Phil Potter discusses making space for new things.
A group of people were preparing for an ascent to the top of Mont Blanc in the French Alps, and were told to leave behind all unnecessary equipment as it was an arduous and difficult climb. A young Englishman disagreed and went ahead of the group carrying his usual very heavy load. The rest of the group followed and on the climb noticed certain things that someone had left along the way… a blanket, some large blocks of cheese, a bottle of wine and several heavy pieces of camera equipment. When they reached the summit, they discovered their now wiser companion who had decided (the hard way) to jettison everything unnecessary!
One thing I am noticing increasingly as the Church continues its ascent towards becoming more effectively mission-shaped is that pioneer leaders at every level are grappling with what it means to prune and prioritise. We are recognising (sometimes the hard way) that we cannot introduce and pioneer new ways of working without first of all dealing with the way we work now. Let me give you one or two examples.
In the Church of England, the eight bishops' staff teams who have attended an Inter Diocesan Learning Community over the past three years have all now made significant moves to make regular space in their crowded agendas for serious reflective thinking and decision making on the ways in which they will increasingly learn how to innovate for the future. They have recognised that unless they own that as a priority, the urgency of the day-to-day business will always extinguish their genuine desire to keep looking forward and think more radically.
In the Missional Leaders' Community that I created for lay pioneers, we recognised that every good intention to make this a source of support and refreshment would be seriously undermined if we simply added another meeting to all of the other demands faced by these leaders on a daily basis; not least in their local church. We decided from the beginning, then, to enable them to prune their commitment to other things, and deliberately decided to gather once a month on a Sunday morning or afternoon. In doing this we negotiated with their church leaders to release them from their usual commitment to church attendance on those days, and we were grateful to those who gave their blessing for graciously realising that some of their best leaders needed a Sabbath too, and would never get it without some innovative pruning and prioritising.
In fresh expressions of church that first set out with a monthly rhythm of meeting, many are wisely not assuming that growing into maturity is about turning the monthly gathering into a weekly one. Instead of trying to repeat and clone what is already happening, they are seeing the four weeks of a standard month as an opportunity to offer people a varying diet. They may, for instance, gather for collective community and worship twice a month, but on the other weeks introduce discipleship groups or social events… in other words they don't assume the old paradigm of 'service every Sunday' and extras if you're really committed!
Finally, as a team and organisation, Fresh Expressions has now entered a period of 'pruning and prioritising' as we continue to wrestle with how we can best serve the Church as the fresh expressions story transitions from 'initiative to movement'. The list of possible priorities is huge and the challenge at times daunting, but a generous and faithful God has already multiplied the available resources way beyond a single team and we are so thankful for our 'associate' friends in every sense.
Please pray for us then as we increasingly seek in our role to catalyze, encourage and connect the many thousands of us who are working in different and dynamic ways to champion fresh expressions of church. The pruning and prioritising is bearing fruit.