Month: August 2015

Guy starts dance party (Stephen Lindridge)

Stephen LindridgeStephen Lindridge watches a guy starting a dance party.

Jesus used stories to get across what he was trying to teach and to tell people, and I came across a contemporary story just very recently. Somebody sent me a clip from YouTube of a guy dancing at the Sasquatch music festival near Seattle this year. He was going out there, giving it large and dancing, throwing his arms out in crazy moves. And the crowd are looking at him as though he's a little bit weird and little bit strange, and he does look funny and he does look weird compared to everyone sat there calmly on the grass, enjoying themselves.

But then within a couple of minutes another guy comes and joins him, dancing in an equally extravagant way with happy bizarre moves. Then there's a third guy about 30 seconds later that joins them, followed shortly by a small group who all start to join this little dance party. What follows is just amazing. Within seconds people start running from all over this field to come and join in. The people who had calmly sat near this guy are now either having to get up and join in, or move further and further back as the crowd now rapidly expand the dance party.

I couldn't  help but think this was a great allegory of what has happened over the last few years in fresh expressions and those pioneering new ministries amongst communities with no connection with church or the good news about Jesus.

The lone dancer, the guy with the passion, gets up and starts to do a new thing. We might look at the Christian pioneer  the same way – what she or he is doing doesn't look familiar. We may even ask the question: 'Is this church at all because it looks so different?' It may seem a bit lonely, but they're the one with the energy and enthusiasm to begin.

However, the pioneer isn't the bravest person. It's the one who's first to get up and decides to join them, willing to look foolish too, risking the stares and comments of the crowd – it's this person who offers the real sacrifice in coming to join in. But it's because of their bravery that someone else decides to come, then another and another. And before you know it, the tables have been turned and now it's who's not joining that's looking weird.

In the past few years, since I believe the mid-'90s, God's Spirit has been inspiring many individuals to begin new odd looking missional works that don't look like the church I grew up in. But little by little, others have started to see what God's been doing, been encouraged and got excited by it and have come to join in.

Now there are literally hundreds of people across the country who have witnessed some element of God's party of new works, think it's fantastic and are joining in. Unique styles, projects, churches month by month. It is almost impossible to keep up.

The resounding note around this is: the song which the guy is dancing to is called 'Unstoppable'. For me, the work of the Holy Spirit and what God is doing across this land is unstoppable. God wants to reach this time and generation with the good news of Jesus and is finding creative ways in which to inspire us to get off our backsides, as it were, and join in the party.

Jesus said many things to those who listened. Two things I'll leave you to ponder about this YouTube video. The first is: Jesus said, 'I will be with you always'. When we begin a pioneering work or fresh expression of church, it may seem something strange or unfamiliar, but we're not doing it alone – we're to join in what God's already doing.

Secondly, in Matthew 13, Jesus talks about how small the mustard seed is when it's sown, and yet how large it can become. God's work in you and through you may be so small from your perspective, but never doubt what God can grow it into.

Join in the dance. Join in God's party.

Christ’s body recycled for you (Beth Keith)

Beth KeithBeth Keith explores a recycled communion.

At Greenbelt I was invited onto a panel discussion about the sacraments, the role of the priest and the emerging church with Pete Rollins, Kester Brewin, Paula Gooder and Father Simon Rundell. In our discussions, one element that developed was the tension held within the sacraments of Eucharist and baptism to consecrate or desecrate. Do we remember Christ honestly if these sacraments are beautified or sanitised, or does a more honest remembrance necessitate an embrace of horror, dirt and abandonment? In recent years, we have heard of Ikon and Vaux's critique of communion, employing vivid imagery of the horror of Christ's death and how a beautified ritual removes us from the horror of the passion narrative. Does this go too far, or have they helped us to connect with the realness of those events?

I've had a few days to process the discussion and wonder if when we get talking about whole/broken or clean/dirty, we become opposing sides of the same axis. In the act of baptism or Eucharist, Christ calls us something new, so portrayals of these sacraments as consecration or desecration point to Christ only to the extent to which they embody a reimagination of what is broken/whole or clean/dirty.

