ben-clymo, Author at FX ARCHIVE...

Garden-City

Tim Nash is a pioneer minister with the Methodist Church's VentureFX pioneering ministries scheme. He, and his wife Hannah, have been developing a community called Garden-City for the past 18 months.

I started with VentureFX in September 2011 and am based in Sherwood, just north of Nottingham city centre. The first few months were a frustrating time as I was keen to do something; an event, a project, anything! Instead we sensed God calling us to let go of all our ideas, agendas and dreams and pray and discern what he was already doing in the area. So we prayer walked (and cycled) every street in the area a number of times, keeping our eyes and ears open to what God might be up to.

We slowly began to develop a picture of a place that was very open to spirituality, but one that at the same time was very suspicious of anything formal, organised, and in particular anything that appeared religious.

We then began to sense God giving us a way into this community. We felt God telling us to 'love your neighbour'. This took us by surprise a bit as it seemed so obvious, but we came to appreciate that there was something inauthentic about going out and about 'doing' mission in the area if we didn't even know the people we lived next door to. As a result we began to organise street parties and house parties for Christmas, Easter, the Jubilee or anything other excuse we could come up with. Then slowly we began to invite people round to explore spirituality in informal and creative ways.

Another thing we sensed quite strongly was the need to embody the gospel. Again we knew we were meant to do this, but we began to realise that in order to do this authentically we needed to open up our lives to the people around us. Although by nature, me and my wife are quite introverted and like our own space, we began to open ourselves up by making sure that at least three or four times a week we'd eat with other people, invite people to join us on holidays, invite people round for Christmas or to simply join in with whatever we were doing. We also learnt the importance of not trying to put a gloss on our lives, but to allow people to be a part of our struggles; our mourning as well as our celebrations. That's when people really seemed to be looking at what difference our faith made.

We also came to realise that in our particular context what we offered people needed to be experiential. As I spoke to people involved in the New Spiritualities, it was clear they were involved because of a spiritual encounter of some sort. I also met a number of people who had left the church to explore the New Spiritualities because they hadn't found a sense of an authentic, experiential spiritual journey in the church. So we began to create spaces for people to experience Jesus, regularly putting on creative, meditative evenings in our home, community centre and the pub. We've seen God use these spaces to touch people in really deep ways, even if their initial experience wasn't a positive one.

At one of our gatherings, for example, we took a small group of people through a guided meditation that ended by encouraging them to engage in a conversation with Jesus. One man, who had been brought along by his partner, began to experience a deep sense of darkness and fear. Rather than putting him off, however, this encounter with (what he described as) evil convinced him there must be something good and loving out there. All his previous intellectual objections to the faith disappeared and he began to pursue Jesus. We recently baptised him – just four months after that initial encounter.

We also quickly realised that we had to offer an holistic faith. Any hint of a sacred/secular divide was a big turn off for people. As we reflected on this we felt God draw our attention to Jesus's summary of the law as a framework for our faith journey – to love God (Father, Son and Spirit), to love ourselves (mind, body and spirit) and to love our neighbour (humans, animals and the Earth).

One of the many ways we've gone about expressing this is through sharing an allotment. Every weekend a group of us can be found there digging, weeding and planting, as we explore what it means to live more in tune with the seasons. The local allotment association has been so impressed with what we've been up to they're allowing us to turn another plot into a community garden to create a sense of community among the other allotment holders.

This journey has led to the formation of a community called Garden-City. We chose the name because humanity is said to have originated in a garden (Eden) and will find its fulfilment in a city (the New Jerusalem). We live in the 'in-between' time, the hyphen of Garden-City. It also seemed quite apt as our community lives in a city but we spent a lot of our free time in our garden/allotment.

There are 15 of us, plus children (and a small group of people still on the fringes checking us out). Although we're increasingly exploring the idea of mission as a community, our present growth seems to be happening through 'attractive discipleship', as people in our social networks show an interest in the lifestyle we're committing ourselves to.

We recently celebrated Garden-City's first birthday by going on a retreat for the day. To help us reflect on the journey we'd been on we made a timeline on which everyone wrote something about what being part of the community has meant to them. One of the main themes that emerged was people's thankfulness for the sense of family they've found in Garden-City. That was a sign to me that we are seeing a 'church' emerge – a Jesus-centred, spiritual family.

Although relationships are at the heart of Garden-City, a pattern of gatherings has emerged to help us on our discipleship journey.

On the first Monday of the month we all meet together in a pub function room to explore the life of Jesus. This is a very informal, discussion-based evening, where we look at an aspect of Jesus's life, and then commit ourselves to living it.

