Day: 12 August 2015

Fresh expressions – Aussie style (Steve Taylor)

Steve TaylorSteve Taylor describes fresh expressions, Aussie style.

Here in South Australia as a Uniting Church, we've had a fair few overseas folk talk to us about fresh expressions and new forms of church. It's one thing to hear from international visitors; it's another to have a genuinely local conversation. So the fresh expressions task force organised 'Putting legs on the local fresh expressions of church' as an attempt to gather around an ongoing local conversation. The event was to some extent based around UK Fresh Expressions vision days but with a specific South Australian flavour.

The day kicked off with an hour introducing concepts and thinking around fresh expressions. This included discussing the 'Who?', 'What?', 'When?', 'Where?', 'Why?', 'How?', and what fresh expressions mean in light of Uniting Church.

About 25 people attended the event at Christ Church, Wayville, which was billed as a day for strategists, wonderers, sponsors and dreamers. One person drove six hours from the Eyre Peninsula to be there (it is Australia after all!). Others drove two hours from Murray Bridge or an hour from Strathalybn.

We then broke for lunch. All participants had been invited to bring local produce to share. This was a stunning success with lots of creative local flavours being offered, among them free range eggs, olives, citrus tarts and doughnuts.

It's one thing to have overseas folk talk to us about fresh expressions and new forms of church; it's another to have a genuinely local conversation

We then listened to three local fresh expressions of church tell their stories.

  • Eco-church, nine years old, meeting outdoors with a commitment to the body in worship and a desire to bless the city and think ecologically.

  • A yet-to-go public group wanting to plant a faith community in a local school, currently meeting to pray, to experiment, and to spend time being human within their local community.

  • The Esther Project, using story and alternative worship to engage the arts community.

Again, a wonderful reminder that there is some fine local 'produce' in fresh expressions. It also reminded us of the uniqueness that is fresh expressions and the ups and downs as well as the importance of experimentation and being open to change.

This was followed by time in groups to explore more of what we had heard. There were three types of conversation: the stakeholders, the dreamers, the doers, talked about what they would like to say to each other in light of fresh expressions.

Getting back together once again, we were nourished by the reminder of the diversity that is in the body of Christ and the need for us to value the vital roles of different people.

We then finished in worship led by a fourth local fresh expression: Candlelight Reflections. They had created a beautiful space for music, reflection and meditation.

Plenty more to do, but this was an enjoyable beginning.

Hidden and visible? Contemplative Fire South Downs (Tessa Holland)

Tessa HollandThis contemplative ministry is twofold, involving the hidden area of prayer and the more visible task of trying to nurture community locally. Tessa Holland, who lives in Sussex as a contemplative-in-action, tells us more.

The last three years have seen a huge sea-change in my life from a curacy in traditional village parish ministry to a contemplative pioneer presence in a semi-rural area. We haven't moved house, but the landscape of mission and ministry is entirely different, with its own particular mix of challenge and opportunity.

This ministry is primarily hidden and solitary which is both enriching and, at times, difficult. The usual landmarks are not present. There is no church building, no set services, no congregation and no public role. When I left parish ministry with the blessing of general license, it was like setting out into uncharted territory. Gradually there have emerged cairns and way-markers for the journey. The Contemplative Fire Rhythm of Life of contemplative, creative and compassionate practice offers a trellis for daily life which grounds me locally and also connects me in prayer and practice to my fellow companions around the country.

Being home-based with family also provides an earthed environment and rhythm of physical work in the house and garden. I have at last stepped wholeheartedly into the hidden work of listening in prayer, Scripture and creation as work that I have been given to do with much to learn! Earlier this year on silent retreat, I was struck by the monastery enclosure which enables the nuns to live and breathe a life of prayer. This brought home to me a call to step more deeply into prayer as that which gives breath to the whole; I was also struck by the paradox of how enclosure enables deep engagement with the creative activity of God in the world.