Greenbelt 2009 discussionA few months ago I was part of a communion event which drew on the recycling mantra: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. In looking at Reuse, the group questioned what is waste, what do we consider waste which can be reused, and made connections between our judgements of 'who is acceptable' and 'who is waste' against Jesus' acceptance of all. In looking at Reduce, we looked at how our consumption affects others and used this as part of our confession. And then at the breaking of bread looked at how Christ's body was Recycled.

Perhaps engaging with the dirtiness of the sacraments helps us to connect to the deeper gospel message, but if we stop there do we miss the opportunity to reimagine dirt and waste? Recycling has transformed the notion of waste in our society; perhaps this imagery can help to understand Christ's actions.

For the children or for the adults? (Claire Dalpra)

Claire DalpraClaire Dalpra asks whether we do things for the children or for the adults.

We're at parish communion. I look down to find my four-year-old daughter, Natalie, and her little friend have disappeared under our row of chairs. They're lying with bottoms and legs exposed, pretending to be explorers looking for a treasure in a cave. I spend the whole of the pre-communion hymn and Eucharistic prayer trying to entice them out but give up when I see two six-year-olds trotting towards us on a hobby horse. No wonder the visiting celebrant looks totally bewildered when he glances over to our crazy corner of the congregation.

Maybe that's why some Christians are getting creative about fresh expressions of church for young families. It's a sad thing to see new families come to church and spend the duration of the service trying to keep their young children quiet. At a time of life when parents are exhausted, I'm not surprised people are looking ways in which children can explore spirituality at their level, while providing a short, safe, guilt-free environment for parents where little ones aren't demanding to take dolly and pushchair up to the rail for communion, or running helter-skelter round a hall during a 30-minute preach in a 'supposed' all-age worship service.

However, this type of fresh expression comes with a health warning. The spiritual needs of both children and adults need to be considered in the long-term. If these fresh expressions really are church and not just services, the discipleship of all is crucial. At the same time, we mustn't fall back into the trap of believing one gathering can do all that is needed, especially when such gatherings often happen only monthly.

Faith at home resources

Posada

Families First magazine

Home is a Holy Place

Creative Ideas for Quiet Corners

The Faith 5

Sleeping with Bread

As the new Guide page on fresh expressions of church with children describes, creative responses to this discipleship issue are beginning to emerge. Some fresh expressions are using crèche facilities to enable part of their time together to be more focused on adult discipleship. Others are finding an evening meeting for parents' spiritual exploration over a glass of wine works well. Lastly, there are some fantastic 'faith at home' resources to encourage families to explore discipleship together on an ongoing basis between the large, occasional gatherings.

A musing on sustainability (David Muir)

David MuirDavid Muir has been musing about sustainability.

I have been musing about sustainability in fresh expressions. Perhaps there are two levels of sustainability.

The first is when people who have no church background begin to serve the purposes of God in the same way that the 'starter group' first served them. The weakness of some fresh expressions is that the 'serving centre' reflects the culture of mainstream church, well schooled in Christian teaching and practice. So from the start we need to think about how an unchurched person can become a full part of its community life, and begin to serve others as they were once served. It is as if the process has come full circle – like a rope going around something and creating a kind of knot. It secures the day to day life of the fresh expression. If the initial team collapsed, the fresh expression would hold, at least for a time. Before this point the whole rope would simply unravel and all the initial energy would be lost. So from the beginning we need to think about how to get to that first point of sustainability.

Then I wonder if there is a second 'loop' of the rope – when the unchurched person initially served is enabled into leadership. This is like putting a double knot on the rope and securing it properly. So from early on in a fresh expression we need to be looking at people who are being drawn into faith, and asking how these people are going to share in its leadership. If the way we model leadership requires being comfortable with (even keen on) the ways of mainstream church, this fresh expression is never going to become entirely secure. It will always depend on importing leaders with the right credentials. 