On the second Monday we meet in groups of twos or threes. This is where we get deeper into each other's lives, and hold each other accountable to loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbours.

On the third Monday we're all together again in the pub function room where we explore creative prayer and meditation. We've found this to be a good place to bring new people who are interested in exploring spirituality.

On the fourth Monday we meet in two groups to simply catch up, share how our journey is going, or to go deeper into any issues that have emerged at the previous gatherings.

We also all meet together one Sunday afternoon a month to share a meal.

What really strikes me as I look back over the last 18 months is that it is Jesus who is building this church. All we've done is commit ourselves to prayer and to giving ourselves to the people we've come into contact with, and sharing with them what Jesus has done for us. Out of this, Garden-City has emerged. That's not to say it hasn't been really hard work or that everything has been easy, we've certainly had our challenges, but there has been a very real sense that Jesus is going ahead of us, and we're simply trying to keep up!

Relic of the past or renewal for the future – what is church?

Stephen Lindridge, Fresh Expressions Connexional Missioner for the Methodist Church, asks whether church is a relic of the past or renewal for the future.

What do we really mean by church? Is it something with a spire or a tower or a font – a place for those all-important hatches, matches and dispatches of baptisms, weddings and funerals? I recently came across two very different interpretations.

A snowy day in Newcastle and I was teaching on the Fresh Expressions mission shaped ministry course where we were looking at 'what is Church?' Cue 20 Christians, from differing backgrounds and traditions, getting very excited about the nature and relationships that form the backdrop to this word church.

Twenty four hours later and a BBC news report from the Middlesbrough area told of how a 900-year-old church building – once vandalized and almost destroyed – had been moved brick by brick and rebuilt in the Beamish Museum, adding to their 'growing collection of historic buildings of the past'.

I must admit to feeling demoralised to hear, in this news bulletin at least, that 'church' very much equals 'building'; all the more so as I had witnessed something very different in the name of church just a day earlier. This was compounded by the fact that, for years, I have taught passionately that church – in its essence – is made up of three things:

people – important because 'we don't do it on our own';

focused on God – the Divine Trinity;

purpose – a rhythm of mission and worship.

As a result, two things struck me as if for the first time:

our western culture has placed its own meaning and understanding on the word church;

the meaning of that word can be understood in a positive or negative way and that understanding has a profound impact on those seeking to engage in relevant mission with contemporary society.

Positive

Church is a place where people gather to help each other learn more about living their lives like Jesus. They pray, worship, share, care and encourage one-another in their respective outward mission. Living everyday life in a way that more people would come to know the remarkable and transforming love of God in Christ.

This is something that certainly came true for Matt, who attends the Café Lite fresh expression of church in Droxford village hall, Hampshire. He says,

I have spent many adult years in prison and a lot of years on class A drugs but I have been clean for a year in recovery. I go to Café Lite because I find it an enjoyable time which helps me interact with people I don't usually interact with. I find it inspiring; people are so happy there and show me that a clean life is possible.

There are countless others with similar transformational stories, including Star – baptised and confirmed at the Upper Room community, Cirencester:

I can't connect easily with people in church; there's no space. Here there is space to be real, and to pour your heart out if you need to. It feels like home. It's a place that brings church and community together.

Linda of New Song Network, Warrington, adds,

New Song is my oasis. It is my time to worship God in a way that draws me closer. It's the natural, relaxed, non-threatening, welcoming, Jesus-filled night of my month and it has helped me to deepen my faith and serve others.

These fresh expressions of church often find homes in cafés, pubs, schools or in the workplace. Some meet in traditional church buildings but most do not resemble what would have been familiar to the Beamish museum piece of a church – though they are, most definitely, church.

Negative

A great deal of research has gone into why nearly all the main denominations in Britain are declining rapidly and have been for the last 60 years. The research has given us a new piece of jargon, 'the de-churched' – people who once went to church but don't go any more. Some have left for inert reasons; moving job or home and getting out of the habit of going or not having time to find a new church in a busy life, etc.

However more than 50% of those researched all left for very negative reasons, from the trivial – a disagreement over what colour the woodwork was to be repainted – I kid you not – to the very serious in nature. This may have involved hurt and fall-out from the classic sins around money, sex and power. These abuses, in all their forms, irrevocably damage peoples' relationships with each other and consequently, often their faith in God.

Between these positive and negative ends of the spectrum are the very reasonable responses that the church leadership or the loudest voices will not respond to the growing needs of our time and change to meet such needs. Therefore people leave to find a community of Christians which is looking to do what it says on the tin, namely 'make disciples of Christ' instead of 'this pleases us, therefore it stays as it is'.

