08/12/2015 - Page 8 of 17

A fresh expression of church is NOT a cheap and cheerful option (Caroline Holt)

Caroline Holt explains why a fresh expression is not a cheap and cheerful option.

Those of us in the church need to wake up to the fact that many people don't feel comfortable with any of our traditional ways of doing things. They also don't have a clue what we stand for.

The Wesley Playhouse may look nothing like a traditional church – with its children's soft play area, climbing frames, ball pool and café in the middle of it – but those who come along to our Playhouse Praise once a month see this place as their church, and so it is.

A fresh expression of church should be one that understands a generation and culture that's very different to what we may know and recognise. The young families I come across don't know what to sing and they don't understand our words. Why should they?

On Mother's Day we're laying on a four-course meal for mums and their families. It's a chance for people to relax while we wait on them. It should always be about service.

We have already had several christenings here, but we have just taken bookings for two more.The families had initially asked at other local churches but had been told that it couldn't happen because the godparents hadn't been baptised. They were being pushed to get to a place where they didn't want to go.

I'm not saying that we're the cheap and cheerful option; I'm saying that we welcome people even if they don't call the ceremony a christening because they don't know the 'right' word. It is completely alien to them. Ours is a consecrated church building so we're happy to arrange christenings, explain what it's all about in their terminology, and develop relationship with them.

Many people don't feel comfortable with any of our traditional ways of doing things. They also don't have a clue what we stand for.

Why in traditional church do we ask people to make promises that we know are not going to be kept? Yes, I'm aware that people will have been through some sort of baptism course and are meant to appreciate the seriousness of what they're saying, but we have to get real – that is not what happens in many cases at all.

The church will feel that it has done what it is meant to do by making them go through the hoops; in turn the people will promise to turn to Christ and renounce evil, etc. The uncomfortable fact is that these lies are told in front of God in church and that's an accepted part of Christendom, but, more often than not, the words mean absolutely nothing. That's not because the people don't want the very best for their child, and they certainly wouldn't want to lie to God, but they can't really relate those words to everyday life.

In the past I've asked children in schools, 'What happens in church?' Their answer was, 'You go there to die', because they associated church with funerals. Now a lot of people go straight to the crematorium without having a church service, so the church is not even where you 'go to die' any more.

We've got to change our ways, care for the people, fund risky initiatives like ours, and give thanks for the chance to do it.

The hardest thing I’ve done in ministry (John Maher)

John Maher tells us the hardest thing he's done in ministry.

Over the years I have done a number of things in ministry that are very challenging. These have included successfully 'Wimberising' a typical Episcopal parish by introducing healing ministry, worship bands and other influences from the Vineyard. We also built new parish facilities and relocated.

However, these things were nowhere near as challenging as planting a new church to reach people no other church is reaching.

The reason why is because our parish structures assume a population which is attracted to church already. The difficulty we find is that one of the fastest growing sections of the surrounding population (in my opinion) is the group that is not attracted to any Christian church. Changing the structures most Episcopalians, and probably most Americans, have in their mind as to what a local church is supposed to be like is far more difficult than building a new facility and moving to a new location.

In 2005 I moved to the Phoenix area and began work to plant a new church in the Diocese of Arizona. Most of the people who initially joined in with the new work had this picture of church:

priest + building + liturgy = church

I quickly began to see that something new was needed. Bob Hopkins and Mike Breen gave me a new model, or operating system, in their book clusters: creative mid-sized missional communities, 3DM Publishing, 2007. We have since been working to understand and implement:

faith + community + action = church

This is a profound change! A community of faith equipped and ready for action will make people with no church connection thirsty for what it has. For those who are used to a priest-centred way of operating this can be a very uncomfortable change, for both the priest and the people.

Part of my strategy is to have our staff leaders spend more time in the community during the week

To pursue this new operating system I have a two-part strategy. The first part is to decentralise as much as possible. When we started out we had monthly dinners for the whole congregation to attend. We are now beginning to identify and train leaders who will host these kinds of dinners for their neighbourhoods instead of only church members. It takes a lot of encouragement for someone who is used to asking the priest about almost everything to begin thinking about what is the best kind of activity to serve their own neighbourhood. It is, however, the way to faith + community + action.