Both these tests of sustainability help to focus my mind. In offering to serve others in the name of Christ, can I see how new people can start to help others in the same way they have been served, albeit relying on the grace of God as they do so? Is it too 'expert' a form of service for this to happen very soon? Does it require too much theological understanding, or pastoral expertise, or public speaking skills, or group facilitation skills, or whatever? If so, it is going to be absolutely ages before this fresh expression even achieves the basic level of sustainability. During that time it could fail.

And then, how could ordinary people enter into leadership fairly quickly? Is the leadership task massively complex? Does it require awesome organisational skills? Is it a 'burnout' model that no one in their right mind would take on? Is it deeply fulfilling to do, albeit also a lot of hard work? Is it a shared and meaningful experience, rather than a long and lonely road?

In other words, how can my new fresh expression be something that new members get involved in fairly quickly and the more able ones move into leadership fairly easily?

Does any of that make sense?

Knocking down and building up (Pam Smith)

Pam SmithPam Smith explores knocking down and building up.

As an icon of ministry, I think Nehemiah takes some beating. He motivated his team and got the job done in the face of discouragement and sabotage, showing how much you can achieve if you stick to the task God has given you.

People involved in fresh expressions often feel discouraged by the reaction of other Christians. This can range from a lack of interest to outright hostility.

But I've noticed recently that even among people involved in alternative forms of church there seems to be a competitive edge, with casually disparaging comments being made about other people's ministries.

It's human nature, of course, to put people down, on the basis that 'S/he must become smaller so I may be greater' – but aren't Christians meant to march to a different beat?

I wonder if this has something to do with the way it's become acceptable in the last few years for people who don't like Christianity to treat it with contempt rather than engage in proper debate. Is this undermining our confidence in ourselves, so that we end up trying to make ourselves feel better by pointing out each other's inadequacies?

I think mission can be summarised in three instructions Jesus gave his followers:

  • Go make disciples

  • Feed my sheep

  • Love one another

I don't believe that any one of these can happen in isolation from the others.

Loving one another will at times involve offering criticism, but always constructively, in a way that builds up. Knocking things down is hard work, but building them up again once they've been knocked down is even harder.

Ask Nehemiah!

Worship-shaped churches? Get real and get over them! (David Muir)

David MuirDavid Muir suggests we get real and get over our worship-shaped churches.

The discussion in the house group strayed onto the subject of mission. A strange feeling descended on the room. There was a genuine desire to engage in mission as a church. But alongside that there was a sense of weariness about the suggestion. We have been this way before and we feel exhausted just remembering it…

Churches often ask how 'we' can do mission. But who are the 'we'? How was the membership of our church determined? And the answer mostly is: worship style. In these 'worship-shaped churches', the worship style gives people their essential sense of 'belonging'. The problem with worship-shaped churches engaging in mission is that they find it very hard work. It is like introverts going to parties, or extroverts going on silent retreats – it's just not their 'shape' or their inner style. They can do it, but it drains them because their membership is not 'gathered' around this purpose.

The churches in one Devon town provide a housing trust that supports homeless people. Now, if a homeless young man is touched by God's care for him expressed in this project and wants to explore the Christian faith, what does he 'join'? Where is the fellowship of Christian people who are energised by this aspect of the Christian mission that has touched him? He can't join it because it isn't there. The Christians who work together in this project have melted away into their separate worship-shaped churches, where that project is frankly peripheral to their corporate life.

Our challenge today is to create churches where the primary reason people join is the particular focus of its mission. Such churches will find worship hard – as hard as the worship-shaped churches find mission. Worship will not be the emotional powerhouse that it is for worship-shaped churches. But it will also not need to be. 'Gathering for mission' is what will give a mission-shaped church energy, and will keep it on track as a mission-oriented church.

The problem with worship-shaped churches engaging in mission is that they find it very hard work – it drains them because their membership is not 'gathered' around this purpose

In a sense, worship stands at the most intimate centre of the church's life. It can be totally enthralling, whether it be a charismatic celebration or choral evensong. A good worship life in a church is like a good sex life in a marriage. But what would we say about a marriage where the couple talk constantly about sex, earnestly read books about how to make their sex life even better, spend most of their spare time in bed together, live from one sexual encounter to the next? We would worry for them – because the truth is that marriage is much more than sex. It is about building home, creating stability, providing places of companionship and welcome – and, of course, having and raising children.