Bishop Graham Cray, leader of the Fresh Expressions team, often quotes an Australian bishop who says, 'more of the same means less of the same'. So why is that?

Jesus said he would build his church and, in the Acts of the Apostles (2:47), we read – as those first believers started to gather in Resurrection hope and the Spirit's power – that it was God who added to their number daily. Many would ask, then why isn't God growing his church today? Well, some would say that he is. Newer churches in Britain are experiencing that growth in size with the worldwide church in Africa, South America and Asia seeing amazing things as God helps them to draw many people into faith.

It's not a picture that could be used to describe many Methodist or Anglican churches in Britain. Surely it can't be that they are such bad wicked places, full of judgement and holier-than-thou attitudes? Speaking as someone who has visited more than their fair share of churches down the years, no they are not bad. On the whole they are full of lovely, well-meaning people who are doing the best with what they have been brought up to believe that church is what you do on Sunday to help you through the week.

We've all heard of that weekly pattern which, in some cases, is generations old. It's along the lines of, 'Turn up, sing up, pay up, shut up (during the sermon) and go home, knowing only a handful of names of the people sitting anywhere near you'.

The New Testament view seems a little different.

Consider for a moment the picture in Acts. We see on many occasions the community of believers responding to those who are in need. How did they know they were in need? Maybe those in need asked for help? The broader picture shows that the believers were all together and devoted to specific things, like 'the fellowship'.

This 'fellowship' is much stronger a word than the one we tend to bandy around when describing a general gathering at church, such as 'the men's or women's fellowship'. This is a word which many seem like a stranger in our culture; the word embodies commitment.

These earlier disciples were so committed to each other that they would give up 'stuff' and sell it to help the next person. They wanted to meet with each other on a daily basis; sharing food, praying together and learning more about Jesus.

These days, when we go somewhere different and try to establish new relationships, meeting people over food is still one of the best ways to get to know one another. Breaking down the barriers and getting to know more than someone's name is a basic human social skill in forming rich community – the sort of community that's a good place in which we can thrive.

If we proclaim the message, 'we are made in God’s image', the very essence of that is community. The Godhead three in one and one in three, the blessed Trinity is the source of relationship, love and community; we are made as social beings to dwell in community.

The sad reality is many people may be part of a crowd but no one knows their name or misses them if they disappear from sight. How many so-called 'churches' are like this? We go in anonymous to most of the others present and come out as unknown as we went in. The pains or joys of the past or coming week are untouched, not shared or prayed for by the wider group gathered on Sundays.

Ask yourself, how many people do you know by name at your church? How many don't you know? If we are not aware of people's names how are we going to pretend that we are building community?

Why does that matter? Look to verse 47 of Acts Chapter 2 for an answer.

Daily God added to their number… those who were being saved

Who added? Peter's preaching? The kindness of the disciples? Their organizational skills? No! The Lord added. We have preached and teached for hundreds of years that faith is God's gift to give by grace.

How can we envisage God gifting anyone new to faith into a place were they cannot grow and be nurtured into maturity? Here are four things that are key for the healthy, whole life of the community of believers – and newcomers to that community:

learning practically about Jesus and all he taught, in ways that are relevant in today's cultures;

being part of a nurturing community that is committed enough to know so much more than your name. A place to be part of and contribute to;

eating together, share meals regularly, build the opportunities for deepening discipleship, the substance for encouraging a rhythm of mission and worship;

praying together, cutting through all difference and minister to each other, the source of equipping for daily life.

Why are we in decline? Is it because most of the things we call church are not church at all? Over the years the building has taken on a name but the values that earn the title are sadly missing.

Why did 59% of the British population self-select Christian in the recent census yet less than 8% regular attend (at least monthly) something called church? Is it the 51% don't find what they are looking for?

What a task is before us. We need to encourage the church to be the church – not just in name (i.e. the gathered) but also in values, vision and purpose. Imagine…what if church existed in a 1000 more varieties than it currently does? What if we could find ways of creating the kind of communities in which those who called themselves Christian in the census would want to belong to and be an active, committed participant of? What if these communities of all sizes start doing the Acts stuff because they know and care for those about them? What if that really makes a difference and provides the Lord with a place to plant new believers?

Will that mean the word 'church' starts to signify something a little different than a building in a museum?

Shaping disciples in fresh expressions

Bishop Graham Cray looks at discipleship, in an article written for the Church of England Newspaper.