We have discovered the hard way that doing less and staying local enables us to be more authentically present to place and people – there is a temptation, and often an expectation, to be seen to be doing

This work of prayer feeds a shared visible ministry of creative and compassionate action, which seeks to enable and nurture the Contemplative Fire community locally. We meet occasionally with other Companions from across the area for mutual listening and learning, usually around a meal. We are attentive to the cultural thirst for meaning, stillness and silence, and seek to avoid the prescriptive, authoritarian or activist styles of some religious practice. Gatherings for the Eucharist involve creating liturgy together and each month, we also offer early Saturday morning sessions on contemplative praxis, in a small farmyard church up the road on the Downs. A wide range of people come, travelling in from across the region, including those hungry for stillness and those who are 'spiritual but not religious', drawn by a mystical perspective of Christ. Spiritual Direction and monthly Quiet Garden days are also on offer at our home.

In the midst of all this there are things being learned and questions being asked. Firstly, we have discovered the hard way that doing less and staying local enables us to be more authentically present to place and people. Secondly, there is a temptation, and often an expectation, to be seen to be doing. It really feels necessary and important that that as a community we honour, as primary, the call to the deep work of silence, prayer and contemplative practice – staying counter-cultural and at the edge.

Another challenge is that relating as a whole community takes an investment of time and commitment. We recognise that small cell groups work for some people, but not for others; within community we have a wide range of personal callings– one size does not fit all! So, how do we enable people to be part of Contemplative Fire in a way that is life-giving to them and to community? This isn't only about turning up at things! Should there be a set time of discernment before somebody becomes a Companion, maybe followed by a personal decision and promise to be renewed periodically? These are all potential growth points which we are wrestling with.

There are other questions too – about leadership and gifts, order and priesthood. In this edge place, out of the limelight, we are, as part of the wider Contemplative Fire community, seeking to live the answers and to be an authentic and mutual local community of presence, hidden and visible, active in the way of Christ.

Fresh expressions: fishing nets or safety nets? (Matt Stone)

Matt StoneMatt Stone asks whether fresh expressions of church are fishing nets or safety nets.

A key question for fresh expressions is: who comes? Are fresh expressions actually being fishing nets and reaching the unchurched, or are they merely safety nets, picking up disenchanted and bored churchgoers? As part of my MA dissertation, published this month by Grove Books, I looked at six varied fresh expressions in the south-east of England and asked exactly these questions. Here's a snapshot of some of my findings.

In keeping with Tearfund's 2007 Report 'Churchgoing in the UK', which suggest that 19% of women attend church at least monthly, compared with only 11% of men, the majority of those who attended the surveyed fresh expressions were female. Considering that women are much more likely to be 'open dechurched' and men 'closed unchurched', it is clear that there is still a serious missional challenge in reaching men for Christ.

The age profile of those attending the fresh expressions was mixed. One might expect a higher proportion of under 30s, but with the exception of the two fresh expressions intentionally aimed at these age groups, this did not appear to be the case. The largest age cohorts were 30-44 and 45-59, and the smallest was 75+. This is in contrast to Tearfund's wider church attendance figures which suggest that one in four over sixties go to church regularly, whilst only one in eight 35-44 year-olds do so.

The overwhelming majority attended at least monthly. At each of the expressions there were between one and three people who were there for the first time, making up 5-33% of attendance. There are no comparable figures for general churchgoing, but given the size of most of the expressions studied, they probably had a much higher proportion of first time visitors than an average church. In terms of length of attendance, respondents' results were mixed.

Are fresh expressions fishing nets (reaching the unchurched) or merely safety nets (picking up disenchanted and bored churchgoers)?

Over 87% of those surveyed in every expression, and 100% in three of the expressions, had attended a church before. Hence, they were primarily churched or dechurched, rather than unchurched. However, it should be noted that at one fresh expression in particular, first time attendees were not encouraged to complete questionnaires, and only three did so. One of the leaders there counted nine completely new attendees, and 35 individuals who were not from that church. Whilst some of these may be from other churches, or are dechurched, we cannot ignore the possibility that a proportion were previously unchurched.

Nonetheless, whilst this fresh expression had the highest proportion of unchurched, all but two (11%) of its other respondents did attend another church too. In contrast, 30-43% of churched/dechurched respondents at all of the other expressions except one did not. Consequently, for a significant minority of those who attend, it is their only contact with a church.