The second part of my strategy is to have our staff leaders spend more time in the community during the week. Our children's ministry team leader is gearing up for an adaptation of the 'Messy Church' approach. Our youth ministry team leader is preparing to volunteer in the local high school to meet students who know nothing about Jesus.

It takes a long time to change the operating system.

How deep are we willing to go? (Mark Berry)

Mark Berry asks how deep we are willing to go.

Graham Cray told General Synod last week that a crucial factor in the spread of fresh expressions has been 'a new imagination about the form or shape of church'. He is right. We have seen over the last half decade an exploration emerge which concerns not just the stylistic aspects of our gatherings – music, dress, structure, location, etc – but concerns the very substance of what it is to be church. The question is, if this is good, how deep are we willing to go?

At the heart of the matter is how we have sought to be community and how this journey has led us into a new romance with the God who is by nature community. We have had a new encounter with God as Trinity, not a hierarchical Trinity with God the Father as the CEO, Jesus as middle management and the Spirit on the factory floor, but with the Trinity as the root of radically mutual community … of the meal table, not the boardroom table!

This is changing how we see and do leadership within communities, where we put the emphasis on the flow of gifting rather than the authority of a title or position. Each of us surrenders our gifts to the community and so each of our gifts, rather than being lost becomes animated from use and spreads through the community. When a prophet is willing to give their insight then all our eyes are opened in new ways; when the artist creates, we all find new ways to express ourselves.

So, how deep are we willing to let this change affect us? How much of our systems and structures are we able to challenge? Can we let a 'ground up' shift impact how we think about every part? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures?

Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures?

A colleague of mine from Lichfield Diocese, Revd Richard Moy, challenged Synod why it 'locked its trainee clergy away for three years in a place full of other Christians'. I agree. We need to reflect on how we train our leaders, but have we got to go deeper? In this changing world, which will force our church to change, is it time to release leadership, to give it back to communities, to create a new way for sustainability which does not rely on a professional body but on equipping and resourcing communities to lead themselves?

After a recent visit from our new bishop, one member of safespace said how great it was to share with him as he was not at all 'bishopy'! Is it time to reflect the shift from hierarchy to community, not only on the ground but can we as a church become a community of communities, where we rely on each other, where we support each other and allow the quietest voices to be as significant as the most powerful ones?

Help, we do not know where this is going! (Jeff Reynolds)

Jeff Reynolds cries 'help, we do not know where this is going!'

It was a cold Thursday evening at the end of January when, rather than putting my feet up in front of the fire to watch some mindless TV, I was setting off for a cup of coffee in Stafford and visiting the newest church in town.

Twilight @ Costa is the name given to a fresh expression of church that has been running for 13 months. It is a monthly gathering with music, DVDs, quizzes, conversation, speakers and copious amount of coffee.

The aim of Twilight, which meets from 7pm, is to try and be a church community outside of the traditional thoughts of church, ie, day, time and building. Over the year we have attracted people from various churches, de-churched people and people who just wander in because they fancy a coffee at Costa. Interestingly, many people with little or no inherited church connection return regularly. That is where the 'problem' is now beginning for us.

Of course, that is what we wanted when we set out on the good ship Twilight. We realised that you can have the best services, welcome, refreshments, buildings, and flower rotas in traditional church but there will still be great swathes of the community who will not darken our doors.

Our desire was not to invite them in to our current set ups but to go out and meet people where they are. We haven`t always got it right and have made changes along the way but at least we are seeing the development of a new kind of church community.

Now that we have made those connections, the challenge really begins. What do we do with them? The temptation to go down the inherited church route is great but one that we are resisting, in favour of a genuine desire to be a new church community. It is at this point that we have to exercise our faith as, if we are honest; we have no idea where this new church will be in 12, 18 or 24 months' time.

The temptation to go down the inherited church route is great but one that we are resisting

I am really excited by that approach as I believe that, in our desire to understand and operate our beloved mixed economy of church, we are discovering the need to exercise our faith in a real 'Help, we don't know where this is going' sort of way. Surely that is a good thing.

As we sit and strategise over our mission opportunities, there has to be room for the element of: 'That's a good idea, but I`ve got no concept of how it will work or end up.' To me, that feels the right thing (and also the brave thing) to do with any new expressions of church we feel led to pioneer. Sometimes we have to just get on with it, and it is within the journey that we find God at work, not necessarily in the arrival.