The ultimate test of any local church's ministry, whether in 'inherited' mode or a fresh expression, is 'what sorts of disciples are being made?' To what extent is that expression of church shaping people to be like Jesus? How effectively does it help those who belong to it to live their daily lives as Jesus would live their lives? Are they a community whose life together shows the wider community a better way of living?

At the heart of the fresh expressions' praxis is discernment, listening to God in context, learning how to engage with local issues, serving appropriately and planting a new indigenous community rather than cloning from another context. Accordingly, Christian discipleship must take local shape.

Those who are moving into a new context know that they need to follow this process because they are aware that they don't know their new community but those who are planting a fresh expression in their own well-loved home community need to follow it as well. Many of our assumptions about local community prove to be misleading once we have done some prayerful listening.

But how do you get started? The key is to identify the issues which most concern those you are wishing or trying to serve while, at the same time, prayerfully 'reading' the local context to identify the bigger issues which the gospel needs to address. This should not be a negative exercise; you are not looking for things to condemn. Often you will be looking for healthy longings and aspirations, things that are causes for hope.

It is this listening and looking which is vital. Once the key local issues, or the primary issues for the network you are creating or engaging have been identified, it is not hard to work relationally towards a local light touch rule of life – focusing the community and worship life of a fresh expression around these first priorities in partnership with local people.

I recommend two prayer-soaked approaches:

conversation: you need to build relationships so ask people about their community, their pressures and their aspirations as a way of getting to know them. Test out how your understanding of the gospel translates in ways that make sense to them.

'Participant observation': this has a greater degree of analysis, a more detached and intentional approach, which tries to identify the main features of a culture by trying to get an insiders' view of it. It is a way of looking for shared patterns of behaviour, not just knowledge of particular people.

Set out to create community from the very beginning rather than at a later stage. If the fresh expression has developed from listening to serving to forming community, then you have a community before you have a worship event. If fresh expressions of church are going to equip new Christians for whole-life discipleship, then these new communities of faith have to be more than a Sunday or weekday event. Context will shape your precise planning but there are all sorts of patterns of smaller meetings which could help. You might consider:

regular cells;

prayer triplets;

a Messy Church, or other all-age approach, can develop materials for 'church in the home';

occasional courses – on anything from parenting to self-worth – give people the opportunity to have time together. As long as the content is relevant it really doesn't matter what the topic is because it all creates an opportunity to build relationships;

a locally appropriate rule or rhythm of life, built around the issues, habits or Christian practices most pertinent but most challenging in that context. This can easily be supported by daily texts or emails. Social media allows us to support one another when our community is dispersed and keep us in touch until the next time we gather.

Getting together in occasional gatherings of whatever shape and size offer a starting point, not the destination because the essence of Church is it being a community. The chief Biblical metaphors are corporate: the body of Christ, the family or household of God, the people of God, and so on. It's worth remembering that the term 'one another' appears more than 50 times – primarily in Paul's letters and John's gospel or letters.

All of this leads us to ask how the participants in a fresh expression can grow together as a community in order to develop personally and communally in discipleship. Remember too that such discipleship must be 'glocal' – both global and local:

global – recognisable as an embodiment of the historic Christian faith as it is lived across the world. All Christians are to live the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount and our faith must engage with the shared features of Western culture. Consumerism shapes our lives in the UK so we need to engage with it wherever we are.

local or contextual – because the gospel is not detached from ordinary life but is the power of God to transform local living.

And finally, here are a couple of 'health' warnings. We are seeking to grow warm communities which are easy to join so don't let the depth of existing relationships act as a wall which keeps new people on the outside. We are to grow together as we grow in numbers.

Pay more attention to how people live than what they claim to believe or disbelieve. Christian character is as important as doctrinal belief and our logic about the way in which the Holy Spirit should engage with a person – or a community's life – is not necessarily the same as the way the Holy Spirit will choose to work. Once again we need to see what God is doing and join in!

msm video diary – part two

Cook@Chapel – update Apr13

Katharine Crowsley tells how a 'mixing bowl of prayer' has helped to develop Cook@Chapel.

Over the past four years Cook@Chapel has grown and evolved as a fresh expression of church. The group of young people meets once a week to cook together, pray together and share a meal. By sharing food, hospitality and worship these young people can develop and deepen their faith – and build a small missional community.

Our prayer life of Cook@Chapel has developed very quickly from a grace said at the start of the shared meal to a time of prayer that takes place every week and forms a central focus to our meeting. The young people like to use a kitchen mixing bowl that we place written prayers into; we then pass the bowl around, stirring the prayers and reading them out in turn.