Overall, the research threw up a mixture of good news and challenging news. It became clear that the fresh expressions surveyed were performing an important role for those who attended: whether they were bored churchgoers, dechurched or unchurched. However, it also became clear that very few unchurched people were being reached by some of the fresh expressions, raising further questions for how fresh expressions can reach those still untouched by a Christian community.

The faith of Generation Y (Sally Nash)

Sally NashSally Nash explores the faith of Generation Y.

In many churches it is Generation Y (those born from 1982 onwards) that is missing. For the last five years I have been involved in a project with Sylvia Collins-Mayo and Bob Mayo researching the faith of young people attending Christian youth and community work which may be of interest to fresh expressions.

The young people in the study invested their everyday faith in a secular trinity of family, friends and their own self. In these relationships they found their meaning, hope and purpose. We call this 'immanent faith'. Immanent faith was generally good enough to get by – and most of the young people were therefore indifferent to Christianity. Inevitably, however, there were times when immanent faith broke down – family members got sick, friendships fell apart, etc.

Under these circumstances our young people (including infrequent churchgoers) often made do with a faded cultural memory of Christianity gleaned from family, school and wider culture to help them get through their difficulties and restore their immanent faith. This was expressed most clearly in young people's accounts of praying. The young people were also interested in what Christianity might have to say about death and the afterlife, and what it had to say about ethics and living a 'good life'. Authenticity was their guiding principle for both belief and behaviour.

Possible responses

For infrequent churchgoers, the lack of hostility towards Christianity opens out opportunities to tell the Christian story and share its traditions, provided this is done in a way that is led by young people and the issues they face. Ethics can offer a transition point into the faith. 'Does it work?' is a key question for young people, more so than 'Is it true?'

'Does it work?' is a key question for young people, more so than 'Is it true?'

Adopting a 'sacralised' approach to youth work by providing opportunities for prayer and occasions to discuss and make sense of difficulties and death through the Christian tradition – its symbols, stories, rituals and buildings – would seem to be an obvious lead to follow up. The close relationships young people had with their families suggest there is scope for intergenerational engagement.

We see the book The Faith of Generation Y as continuing a dialogue on how to be church with Generation Y and look forward to hearing the stories. (See Sylvia Collins-Mayo, Bob Mayo, Sally Nash with Chris Cocksworth, The Faith of Generation Y, CHP, 2010 for a full write-up of the findings.)

The fantasy cycle and fresh expressions – 2 (Ben Edson)

Ben EdsonBen Edson completes his look at the fantasy cycle and fresh expressions. You can read part 1 here.

I have previously considered the Anticipation, Dream and Frustration elements in a framework called the fantasy cycle of: Anticipation – Dream – Frustration – Nightmare – Death wish. Now I'm looking at the remaining stages in relation to fresh expressions of church.

Nightmare

The nightmare doesn't necessarily lead to death wish. The cycle is still breakable and death is not predestined. Nightmare comes on the back of frustration and I think it is a stage that we need to go through.

It's hard to qualify what makes for a nightmare. My experience was that it involved a variety of factors until, one day, the realisation hit me that things were tough. There may have been suspicions about it for a while, but all of a sudden you're firefighting and those hopeful dreams seem so far away. I feel the nightmare is the hardest stage to break because usually there will be associated pastoral crises that need dealing with as well. 

It's not simply a case of re-ordering, as that only serves to paper over the cracks. It's doing the hard work with your community that exposes you to the brokenness of the cross. It's the time that you cry with people in their brokenness and your brokenness; it's the time that you realise that it's not all easy. Yet, perhaps the hardest thing about this stage is that you still get the 'tourists': those looking to see the dream and not finding it.

Death wish

I'm all for death – I think that it can be liberating for a fresh expression – but we should not assume that death means there will be a resurrection. Death is death.

My leaving Sanctus1 involved the death of my life in that community, yet the community carries on – the community is bigger than the pioneer

I also think that the death wish may be something that different people go through at different times, in part depending on their role within the community. For example, my leaving Sanctus1 involved the death of my life in that community – yet the community carries on. The community is bigger than the pioneer. The death wish was individual rather than corporate; the danger is making a personal death wish corporate.

