ben-clymo, Author at FX ARCHIVE...

Bare Soul

David Barker spent three years as a fresh expressions enabler in the West Yorkshire District. While in post, he launched a variety of different things including youth cell groups, all-age church and church in sheltered housing accommodation. He is still involved in a church in a bar, known as Bare Soul.

Church in a bar works like a spiritual open mic night. There's a different theme each time and people are encouraged to bring along songs, poems, a piece of art or something that they have made (especially if it is cake!). These sometimes have very tenuous links with what we're thinking about in that session but everything is welcome! Among the themes we've explored so far are peace, hope and joy. These can be interpreted in a number of different ways, in an attempt to engage people who are not regular churchgoers – though many are spiritual seekers. I also run a gospel choir and there is a lot of cross over between the two communities.

The bar is based in the Bare Arts Gallery in Todmorden in what are off-sales premises for a micro brewery. The brewer is the owner and his wife is an artist who specialises in painting nudes, hence the gallery name.

The brewer heard about us doing church in another pub and said, 'can you come here and do that?' He and his wife love it and like to tell their customers that 'church comes to us once a month'. They are really supportive and get people to come along: they are our best evangelists. The numbers vary because it's in the main bar area which means that some people just happen to be in the room when it happens and get subjected to it, many asking when it is happening again!

We have been going since December 2009 and usually have between 15 and 25 people coming along. A team of us, who play in a band together, help to set it up each time. We act as the house band on the night with me generally acting as MC, though it tends to be with a very light touch – we don't make a big thing of setting up 'church' on the premises or anything like that. It can be a little nerve-wracking at times as you never know if anyone is going to bring anything or what they might bring. There have been quite a few opportunities for discussions but we haven't got to the point of interesting people in Alpha or anything – mainly because the people who come are in a different place to that. They are starting much further back.

It's all about building relationships and introducing Christian spirituality because this context is one in which there is a very arty community and a very spiritual community. They're interested in all sorts of things and we're delighted to have the chance to be part of that.

(Christian Today) Many churches, one purpose – Archbishop contemplates fresh expressions

Fresh Expressions pioneers and practitioners from across the UK explore the mixed economy of church.

Whether traditional in form or an innovative fresh expression, the common task of the church is to help people to see God, themselves and the world as never before.

So said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at a Fresh Expressions conference held in Oxford on Friday to explore the question of how the 'mixed economy' of church might work in practice.

Mixed economy is a term first coined by Dr Williams referring to the coexistence of fresh expressions and 'inherited' forms of church.

Addressing Fresh Expressions practitioners from across the UK, the Archbishop explained his vision of the mixed economy as one in which churches in their various forms work alongside one another in helping people encounter Jesus, and discipling them at whatever stage in their faith journeys they may be at.

The future for Britain's churches, he suggested, lies in striking a balance between "regular and demanding" church cell groups, community-wide gatherings with a capacity for "nudging others towards new vision", and large-scale festivals and events that give people a glimpse of what the church is trying to create in the world.

Whether in inherited models of church or in fresh expressions, the Archbishop said that the "real heart" for the next generation would inevitably be bound up in the small group – or cell group – where people are able to form bonds of trust in one another.

Building personal, face-to-face relationships is one of the things that will make the relationship between inherited patterns of church and new ones viable,

he said.

Although the hallmark of the mixed economy is a diversity of styles, the Archbishop stressed that the mixed economy was not about churches working in isolation.

We are (not) looking for a church which is a sort of Balkan map of little independent, autonomous, self-serving groups doing what they fancy, finding the style that suits them, which is always a danger,

he said.

(We are looking for) a context within which there is a flow of communication, good news and challenge between different styles of church life, which may respond to different personalities in different stages along the journey. What holds them together is Jesus, and what Jesus helps you see, and (through that) the landscape is transformed.

The Archbishop suggested that the starting point for every church and every fresh expression was the encounter between Jesus and others.

The landscape gets to look different when Jesus is around. People see things in a new way, themselves and one another, God and God's world,

he said.

Isn't part of what we are about in mission trying to be the sort of people or communities around which people can see things differently? And that's not abstract theory because when you see God and yourself differently things really do happen. You become a different person.

He added:

When we talk about fresh expressions, I would like to think we are talking about countless local enterprises of vision where people are being encouraged and nourished and enabled to see what they hadn't seen before.

Fresh Expressions is a joint venture between the Church of England, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church, launched in 2004 to huge success.

The idea behind the initiative is to reach those untouched by existing forms of churches. To date, more than 2,100 people have taken part in a Fresh Expressions training course and Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Teams have been established in 30 different locations.

Also speaking at the conference was Archbishops' Missioner and Fresh Expressions Team Leader Bishop Graham Cray, who urged even more churches to start up their own fresh expressions.

The great majority of fresh expressions are new fledgling congregations meeting in a welcoming place and at a convenient time for those who previously did not go to church or follow Christ, and they are well within the capability of the average local church,

he said.

We need to see thousands and thousands more average local churches becoming mixed economy.

Bishop Cray said a "three-part ecology" of church was starting to emerge, with "new imagination" in relation to possible forms of church at the grassroots level, a "climate of permission and encouragement" at the leadership level, and the development of nationally available resources for mission and training.

As we engage with a missionary God in a multi-choice world where the impact of Christendom is rapidly fading, we are being reshaped by the Holy Spirit as we learn again how to be missionary in our own land,

he said.