Prayers are for all sorts of issues, from international concerns to the local, for family, friends and each other. This is called the 'Mixing Bowl of Prayer' and we realised the young people wanted to use this way of praying more frequently when the mixing bowl was brought out for prayers week after week. It has formed a prayer liturgy for the community which works and gives a good example of how the prayer life of the group has evolved naturally.

Over the past 18 months, the numbers of people attending has steadily increased as the turnover rate has decreased. This means that the group of young people attending has gradually stabilised. Before this period, people would join the group for a few months, or maybe a year, and then move on – whereas now they stay. As a result, the community has become more cohesive as faith has grown and worship has developed.

This change has been a positive one which, in turn, has raised many questions, including, 'how do we cope with the increase in numbers?' and 'how do we effectively disciple those who are new to the Christian faith, especially if Cook@Chapel is their only contact with church?'

Recruiting new volunteers to help when we meet on Friday nights is something that works with the increasing numbers in the short term but the longer-term aim is to encourage young leaders from within Cook@Chapel itself. This will ultimately be more sustainable for Cook@Chapel's future and means that the young people will be involved in leading and guiding the development of Cook@Chapel.

Cook@Chapel is made up of some people with quite a deep Christian faith and others relatively new to faith. Providing opportunities for discipleship needs to occur in both an informal and formal way. Future developments will include the more structured option of deepening and developing faith through a taught course, whilst informal discipling will continue through the conversations that occur whilst preparing food or sitting around the table. Most importantly however is the discipleship that happens while journeying alongside people, developing our faith as we go.

Cook@Chapel was recently been involved in fundraising for an education project in Ghana and we cooked a safari supper to raise some money. The young people prepared a traditional meal of spicy chicken, rice and peas and the whole event was very successful – especially as it gave those at Cook@Chapel a chance to showcase their cookery skills to a wider 'audience'.

As Cook@Chapel moves towards the start of its fifth year, other plans include a possible allotment where we can grow our own vegetables to cook for our fellowship meal. This is very much in the planning stage at present but would allow us to become more sustainable and to think more about where our food comes from. Love and care for God's creation has been an important part of Cook@Chapel's philosophy right from the start, so the allotment development would encourage stewardship of the earth's resources and the opportunity to work together as a community.

authentic faith: fresh expressions of church amongst young adults

The Church is failing to reach or keep young adults. Only 11% of regular churchgoers are between the ages of 25 and 34, whilst 16% of the UK population is within that age group. In tracking church decline, the greatest losses per year are occurring amongst those aged 15 to 29. However, there are churches bucking this trend.

This 36-page report outlines the findings from a qualitative research project undertaken by Church Army and Fresh Expressions looking into some of these churches, including parish churches, traditional church plants and fresh expressions of church, all with growing numbers of people in their 20s and 30s.

A selection of young adult leaders share their reactions to the research.

For the majority of young adults in this country, any form of church is simply off the radar. This research brings together stories that are full of hope and describes a necessary move of the spirit to be nurtured and encouraged. authentic faith is a powerful gift to young adult communities who often feel isolated and unsupported in their calling and its recommendations are astute and should be heeded. This is essential reading for the whole church.

Zoe Hart, practitioner and Fresh Expressions Associate Missioner

We should be grateful to Beth Keith for this careful piece of research and even more grateful for the seven recommendations it makes. The ageing UK church ignores these at its peril.

Norman Ivison, Director of Communication and Resources, Fresh Expressions

Beth's research is insightful and timely. Her findings will help shape future pioneering work in the church as we grapple with reaching the missing generations.

Rachel Jordan, Church of England National Mission & Evangelism Adviser

Sanctus1 – update Apr10

Manchester-based Sanctus1 has inspired many since appearing on expressions: the dvd – 1: stories of church for a changing culture. Based at Nexus art café, it reaches out to those living and working in the city centre. Over the past few months, key leaders have moved on and it is proving to be a time of transition for everyone. The new leader of both communities, Methodist minister Al Lowe, explains why.

I joined in September last year when the Anglicans and Methodists here decided it was a good time for a joint ecumenical appointment. As a result I became the leader of both Sanctus1 and the Nexus art café communities. I was very much aware of the heritage of both as Cris Acher had overseen Nexus as a space for encounter since it was opened in 2005 by the Methodist Church in partnership with Sanctus1.

But Cris moved on this year and so did Sanctus 1's Ben Edson. Many fresh expression churches are focused on one particular leader and their gifts but what happens when that leader is no longer there? How do we cope? Transition, how we manage it, and sustainability will play a very important part in my work in these early stages.