However, there is also a time when a personal death wish needs to be worked through for the sake of the community; a time when we put our struggles and frustrations to one side as we're in a different place to the rest of the community. If we don't, we'll drag the community down with us.

When the death wish is corporate I think that is when it needs to die. The cycle has come to a close and the community ceases to be. Death is death.

At risk of repeating myself, I think that the cycle can be broken but the key piece of discernment is when to break that cycle and what to move into afterwards.

The fantasy cycle and fresh expressions – 1 (Ben Edson)

Ben EdsonBen Edson begins a look at the fantasy cycle and fresh expressions.

Recently I've been thinking about life cycle and fresh expressions of church, with specific reference to a framework called the fantasy cycle. The cycle (though not very cyclical at all) is: Anticipation – Dream – Frustration – Nightmare – Death wish.

Anticipation

I think there is the danger that we front-load with anticipation. Typically, a person, if training to be an Ordained Pioneer Minister, will do two or three years of theological training before they actually start something. This is all about anticipation; they're dreaming about what will be and what will happen … anticipating. At the same time, a permission giver is dreaming up possibilities. Anticipating.

One obvious problem with this is that when the pioneer arrives they are immediately in a goldfish bowl of their own expectancy and the local expectancies. When I was first employed as a pioneer in the city centre of Manchester, there was no Mission-shaped Church, no Fresh Expressions and no expectations! Just realistic hopes.

If the community is indigenous, then this anticipation is part of the formation of the church, happening as it does in the birthing community. If anticipation is part of the cycle, then I think that it should be done in context. It is a time of dreaming in community and of working out the possibilities, but it is predominantly about trying to live that anticipated dream.

Dream

The dream stage is not when you're dreaming about all the possibilities; it's when you're living the dream. The fresh expression is flourishing; there is energy and excitement about what the future holds and all that you seem to touch turns to gold. Please note … it doesn't last!

The problem with the dream stage is that it creates unrealistic expectations as to what the fresh expression will be like in the long term

However, the problem with the dream stage is that it creates unrealistic expectations as to what the fresh expression will be like in the long term. People start to think that it will always be like this, always be easy, and hence when things change – as they will – the memory of what has been becomes a powerful comparison to the present. The dream is an unsustainable phase; it attracts the consumer rather than the disciple and hence the dream needs to be a phase of high cost discipleship.

Frustration

I think it's no surprise that Frustration comes straight after Dream. In many ways the dream opens our eyes to the possibility of what could be, perhaps in a somewhat utopian way, but nevertheless once the eyes have been opened there is no turning back. Frustrations come because the dream will not last for ever, and hence I think that the first point of learning is to let people know that!

The challenge is negotiating a pathway through the frustration that does not necessarily lead to death. We accomplished this a few times when I was with Sanctus1 by reinventing ourselves; this would happen through a change in group set-up or venue. This seemed to re-energise people and bring the Dream stage back. However, this was temporary and we still remained in the cycle, the real challenge being to break it and move into something more permanent.

I'm becoming more convinced that the way in which the cycle will be broken is by a process of aggregation with the wider church. It will be an aggregation process that involves both parties learning together so that the fresh expression of church can move out of this cycle and move towards something more permanent. In the Anglican Church, ways in which the fresh expression can break the cycle may involve a Bishop's Mission Order or paying into the parish share. Without this reference to something 'other', I think that the fresh expression may become too self-absorbed and concerned about reclaiming the dream.

Next week, Nightmare and Death wish…

Church Unplugged or Pimp My Church (Dave Male)

Dave MaleDavid Male tries pimping his church – but settles for unplugging it.

Pimp My Church was my first choice for the title of my book Church Unplugged, but music TV channel MTV were not happy with me using it. (I did also wonder how I would explain that particular title to my mother and mother-in-law!)

For those unaware of the MTV programme, Pimp My Ride takes a conventional car and gives it a total makeover plus! There are very few limits, so your boring family car could end up with a water fountain and a DJ's sound system. The programme makers say, 'We turn lemons into lemonade so that you can drive down the street with your head held high.'

