learning was summarized in my recent booklet, making disciples in fresh expressions of church.
Another feature of the research was the considerable number of new lay leaders involved. This raises questions about training and support. I strongly recommend that anyone involved in leading a fresh expression should complete the mission shaped ministry course as soon as they are able. Details of current courses are on the website – please contact us if there isn't a course in your area and you would like one to be offered.
This year has also seen ecumenical growth with the work developing further in the United Reformed Church and in the Congregational Federation and new partnerships formed with the Church of Scotland and The Salvation Army. In addition, courtesy of our partner the Council for World Mission (Europe), we held a consultation day with church leaders in Wales. Similar ecumenical partnerships have begun in other parts of the world in 2013, in particular in Germany and South Africa.
There is clear evidence of momentum and growth and I am delighted to be able to hand over the leadership of the team to Canon Phil Potter, currently Director of Pioneer Ministry in the Diocese of Liverpool, when I retire at the end of April. Phil's experience is ideal for the next stage.
Momentum does not mean there are no problems. A number of obstacles still remain. We have not yet reached a tipping point in the churches and the default setting in many places is still, 'If we can only do what we have always done better it will all turn out all right.' That is not so. There is indeed growth to be had when inherited model churches are both missional and hospitable: the mixed economy is still vital but is has to be the mixed economy. We will not turn the tide without both dimensions. Just 'more of the same' is a guarantee of further decline.
This obstacle is also evident in deployment policies. Pioneers, lay or ordained, funded, self supporting or voluntary, are seen a luxury extra, rather than the key to reaching otherwise unreached people.
We live in times of financial austerity where the new is often the first thing to be cut. Most denominational funding is for developing work internally. The Fresh Expressions team struggles to fund the work it does, and the resources it provides, for the denominations in the partnership. We are still heavily dependent on charitable giving and have more to raise for the next phase.
We are always happy to hear of trusts or donors who would be interested in supporting our work, so please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to know more of what we do! Individuals are also welcome to donate directly through our website.
2013 has been a year of God's faithfulness. Please pray for the momentum to continue, for the team and for the provision of the resources we need.
+Graham Cray
Springfield Church – update Oct12
Reside – update Dec13
Based on the Grange Park and Fairmeadows estates in south Loughborough, Reside is a community supported by the Methodist and Anglican Churches. One of its leaders, Debbie Shields, tells of an eventful year.
It has been a very special time for me as a Methodist lay worker and for Reside's co-leader, Adele Adshead, who is training for ministry in the Church of England. We work side by side and that work was acknowledged in October when we were both commissioned as Pioneers at a service in Leicester Cathedral. It is the first year that Pioneers have been recognised by both the Methodist and Anglican Churches here and it was fantastic to have the Bishop of Leicester, the Chair of the Northampton Methodist District and Superintendent of the Loughborough Circuit all praying for us!
Things went in a different direction than we expected when Reside's original leader, Methodist Deacon Ellie Griffin, moved on in August 2012. Having failed at interview to identify a suitable candidate to become the next full-time worker as expected, it was felt that God seemed to be calling for leadership to come from within Reside; something we had always planned for but thought was much further down the line!
So Adele, Methodist minister John Anderson and me took on the running of Reside. John has now moved to a ministerial post in Prestatyn but we are so grateful for all he did. As a result of all the changes, we took some time this year to carefully consider the vision for Reside; recognising the fact that we no longer had a full-time person in post. This was a significant time of prayer and discernment as we involved the whole Reside Community alongside the Steering Group in a 'vision seeking process' which ran from January to June.
So here we are now going into year 7 of the project, fully licensed and ready to go! We have been delighted that another member of the community has recently joined the team and together we spent a quiet day at MONOS – a charitable organisation that seeks to foster a monastic spirit within the Christian church and society – setting our priorities for the year. Shortage of working hours is quite an issue but it means that it's vital for us to encourage and develop new leadership and build on the involvement of members.
We have a wide-ranging programme of activities. Our alternative Halloween is particularly popular with our children dressing up as angels and heroes to give out glow-sticks and goody bags to 'trick or treaters'. We have also just run our lantern-making workshop and they will be used at our open-air carol services.
In terms of regular activities, a recent highlight for us was starting 'Sunday Space', which takes place on the first Sunday of every month and aims to give people opportunity to explore faith through art activities, discussion, prayer and conversation.
Our cell group Excel meets on Mondays and this has seen exciting growth in discipleship and commitment of its members as well as a small increase in numbers.