I have to look at the benefits of Sanctus1 and Nexus working more closely together because for me it's all about discipleship, growth of discipleship and depth of discipleship. Nexus is a place where you can come and explore without coming across Jesus too much. Historically, after a while, a few people started stepping across into Sanctus1 as somewhere which looks to continually refresh its ways of doing worship but somewhere along the way, Sanctus1 has become a bit of an introspective community. We need to be more outward looking there, have an increased sense of mission, and more of a focused idea on who we are and what we are doing.

Concentrating on discipleship rather than on building church is key. The idea of 'church' carries so much baggage these days, and – as far as I'm concerned – when two or three are gathered together then Christ is there. If you grow discipleship you are more likely to grow church rather than saying we have to have five hymns and Communion and it has to be done this way. The challenge for us is to put a structure together so that we are less introspective.

We still seem to have a core of eight to 10 people at Sanctus1 and there is a lot of come and go but that is the nature of the generation we serve. As part of the changing pattern since the community first got off the ground, we now offer Sanctus on Sundays because the young professionals who first came to us now have children of their own. They were telling us, 'Wednesday night used to work for us as a meeting time but it doesn't any more.' So we decided to launch on a Sunday morning and meet at Nexus for a 10.45am start followed by lunch at 12. What goes around comes around! Basically what we do is a repeat of the Wednesday material but we also have a crate of toys and a little bit of interaction with the kids. The ongoing challenge will be to offer something for those children as they move on from the baby and toddler stage.

People say, 'It's nice to see something on a Sunday morning'. It’s not quite a radical idea is it?! Just goes to show that not everything we do in established Church is wrong, it's often just not pliable enough to move forward and meet the needs of people where they're at.

Fresh expressions: what’s in a name? (Michael King)

Michael King asks what's in a name.

Being Vice-President of the Methodist Church is a very real privilege. I have visited many different parts of Britain, met some wonderfully committed and gifted people, been shown remarkably creative pieces of work and marvelled at the extraordinary variety and diversity of 'church' in the 21st century.

Now I'm now less than three months away from handing on this very special role to Daleep Mukarji in London, which has meant that I am being asked to reflect on my year in a number of committees and forums.

I am aware that there are debates surrounding the name of 'fresh expressions' – such as whether the label is correct or even the best descriptor. I am content to leave that discussion with theologians and ecclesiologists because, from my experience of the Methodist Church this year, what the label of fresh expressions has done is to give local churches, Circuits and Districts permission to think outside the box.

Of course Christians have tried new things for the last 2000 years but there is something about being able, in this new millennium, to name new initiatives as part of a discernible moving of the Spirit – and especially if it is encouraged by the Methodist Conference – that gives people a sense of communal purpose. This is along the lines of, 'What you are doing there is not like we are trying here, but we're both part of some important moving of the Spirit and isn't it good that we can encourage one another?'

Up and down the land, the mission shaped ministry course is being taken seriously whilst deacons, chaplains, VentureFX Pioneers, presbyters, lay workers, and faithful church members are talking about new ways of being church. Many manifestations of church could be described as 'outside' normal church. Defining normality, of course, begs other questions!

I just want to thank God for anything that releases his people to reach those outside mainstream church circles. Emil Brunner's much quoted, 'The Church exists by mission, as fire exists by burning', is still central to my understanding of what church is about. These recent expressions of church in the UK are as important as any missionary movements internationally; the impulse to tell other people that God loves them has exactly the same roots. In all cases, whether near or far, context and sensitivity are vital. It is often lay people that initiate mission because they are alongside others in daily work; it requires faithful and committed Christians who know the local scene to combine with an openness to new ideas and inspiration. It's happening all over! Praise God.

Is there a danger that institutions (whilst generously granting seed money to nurture new shoots) are trying to control things too tightly? I'm all for a bit of order, but not at the expense of stifling the Holy Spirit. There has never been one way of being church. Some recent recommendations from the joint (Methodist/Church of England) working party – as reported in the book Fresh Expressions in the Mission of the Church – appear to suggest increasing control over what defines church, before looking at the merits of any fresh expressions.

It's a lesson that I'm also learning in the garden where, for the first time in my life, I am going to grow parsnips. On asking for advice, I was told to grow them in pipes, to keep them straight – but I am growing them for their flavour, not for show. Yes, they need to be recognisable as parsnips and I want them to thrive but I'm really not bothered about shape. Their taste is what matters to me. The values of new forms of church are more important than the shape they take.