Part of the attraction of the title for me was the tension between totally transforming something on the outside to every conceivable extreme, but in terms of its engine, transmission, etc, it stays a conventional car. Everything changes and yet somehow nothing really changes.

My worry sometimes with all that is happening under the banner of fresh expressions of church/church planting is the danger that it can be simultaneously spectacular and superficial. I am by nature an optimist, but I worry we are too easily entranced by what seems to be spectacular. Often people tell me about some amazing church plant that now has 300 people within a year, but then when you start to ask some hard questions of how many of those are truly unchurched people who are now becoming disciples of Jesus the answers look far less convincing. The growth, I am afraid, is often the success of the marketplace, attracting Christians from other churches and the de-churched back.

My worry with all that is happening under the banner of fresh expressions of church/church planting is the danger that it can be simultaneously spectacular and superficial

My plea is: let's not just pimp the church but let's consider the greater work of what it might mean for us to do the harder labour of working with the engine, the gear box, the brakes and the transmission! The danger is we are too easily wowed by the shining exterior and clever gadgets!

Maybe the alternative book title was, in the end, more challenging: to do the hard work of taking what we are doing in this thing we call 'church' and to attempt to strip it back to first principles before proceeding to rebuild. That's what happened with the writing of my book as I simply offer ten principles that need to be considered in engineering something new. The principles are nothing new but simply come out of seven years of experience of working with some amazing people to create a church that connected with unchurched people in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

One of the reasons I wrote the book is because ours is a very ordinary story in a very ordinary town. It may not seem  spectacular, but it's not superficial and I hope will play a small part in helping the church not just to work on the chassis but get under the bonnet.

Working the edges (Thomas Brauer)

Thomas BrauerThomas Brauer is working the edges.

I'm involved in a mixed economy church setting in Alberta, Canada, and am working to plant a fresh expression of church called the Project. This is currently based out of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Edmonton.

Two years ago, members of Holy Trinity and I began plotting how we might be of service to the Fringe Theatre Festival – the world's second largest such event. Holy Trinity is located within blocks of the festival grounds and for years the church has served as a venue for Fringe productions.

I made the announcement on a Sunday morning that I would be leading a project to serve the festival, and would welcome as much input and support as possible from the congregation. Together, we discerned who was involved in the festival – we used the language of 'stakeholders'. We knew there were artists (foreign and domestic), festival staff and volunteers, vendors, commercial service providers, neighbourhood residents, and patrons. In all, this was several hundreds of thousands of people (the 2010 Fringe served well over 400,000 patrons, with another 1,400 volunteers, several hundred performers and artists, and several dozen staff, not to mention the 20,000 people who live or work in the festival area).

It was clear that we couldn't serve them all, but it was necessary to now discern the needs of the various stakeholders. Through long discussion, we settled on serving first the artists and patrons that would be coming to Holy Trinity as a venue. We also thought we could manage serving festival patrons who might need a place of rest and peace.

We began plotting how we might be of service to the Fringe Theatre Festival – the world's second largest such event

In the end, we decided we had resources and opportunity enough to offer the artists volunteer support during shows, thereby relieving them of the onerous task of finding their own volunteers for box office and ushering duties. We provided clean and comfortable green-room space for the artists (a green-room is a room for actors to relax in before and after a show), as well as food and drinks for them. And we simply went out of our way to be as welcoming as possible to both artists and patrons.

Over and above show time support, we also offered the Green Room Teahouse where we served tea and fresh scones with clotted cream and jam. In setting up something called Father Tom's Lemonade Stand, we found a wonderful way to meet people in the community. Our third offering was 'solace' – a contemplative arts installation in the nave and chancel of the church which provided a place of rest and peace, and an opportunity to (re)engage with Christian spirituality.

One of the most gratifying results of these activities was seeing how many people made one or more of them a daily part of their life for the ten days of the Fringe. This year, our second year, we saw almost all of last year's visitors return, and they brought friends. We ended up serving over 400 scones in ten days. A lot of work, but well worth it.

Radicals not rebels (Beth Honey)

Beth HoneyBeth Honey explains why she's a radical, not a rebel.

I am a pioneer minister and a curate in the Church of England, serving in a parish church. I seek to be part of our church's journey towards connecting with our community beyond our fringe. If we are working in this way with the local church, I think we have the opportunity to start from, rather than work towards, a mixed economy model of church.