Managing provisionality in a fresh expression (Ben Edson)

Ben Edson explores how to manage provisionality in a fresh expression.

After eight years of pioneering and leading Sanctus1 in Manchester, I decided that it was the right time to hand the community over to a new leader. Three months ago I left Sanctus1 in the capable hands of Al Lowe and became the Diocese of Manchester's Fresh Expressions Missioner.

However, I continue to reflect on my experience of Sanctus1 and one area that I've been thinking about is provisionality. I was recently told that the city centre residential community of Manchester has an annual people turnover of 30% – almost the entire community changes in a three year period. This was something that I observed during my time with Sanctus1 – approximately every two years 50% of the community would change. People who had been part of the community for more than four years were a rarity.

This transience created a fragility as people moved in and moved out. New people bring new energy and new life, but losing more established people all the time is draining on established people within the community. It is hard when you build community with one group and then that community disappears around you and a new one forms. Comparisons are always made with what the previous community was like and memory can be rather utopian.

A further reflection is how draining it can be for people who have been part of the community for a number of years, when they are dealing with the same questions that they have dealt with a few years earlier. Questions of identity, faith, purpose, belonging, etc, that they wrestled with before are revisited. This is an important process for the current community, but slightly frustrating for those who have been part of the community for a number of years.

It's the tension of catering to the new people whilst nurturing patterns of spirituality that sustain those who are more established

It is also often the case that those who have been established for a number of years carry a lot of the responsibility of the community. When they do not see this level of commitment being shared by others, who are relatively new to the community, frustration can occur.

These are some of the challenges of church in a transient culture. I think that one answer is to develop a corporate patterning of spiritual life – patterns that allow for the instability of a transient context and church. I don't think that we got this right in Sanctus1. It's the tension of catering to the new people, the mission field, whilst nurturing patterns of spirituality that sustain those who are more established.

Where are the rural fresh expressions pioneers? (Klynn and Susan Alibocus)

Klynn and Susan Alibocus wonder where the rural fresh expressions pioneers are.

Go to any number of talks, read the plethora of books available, watch the latest DVDs on fresh expressions of church and you will no doubt get a taste of the excitement surrounding pioneer ministry. Delve into the situation a little deeper, though, and you will discover that instances of pioneer ministry across the UK are, very definitely, not an even spread.

Where more urban environments are equipped and ready for the challenge that instigating new fresh expressions brings, in our experience, many rural areas are somewhat lagging behind. The reasons for this are many. It may be with limited resources it is right to focus on large populous areas. After all, didn't Jesus draw large crowds together to hear God's word? On the other hand, how precious were his moments spent one on one with the people he met outside the city walls.

Perhaps on the surface there appears more need in the city – where homelessness, alcoholism and drugs are clearly apparent – than in the quiet, quaint and often well-heeled villages of the British countryside. Jesus knew, however, that human need isn't restricted to boundaries of poverty and circumstance and in many cases it is where people seem to have the least material need that God is needed most.

Klynn says: 'I know from personal experience just how effective efforts to bridge the gap to the unchurched can be. Back in the nineties I fell comfortably into that group and, it was through involvement in an early suburban fresh expression of church that I came to have a meaningful relationship with God.

In many cases it is where people seem to have the least material need that God is needed most

'A recent news article highlighted the record number of people that are leaving cities to relocate in rural areas. This week our own fresh expression, Food for Thought in Winterslow near Salisbury, celebrates its third birthday – and we continue to face the challenge to serve everyone in our community, no matter how long they have lived here.'

The heart of the Anglican faith has always beaten strongly in rural villages; perhaps it's time we put that commitment to good use and reach out not only to long-term residents but also to those who move to the countryside at any time.

A fresh expression of amnesia (Nick Brotherwood)

Nick Brotherwood cautions against a fresh expression of amnesia.

If we are to become a church shaped by and for God's mission in this world, the last thing we need is a fresh expression of amnesia.

Two hundred and thirty three variations of the word 'remember' appear in Old and New Testaments. As poet and philosopher George Santayana has it: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' So as we immerse ourselves in talk of being sensitive to the multiplicity of different contexts and cultures around us, and of the need to connect appropriately with those contexts and cultures, it is salutary to be reminded that we haven't always thought, much less acted, in this way.