There's that lovely parable in Matthew 20 (verses 1-16) which describes aspects of the Kingdom of heaven. Verse 15 includes the words of the landowner, 'Or are you envious because I am generous?' I wonder how many fresh expressions the Holy Spirit of God is trying to point out to us; how dulled we are to the Spirit's promptings, how slow we are get on board; how we prefer the holy chaos to be ordered according to our own understanding and how often we miss out on fully appreciating the generosity of God.

Grafted – update Apr13

Grafted, a Church Army project in the Scottish Borders at Newcastleton, was launched by Captain Paul Little eight years ago. Mick McTighe now leads the ministry, which is linked with Refresh Community church.

The project reaches out to people with chaotic lifestyles, coming alongside them so that they may be enabled and encouraged to know Jesus.

Grafted is continually seeking to respond to God's call and now has a thriving outreach to older people led by Mary Mitchell. 'Mary's Teas' is based around a weekly meal, crafts and quizzes and occasional day excursions. Grafted also has busy children's and youth ministry in Newcastleton and works regularly in the local primary school. Volunteers are an integral part of the team as the ministry continues to develop.

In Hawick, 20 miles from Newcastleton, the team manages a drop-in for those seeking help with substance and alcohol misuse. This is run in partnership with Hawick Baptist church. A similar work in Galashiels is has been running for two years after being established by Grafted. Called 'Window of Time' this work continues to challenge those with addictive and volatile lifestyles. Walking, mountain biking and creative crafts are further activities that the team uses to explore faith and work in relation to issues that clients may be struggling with.

Grafted manages and supports this much needed work and is also looking to the future with the development of a new drop-in at Newcastleton. This would be for people living with a variety of needs, including loneliness, depression and addictions. As the vision grows, we are working hard to develop relationships with churches in the surrounding Borders area to provide hope for those without hope.

I came to Newcastleton from Huddersfield in August last year and it has been quite a learning curve because I'm used to a parish setting, though my work has always been with those the church finds difficult to reach or communicate with. It is such a different culture here to what I'm accustomed to; it's a very tight-knit community and everyone knows what's happening in the area This is a very isolated place, the nearest petrol station is 12 miles away and the closest supermarket is 25 miles away but there's a fantastic butcher down the lane and the folk in Hawick and Galashiels really look forward to us taking lots of great pies to the drop-ins!

Paul Little, his wife Elaine and family did a brilliant job here and they are much missed. He loved outdoor activities and was great at leading them; I'm not that type of character. Mine is a different sort of role but I equally seek to make Christ known through word and deed as I look to support and build on, and unite, the various ministries of Grafted, Refresh, Deeper and the Parish Church.

When I arrived, there was a little confusion as to what came under the Grafted flag and what didn't so part of my role is 'de-fragmenting' everything to bring all the elements together under the banner of Christ.

One of the elements is the No 8 Club which we run as a local authority youth venue, in agreement with the local council authority. Many of the No 8 young people also attend Refresh Community Church, a fresh expression of church which uses the same venue fortnightly on Tuesday evenings and meets in homes at small groups every other week.

My wife Ros, who is a keen 'crafter' has joined the local knitting club and is making new friends in the village. She has also set up a crafting class at the Hawick drop-in, which has proved very popular amongst our clients – both women and men.

Our evangelist-in-training, Paul Smith, is full of ideas and it is through him that we have been given permission to develop a ministry in the 'Beanscene' coffee house in Hawick. They have offered to cordon off part of the upstairs floor of the café as well as giving us use of a cinema connected to their business if we needed to go further with our work. This has proved to be a popular venue as it is very public and has a relaxed, non-threatening, friendly atmosphere.

Lee and Claire Musson, two of the leaders currently running Refresh, are also responsible for Rock UK Christian outdoor adventure centre but Claire is expecting a baby in April so we will be taking on their Refresh home group while she is on maternity leave. Refresh currently has a leadership of four. Working alongside Lee and Claire are Julie Thomson – Children and Families Worker with Grafted – and Mary Mitchell, who leads Mary's Teas and the visiting team to the elderly. Paul Smith is also involved in Refresh through teaching, leading home groups and leading worship.

Those who come to Refresh wouldn't normally go to the parish church; we are not trying to change that at all. Instead we want them to come in and recognise that we are the church.

There was some misunderstanding about Refresh because it was so different, but now people do come from the parish church to support us, and they meet every Friday to pray for the work of the church within the community. Some of the women from the church bake for the monthly coffee bar for teenagers which is run as a joint outreach by Grafted, Refresh, Rock UK and Liddesdale Parish Church, and more and more of them are attracted to what we're doing. We are also meeting regularly with members of Rock UK, Refresh and Liddesdale Parish Church to ensure we are pulling together all our resources to ensure the children's and youth ministry in the community is the best we can do.