Jesus invites us to put the kingdom of God and his justice first, and everything else will be ours as well. For those who love to worship, but who also want to be instruments of God's kingdom purposes and his justice in our day, it is a saying they need to learn to trust.

‘Do they take sugar?’ (Frances Shoesmith)

Frances ShoesmithFrances Shoesmith asks, 'Do they take sugar?'

I've been brought up short several times in the past couple of months as I've presumed to speak for the members of our fresh expression instead of allowing them to express themselves.

The most stark example happened some weeks ago when a trainee minister from another diocese came to visit our mid-week drop-in. She'd been given the task of 'assessing' a fresh expression, and had chosen us as we are geographically close, even though our contexts are very different: we're a deprived outer estate; she'd come from a leafy rural village. She had a clipboard and lots of questions and, having arrived before the 'official' start of our session, took the opportunity to ask me and the other leaders various pre-prepared questions. Once our members started to arrive she chatted with them, but a little later was getting ready to leave and pulled me to one side to ask me a few more questions.

Her last question was: 'What are the pros and cons of your work?' to which I struggled for an answer. What are the 'cons' of living alongside people who, because they are not only aware of their material and physical needs, but are also (very refreshingly!) aware of their spiritual needs, are more ready than many in wealthier communities to welcome God into their lives and see him begin to transform every aspect of their situation?

How can it be a 'con' to see people who feel they're 'not good enough to come to church' growing in faith, and, through membership of our fresh expression, start to see the reality of belonging to the local Christian community?

To see marriages that were headed for the rocks being rejuvenated?

To support a single mother who is thinking of walking out on her young children, as she turns around and begins enjoying motherhood again?

To rejoice when a family get the loan sharks off their backs and become officially 'economically active' for the first time in years?

Her last question was: 'What are the pros and cons of your work?' to which I struggled for an answer

As I struggled to know how to answer her question, I decided to ask our members: 'What difference does Chill Out make to you?' (Chill Out is the name of our fresh expression – coined by one of our founder members, because 'This is a great place to come and chill out'.) Without hesitation, one woman spoke up: 'If it wasn't for Chill Out, I'd have been dead years ago'. She's not joking – as a recovering addict she's all too aware of her mortality and of the new life God has given her.

In a less striking example, as we went through a process of discerning our values and vision, it was the members rather than the leaders who had the clearest picture of what our fresh expression provides and how it might develop in the future.

I like to think that I'm reasonably good at being a cross-cultural missionary, from my university-educated, middle class upbringing, into this very different culture. But instances like this show me how far I still have to go.

When will I stop thinking of us as 'leaders' and 'members' and realise that we're all sinners becoming saints, journeying together, from different starting points, at different speeds, but all heading towards the same place, or rather, person?

I'm grateful to God for these lessons in humility and reality and look forward (I think!) to the next lesson. Lord, let me never stop learning, and let me always be willing to learn from those the world brands as foolish, but in whom you see wisdom and truth.

Have a coffee and take your time! (Dave Male)

Dave Male has a coffee and takes his time.

Dave MaleI can honestly say it was one of the greatest privileges of my ministry to be involved in the first national Pioneers Conference in Cambridge this Easter. It was a wonderful meeting place for pioneers to learn, share together, worship and have fun.

We asked everyone present: 'If there was one thing you could do differently what would it have been?' The overwhelming answer was a desire to have had a longer period of preparation before launching into the fresh expression; a longer period for listening to God, praying, engaging with the community, developing the team, clarifying the vision and values, and many other things.

Often there was sensed by the pioneer a pressure to get going as soon as possible. This pressure sometimes came from the self-expectations of the pioneer. Sometimes it was from the team that wanted to get going, or a deanery, circuit or diocese that wanted something to happen and some success to celebrate.