History is replete with examples of a dominant group misguidedly imposing its own cultural perspectives on another, while being ignorant or simply dismissive of those of the other.

A notable exception to this is Robert McDonald, the nineteenth century missionary, and translator, of the Yukon.

Born of mixed parentage – his maternal grandmother was Ojibway (Gerald H Anderson ed, Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, Grand Rapids, 1999, p.447) – McDonald travelled extensively, visiting native camps throughout the area. He had a natural empathy and respect for their culture and concerned himself with teaching them to read in their own language so they would have access to the teachings of the Bible during his absences. Two years after his arrival at Fort Yukon, he baptised the first Gwitch'in converts. Over the course of his 42 years in the North, he baptised 2,000 adults and children.

In North America, the confluence of First Nations people with the Christian faith has produced some distinctively First Nations expressions of the faith. One example is the continuing American Indian hymn sing tradition, in which people gather towards dusk for a communal meal, followed by storytelling and hymn singing which could continue far into the night.

History is replete with examples of a dominant group misguidedly imposing its own cultural perspectives on another

Bishop Mark McDonald tells us these have often been looked at by some white Christian leaders as being inferior or inappropriate expressions. This propensity to judge one cultural expression of Christianity by the standards and through the lens of another is a danger that will need to be avoided if fresh expressions of church in all cultures and contexts are to flourish and to receive the respect which they deserve.

The apostle Paul offers us this model for a different way of proceeding:

'Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process.' (Philippians 2.5-17, The Message)

We are being offered the exciting opportunity of engaging with God's mission in a post-Christendom context, but this will only be realised fully if we have the courage to face the mistakes of the past, taking appropriate responsibility for them, and taking great care not to repeat them.

So what about some Transition Churches? (David Muir)

David Muir wants to know where all the transition churches are.

Do you know about the Transition Movement? Its central aim is to help communities restructure the way they live in a way that uses very little oil, partly because our oil use is warming the planet too much, and partly because the oil is anyway running out. The whole pattern of modern life is centred around cheap and available oil, and we have become comfortably dependent on it. But we have passed 'peak oil' and we need to start thinking creatively about how we are going to live after it is gone. So the buzz words are resilience and sustainability.

Now I know we have eco congregations, although they are still largely about lightbulbs and churchyard gardens. You might fondly think that using a bit less electricity is doing your bit for turning the tide of global warming. It isn't – not even close. And it's great if Christians can get involved in the Transition agenda, not least because it calls for significant personal change in local communities, and the Christian faith has a lot of wisdom and power to bring to that.

But don't our churches themselves need a Transition agenda? Just as oil is running out, isn't Christendom running out too? Our churches have long been dependent on the power of Christendom, making all kinds of things possible that local Christian communities could not have done on their own. Christendom made church a very comfortable place to be. As Christendom runs out, many of the ways we are used to 'being church' are becoming unsustainable. We can improve our welcoming processes, we can take out the pews, we can use PowerPoint in the sermons, but these are lightbulb measures. We need to help our churches become resilient and sustainable Christian communities, not dependent on the structures and support of Christendom for their future.

We need to help our churches become … not dependent on the structures and support of Christendom for their future

The danger with the 'mixed economy' is that our existing church communities are being assured that they will continue to have a parallel existence much as they are. But if Christendom runs out, most of them won't; and they will run into the coming era ill-equipped to be resilient and sustainable church. In the present battle over resources within the mixed economy, fresh expressions are already beginning to feel the heat. Here in the Diocese of Exeter, out of the 40 or so 'mission posts' promised in our restructuring five years ago, only a handful have seen the light of day and now there is a moratorium on them because of lack of resources. The future of the church could fall between two stools.

In a word (Phil Potter)

Phil Potter explores the importance of the words we use.

As I move across churches to encourage, teach and discuss the vision for fresh expressions, I'm increasingly aware of the importance of the words we use and how we use them when describing what we're trying to achieve.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the 500 most used words in the English language each have an average of 23 different meanings. Hardly surprising then that phrases like 'fresh expressions' and 'mixed economy' come to mean very different things to people, depending on their involvement and level of understanding.

The development of anything new will always demand, in time, a new kind of language to clarify it. We need to welcome that new vocabulary, whilst working hard to explain it and, where possible, improve on it. So how are we doing so far?