It is through local relationships and partnerships in mission that the mixed economy may most easily flourish. My church has a stated aim: to develop diverse congregations across our local area. As yet, this is an aim rather than a reality, but I have a dream of a family of congregations that bear a likeness, but who are mature enough to accept their mutual diversity.

In my present role, I am into my second year of curacy, having spent a year learning the basics of leading worship and preaching, and the 'how to' of hatch, match, dispatch. I have done a lot of listening and waiting and it has at times been frustrating if I am totally honest. But the fruit of that is beginning to show.

I am now proposing a new role to our church's governing body, which I hope will last beyond me, of Community Mission Leader. I see this role in two ways: leading and enabling others who the Holy Spirit is challenging to connect with unchurched people in our local area, and also following this radical call myself. 

We need to ask deep and challenging questions of church while we remain in relationship with other Christians and with church structures

I am not a rebel, wanting to throw out the discipleship, prayer life, and wisdom of the local church that has been on the ground for many, many decades. I need that life to support me, and others who move into uncharted territory will need the same. I am learning from those people who have lived and served Jesus in the area for many years. This is a humbling and privileged place to be.

As pioneers, I am not sure we need to rebel, but we do need to be radical, asking deep and challenging questions of church while we remain in relationship with other Christians and with church structures. A call to radical discipleship in past decades needs to become a call to radical mission in our own. If we build great relationships with inherited church, then this call will be heard by more and more people – and don't we, and this world, need them all?

Living with the wobbles (Anne Crosthwait)

Ann CrosthwaitAnn Crosthwait discusses living with the wobbles.

A few days ago, in my yoga class, the teacher spoke about how we wobble when trying to balance. He said to not resist the wobbles but learn to live with them, and then they'll go away. The term, 'living with the wobbles' struck a familiar spiritual note for me.  As Contemplative Fire grows into a mature expression of church there are 'wobbles'. Do I resist them or live into them?

Contemplative Fire began in the UK around 2003 as a fresh expression of church under Revd Philip Roderick. Drawing on Celtic and Orthodox traditions, it is a dispersed community that lives with a rhythm of life involving prayer, study and action. Wrestling with theological questions, creativity, playfulness and delight in creation are some of its distinguishing marks. I'm now overseeing the seeding of this eclectic community in Canada.

In June 2009 I left a staff position in a corporate church in downtown Toronto and took this step of faith. 'Mad' some say – 'not counting the cost' others might say – but for me it seemed like the next step if I was to remain true to myself and my relationship with Christ. The first year has been a rich time of learning and wobbling.

I wonder if others in the fresh expressions community experience this one. Each time I make a plan, develop a budget, set some strategies, and make projections – something else happens. I can show people the plans, but despite our good intentions and reasonably responsible planning, our growth, our community life, and my life just doesn't fit into the prescribed plan.

I want to lean into the freshness, the spontaneity and playfulness of the Spirit, following more closely the unpredictable Spirit-led adventure

Instead – now this doesn't sound radical, but when confronted by institutional demands for plans, feels radical – we are called to trust the Spirit leading one step at a time. Right now I've made plans to lead an exploration in contemplative living in four locations in Toronto during the autumn. This was neither part of the projection or 2010 plan, nor is it part of usual Contemplative Fire life or 'normal' fresh expressions-type ministry. This was a surprise that developed in May.

Have you seen the sign that says something like, 'Man plans and God laughs'? After this last year I think we must look like a stand-up comedy routine to heaven-dwellers! Slowly I've begun to realise that if something is to be a fresh expression, surely it is to be fresh – fresh from the heart of the Spirit in the tone of John 3.8.

It's a wobbly place to live. I feel the pressure to be responsible and organise and fit into the requirements asked of me by the institutional church, but oh, how I want to lean into the freshness, the spontaneity and playfulness of the Spirit, following more closely the unpredictable Spirit-led adventure. I wonder, isn't that what the world yearns for: a fresh scent of God?

Apparently the secret of a balance pose is to get past the tension, live into the wobbles. I find it challenging. Do you?