I, along with the team, am building further bridges with the local parish church though I try not to get involved with Sundays too much. We have got more involved with their midweek activities because it's all part of trying to encourage them to be more active in what they are trying to do in their community. We need to build bridges and explode a few of the myths that have built up around us. I want people to recognise that we are here to serve as the body of Christ and as such are on their side. We don’t want to undermine the church but to help them be more outward looking rather than inward looking.

It's a balancing act because the traditional churches we are involved with are quite happy that we are available for them but I am trying to resist any Idea that we want to take everything over on their behalf. I still keep in mind that my aim is to build community in Newcastleton and step up to Grafted2.

We don't talk about going to church; instead we constantly talk to the community about being church. I go 'with' the church to a place where a lot of people have lots in common. People understand this concept much better which therefore helps them understand more clearly why we want to meet together. I also think the community has to see a group of people experiencing the same ups and downs of life; they need to see that Christ is in us. We are hoping and praying that we can end up with a core of people in the village who are going to be salt and light here and confident in sharing the hope we have Jesus.

Eaton and Millbridge Project

The Eaton/Millbridge Project is part of the Uniting Church of Australia's Wellington Regional Mission (WRM). Rev Karyl Davison and a team of volunteers support people in the area and are hoping to see a fresh expression of church take shape.

When a new housing development started to be built in the Eaton area of Western Australia, it had no community facilities. The Wellington Regional Mission saw an opportunity to do ministry there and I took on the role of creating community in Eaton and Millbridge.

A few years ago the WRM consisted of a number of small, declining semi-rural congregations plus one large congregation in Bunbury, the regional centre. As a result of hearing about fresh expressions of church, and with the urging of some forward thinking people keen on mission-shaped ministry, the WRM sold unutilised property and put the funds into a new community-based ministry.

A team of people went out into the community to see what God was up to. A process of listening occurred, including community gatherings and individual conversations, which identified that people wanted opportunities to do things as a 'family'. The WRM has invested in the Project by buying a manse in Millbridge (opposite a popular park) and I've been there since January last year.

As the Eaton and Millbridge area underwent dramatic residential growth, the WRM saw a great opportunity to help create a sense of community and bring the community together. The project had been a dream for a number of years but it was ready to move to the next level.

I have responsibility for Collie, Waterloo and Harvey congregations as well as the Eaton/Millbridge Project – being church in the community for the new housing development which will eventually cover about 500 acres of land. By its completion it will have over 1400 new homes, two government-owned primary schools, and a Catholic school. The community is made up primarily of Anglo Australians, though there are a number of families from other cultural backgrounds.

The Eaton/Millbridge Project team is currently made up of volunteers from members of the Wellington Regional Mission congregations, a significant number of whom are residents in the area or have family living there. After 12 months we have got to the stage where other residents are becoming interested in joining the team.

However, at this early stage of the Project we are still trying to make connections with people in the community. This is done mainly through events. We have now had two Easter Egg Hunts, a 'mini festival' called Christmas on Hunter, Movies by Moonlight as well as a number of smaller activities. Most are held in local parks as there are no indoor community spaces in the suburb.

We took part in the national Clean Up Australia Day by getting involved at Cadell Park, Millbridge. This year's Easter Egg Hunt was held in the same place and we had games and activities, plus the Hunt, and the all important coffee and cupcakes. We had over 150 people there, about two thirds of whom were children.

We continue to listen to the community and for the Spirit. At each event we have a comments board and invite people to make suggestions or tell us something about their community. We have also created a Community Banner featuring the handprints of all of those who come to our events.

In terms of 'advertising' what we do, we intend to connect with people electronically as well as face to face. All of our promotional material for the Project notes that we have a Facebook page and this enables me to let lots of people know about what's going on. I also send out reminders by email and we do a door-to-door leaflet drop before every event.

For those in the Project team, God's presence is much more apparent at their community events in a way that they never feel in regular worship. There is such a great sense of community and energy and fun it's a privilege to be part of.

We seek to engage with our community without an agenda of 'getting them to come to church'. We aim to be willing to receive hospitality as well as offer it; listen; and seek to identify what God is up to in our community. Our intention is that, as we gain the people's trust, we will begin offering different kinds of contemplative spaces at our events and invite them to engage in that alongside the fun activities such as games, craft, movies etc.

We hope the result will be some form of 'congregation' for unchurched or dechurched people but if we're true to our commitment to listen to the community and the Spirit, we can't set out to form a new congregation but to see what emerges.