'Fresh expressions'

When this phrase was first introduced, the broadest interpretation of its meaning was encouraged, so that as many as possible felt able to include themselves in a movement that was seeking to do mission in new ways. As the phrase took hold, however, anything from a full church plant to tea after the service was considered to be a 'fresh expression', and for some this began to devalue the phrase itself. The definition was then helpfully tightened up, emphasising the process from new beginnings to something mature and established. However, I still find that people want to define more clearly exactly where they are in that process, and who still ask the question of their project: 'Is this a fresh expression of church?' The simplest answer may be yes, but how might we extend the vocabulary to reflect the process?

One way is to break down the three key components of church, namely worship, community and mission, and to identify which of the three is our starting point. A new project, for instance, may simply begin as a fresh expression of community, and may look as though it is a long way from being fully 'church'. Add the other two components, however, and the fully grown 'fresh expression' of church will begin to emerge. On the other hand, a fresh expression may never move beyond the first component, and its value then must be measured in terms of its connection to the wider church.

'Mixed economy'

This phrase has been helpful in communicating the importance of embracing both inherited and emerging models of church. Stand up in front of an ordinary congregation, however, and mention 'mixed economy' and eyes glaze over and ears may become deaf to the vision of a new future for the church. No wonder, then, that for many, 'mixed economy' means a smattering of the new, with 95% of the way we've always done it (hardly a mixed economy!).

Let's ensure that our vocabulary communicates that the church is very much on the move

In my own setting, I was anxious that the whole church should not only understand a 'mixed economy' strategy, but come to embrace it as an exciting and viable vision. Eventually, we developed and adapted the language and imagery of lake and river, emphasising both the contrast and connectedness between the two, and my own church now calls itself 'the Lake and River Church'.

Whatever words we use, let's ensure that our vocabulary communicates that the church is very much on the move and is pioneering a new future!

Failing forward in 2010 (Cid Latty)

Cid Latty explains why he wants to fail forward in 2010.

'We have failed,' said the panic-stricken voice of a café church leader on the other end of the phone. 'Our church has withdrawn their support of our café church because the people who come are not going to church.'

This raised all sorts of questions for me. How could we help them survive? What was it that quantified failure for the church? Why did the café church leaders want to give up? It led me to think about failure – is it a bad thing?

Everyone must face failure because the reality is everyone fails. Although it can be embarrassing, debilitating and lead to misunderstanding, it can also hasten maturity and bring breakthrough. It all depends on the way you look at it and respond to it. Thomas Edison famously once said: 'I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that will not work.' It is not that he avoided failure, rather he never let it stop him.

Wisdom came as a result of failure, not because of success. Is this what the Apostle Paul meant when he said: 'when I am weak then I am strong'? (2 Corinthians 12.10). Setbacks may have acted like 'push backs' of an aeroplane, simply ushering him to greater levels of usefulness. Maybe we too should embrace failure like a friend.

This is not something we want to hear when we set sail in pioneering ministry. We want instant success with little or no risk. So we gravitate towards 'success stories' thinking that they will help us avoid failure. However, this 'quick fix' type of success is seductive and seldom lives up to our expectations. Maybe we fail to realise that the key to achievement is in our own hands. The question is will we learn from failure?

Cafechurch Network has been helping café churches set up in high street stores all over the UK. Most of these café churches are set up as a way for local churches to reach out to local communities. However, increasingly we have found people who share our values are asking for our help to form what I call 'café church congregations'. This is not just outreach, this is church.

So we have begun to respond. When one of the café church leaders called to say they had failed, we began to turn 'failure' towards forming a congregation. Their failure has become failure in the right direction.

If you want to be the kind of pioneer who rises after setbacks happen, here are a few pointers:

Be ready to learn on the job

Take a risk because you know it is right, not because you have all the answers.

Don't run after 'success'.

Don't leave prayer and personal Bible study behind.

Always ask: 'What can we learn from this?' or 'What is God teaching me?'

The Cross of Christ may look like failure to some but it was failing forward, for greater things came as a result of this event than could ever have been imagined. For the believer, it is this that gives us audacious pioneering hope that impacts history. At the end of a long presidential campaign full of setbacks, controversy, highs and lows, Oprah Winfrey stood in support of Barack Obama and said: 'I am standing on the right side of history.'

I wonder where failure will enable you to stand? Will it hinder your ability to pioneer or will it drive you onto greater things?