A longer period of preparation before launching into the fresh expression

My wife has been involved in rowing races all week here in Cambridge. So far it has been a dismal week for her crew. The main issue has been problems at the start which then handicapped them for the rest of the race. It's better to invest the time and energy in getting that start right.

2009 pioneers' conferenceMy experience with church planting is that you will never get to the point where you are perfectly ready. But maybe it is important not to be pressurised into going too early. Take your time as you respond to God's timing.

And why not think about joining us at our Pioneers Conference in 2010, July 5-7 at Kings Park, Northampton?

Called to the centre? (Ben Edson)

Ben EdsonBen Edson explores being called to the centre.

The rhetoric of this second phase of Fresh Expressions seems to place a large focus on embedding fresh expressions in the ordinary life of the traditional church. Fresh Expressions, as an institution, is moving towards the centre. My personal vocation has always been to the edges, and hence I personally react against this move towards the centre. It may be that the move towards the centre is correct for Fresh Expressions, but my question is whether this centripetal movement is missional suicide for fresh expressions. 

When I began ministry eight years ago, there was no Mission-shaped Church report, no Fresh Expressions, no mixed economy, no Ordained Pioneer Ministers, no Bishops' Mission Orders; it was an exciting time as we broke boundaries and defined church alongside the traditional pattern. In the past five years all these areas have been developed; many resources have been poured into them as the edges have been pulled towards the institutional centre. The edge is now neatly defined by its relationship to the centre rather than by those outside the church. Fresh Expressions is mainstream.

For many spiritual searchers and post-modern pilgrims, the mainstream nature of Fresh Expressions is deeply problematic. Many questions will be asked such as: 'Do I want to be part of a mainstream, hierarchical institution?' If the answer is no, then we will have failed in this part of the missional task and so, whilst I recognise the importance of the relationship to centre, it seems that we need to nurture the new emerging edges rather than the edges defined by the centre.

Safety nets or fishing nets (Dave Male)

Dave MaleDave Male asks whether we are using fishing nets or safety nets.

I feel I have to respond to Paul Roberts' Share blog of 27th April entitled, What is missional?, Paul argues that a church he is involved in can be missional without 'a proven and primary capacity to bring unbelievers to faith and discipleship'. He adds that 'full-on intentional evangelism work is still on the back foot'.

Sorry Paul, but that's not missional! It may well be important and necessary work, but it's not missional. But I do think Paul highlights an important discussion concerning what we mean by 'missional'. The danger I find is that with many emerging churches, everything is missional but mention evangelism at your peril.

Yet David Bosch, whose work on the Missio Dei is at the heart of our missional language, writes: 'Evangelism is the core, heart or centre of mission. We do not believe that the central dimension of evangelism, as calling people to faith and new life can ever be relinquished. I have called evangelism the heart of mission. With evangelism cut out, mission dies: it ceases to be mission' (Evangelism: Theological Currents and Cross-Currents Today).

Now, I am not suggesting that evangelism and mission are synonymous, but I do believe that evangelism is at the very heart of mission. We do not help the fresh expression movement if we are not enabling unchurched people to become transformed and transforming disciples of Jesus. As I have written elsewhere, we have too many safety nets and not enough fishing nets.

With many emerging churches, everything is missional but mention evangelism at your peril

We also do evangelism a disservice when we divorce it from discipleship. As Graham Cray says in the June 2009 edition of the e-xpressions newsletter, we need both quantity and quality. It is about winning people to Christ, but it is also about the qualities of discipleship that we are seeing developed in new converts and their communities.

The danger is we reject evangelism because our present (or past) models are deficient for this age. But that's no reason to excuse ourselves from the work of evangelism. The need is great today and so we must to do the hard work of seeking out and developing good, faithful and relevant models of evangelism. (There is no one model!)

Scott McKnight, the American theologian, in a recent article in Christianity Magazine (April 2009) on the emerging church, put it most bluntly and starkly when he wrote, 'Any movement that is not evangelistic is failing the Lord.'