We have regular contact with some people with no church background, mostly through our Friday 'Coffee and Chat' mornings. Different people come every week and there are about 20 adults and children we see regularly. The challenge now is how we grow that and spread our wings a bit. We also have good links with the local primary school and the local residents' association and we are active on the Grange Park Centre group, which is working with local residents, developers William Davis and Charnwood Borough Council to see community facilities provided for the estate.
Lack of community facilities is a real challenge for the estate as well as for the development of Reside – there's nowhere to run activities. However, a great opportunity has recently come through a manse that was bought when Ellie was here; we rented it out for a while but then quite a few people within Reside were thinking, why rent? Shouldn't we be using it as a resource? We went through the process of change of use with the local council and we've now got that permission to use Wysall House for small-scale community events and meetings. The manse is a really modern, four-bedroom house with a big kitchen, lounge, dining room and study. This will help us so much in expanding our activities and being able to advertise publically. Previously any events had to take place in our homes that was not always easy. It's great now to be able to set up for an event and close the door behind us.
So things are really moving on. We are extremely grateful to all the funders and supporters who have stood by us through the changes They have given us financial security for the immediate future and we are now beginning to look seriously at putting steps in place to move towards independence as we grow into maturity.
A heart for God and Harley Davidsons (Andrew Roberts)
Andrew Roberts reflects on a visit to Zac's Place in Swansea.
Some days we are reminded of why we do what we do. I recently experienced one such day. It was the day I went to Zac's Place.
On arrival my first reaction was, 'It's just like the film!' Having played the Zac's Place clip from expressions making a difference many, many times it was great to meet the people and see so much of what appears on the dvd. All of the characters who speak on the film were there.
If you ever meet anyone who is cynical, sceptical or dismissive when it comes to fresh expressions of church, may I suggest that – in love of course – you bundle them in the back of a van and drive them to Swansea. If meeting the 'Zaclicans' does not transform them then I don't know what will.
I encountered a community of self-proclaimed 'ragamuffins' that is one of the most authentic Christian communities I have ever met. In my weaker moments I would gladly destroy many a church noticeboard that says 'All are welcome' because it is simply not true – unless the visitor totally conforms to the whims and wishes of the controlling powers.
At Zac's, I instead met people really trying their very best to make all welcome and it doesn't matter whether you arrive in a limousine, on a pushbike or simply walk in off the street. Of course, as we know from the film, there are bikers – big guys in leathers and combat trousers who love their Harley Davidsons. Please Lord, if there are any internal combustion engines in heaven may they growl like a Harley.
It's well known that Zac's Place offers an open door to the battered and broken and those with serious addiction issues but it also offers a real welcome to middle class professionals. There is no inverse snobbery, no resentment of those who have some of the nicer things of life – just real people trying their best to be real disciples of Jesus.
And then there is Sean. This was the second time I had met him and again I came away thinking he is one of the most Christ-like people I have met. Let's be fair, he looks the part for starters but then he feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the hurting, turns the other cheek and gets a beating when other bikers want to punish someone for the crimes of paedophile priests. Unashamedly centred on God's Word, he likes nothing more to open up the Bible and offer to others the Bread of Life. He offers a striking reminder that we should give proper prominence to the role of the Bible in forming disciples.
I was there to do a vision day in partnership with Associate Missioners Alicia Baker and Sean, both of whom were superb in presentation and conversation. We had asked to go to Zac’s to try doing a day in a bona fide fresh expression of church and it worked extremely well. Zac's went to town on the hospitality. There was coffee, cakes and sweets galore and a fabulous lunch of homemade soup, baked potatoes and salads. The standards when it came to timings and technology were very high – ragamuffin culture and the professional standards we aspire to worked very well together.
Perhaps most importantly, the learning was added to and enhanced by the venue – partly because:
- people there were living and breathing a fresh expression all day;
- Zac's Place people joined in. So when we presented our learning/theory/models, we could test it straight away against the realities of that community – and I'm delighted to report that most of it fitted extremely well.
Discussion of values was particularly interesting, with the Zaclicans highlighting the importance of the value of transformation – both personal transformation (including conversion and discipleship) and the transformation brought about by the struggles for social justice. I came away challenged that we need to do more to explore, encourage and be part of prophetic witness and the struggle for social justice.
We talk about the need for culturally authenticity and this was a culturally authentic vision day. If we had been spouting nonsense we would have been told in no uncertain terms that we were doing so! Instead, it was a delight to see the members of Zac's being affirmed in who they are and what they do.
At the end of the day Sean said how helpful it had been for the community to think through who they are and realise they are a valued part of this thing called the fresh expressions movement.
For future reference, work and planning, this way of learning in situ would be really good to proliferate. Sharing co-produced experiential learning takes things up a level! The Zac's folk highlighted the value of transformation. Their living of the value transformed me. It was a wonderful day.