Key to the mixed economy working, he added, was the recognition that traditional and innovative forms of church work together.

He said:

Mixed economy is not intended to be a device to allow two separate things to happen at the same time. It requires partnership where traditional churches and fresh expressions of church pray for one another, support one another, and learn from one another.

(Christian Today) Reaching Britain with the mixed economy of church

Bishop Graham Cray is Archbishops' Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions, the highly successful joint initiative of the Church of England and Methodist Church pioneering new ways of being church. He talks to Christian Today about the 'mixed economy' of church and why both traditional and innovative forms are needed for effective mission today.

CT: What is a mixed economy of church?

Bishop Graham: 'Mixed economy' is an expression that originates from Archbishop Rowan Williams when he was a Bishop in Wales. The thinking behind it is that new congregations and church plants are not to replace existing churches with their approach, but complement them.

There is much good work to be done by traditional churches and they need to be supplemented and complemented by new forms of church to reach those that remain untouched by existing churches.

It is a partnership between the two and not a competition. The intention is not to replace one another, and neither is it to operate in isolation from one another but rather supplement with mutual prayer, recognition and learning from one another.

The great majority of Fresh Expressions planted in the last five or six years are new congregations of existing churches so it helps lots of local parish churches and Methodist circuits to become mixed economy.

CT: You meet a lot of people in the traditional churches. Do they feel threatened by new expressions or pressured to change at all?

Bishop Graham: It's a varied picture but I don't think there is much of that. If there is pressure to change, it's indirect, because no one is saying stop doing church traditionally and 'everybody's got to do these new things'. The other aspect of the mixed economy is an understanding that the whole church is missionary and that traditional churches need to be missionary in their traditional forms.

There is a challenge that way, but I find that more traditional worshippers are grateful that something is being done and I find it even more with the older generation who say that they are worried that their grandchildren don't go to church at all. So if they see something happening that isn't church the way they are used to but it's helping their grandchildren engage with the church, then they are excited about it and not necessarily threatened by it.

CT: The mixed economy means many different styles of church and different traditions and denominations working together. Is there a tension between the inevitable diversity and unity?

Bishop Graham: I had a meeting recently with David Cornick, General Secretary of Churches Together in England and a former colleague of mine. I think we are both clear that unity and mission are equally important and you can't simply go for one and not the other. But the way it is working out is beginning to change. We had a long period of time when there was considerable hard work about formal unity for the sake of mission and to give a united witness. That's still very important but what's tending to happen now is that more progress is being made with unity when churches in an area are acting together or coordinating in mission.

Fresh Expressions is one of the ways they can do that. Doing mission is the best route to unity, many of us are discovering. Diversity is fine as long as there is real communication locally. Some churches have gathered together as a result of the Hope08 initiatives and have kept working together and a lot of the Street Pastor initiatives have been made possible by that.

We have a regional organisation called FEAST through which the Fresh Expressions strategy team leaders of different denomination in an area coordinate together. It allows them to know what the other is trying to do and that way, you don't have six churches working on one estate, for example, and no one working on the estate next door.

In lots of parts of the country, rural and urban, we are encouraging churches to plan together and to pray together and, if you like, coordinate the diversity. So it helps with unity rather than undermines.

CT: When we talk about the church today, a word we often hear is decline, but Fresh Expressions seems to be experiencing a lot of growth.

Bishop Graham: Yes it is. It's hard to know exactly how much but the Methodist Church has fairly robust figures now and there are something like 1,200 Methodist churches that are planting a fresh expression. Now a lot of them will be quite small and inevitably lots of them will be young because this is a young movement but that amounts to a lot of people.

Some of them will be people who had a background in church but stopped going. Others will be people who have never had any real contact with church. But certainly one of the ways the church is growing and evangelising in Britain is through the planting of fresh expressions.

CT: Would you go as far as saying that it is the key to the church's long term survival?

Bishop Graham: Well, I think it is one of the keys. If we continue with this mixed economy approach where the whole church is realising that it is called to mission, and that there is a place and partnership, and for the traditional and the fresh expression, then we might become quite a different sort of church, much more engaged as a whole with its community and not needing words like 'traditional' or 'fresh expression'.

So I think fresh expressions are one part but it will never be the whole of the future. It really does need this dynamic relationship between the more traditional and the more innovative.

CT: The royal wedding was traditional. Was the Church of England not tempted to go for a fresh expression?!

Bishop Graham: [laughs] Well, I believe the choice was down to the couple and they wanted it like that! But one of the mistakes we can make is just assuming that fresh expressions are for the young and the traditional is for the old.

I have a lot to do with youth ministry, I chair the Soul Survivor Trust, so I know that large numbers of young people like it very contemporary and lively, but others love the chants of Taizé, for example, and something more structured.

You have to remember that this current generation of pensioners includes people like Rod Steward and Mick Jagger. There is a rock 'n' roll generation that has reached pension age now. So the mixed economy is for all generations.

CT: You've just partnered with 24/7 Prayer. Why have you decided to move Fresh Expressions forward with them?

Bishop Graham: They came to us because they were coming to the conclusion that the core values that they had and the core values that we have are very similar. Our core values are about prayer and spirituality and all our practical training is founded on the principle that you need to discern, you need to pray, you need to listen to God, you need to help him to show you how to engage with your community, your area, your network.

That ties in so well with their prayer houses that get involved with mission, and we are a missionary organisation that is rooted in prayer and discernment. Andy Freeman, who co-wrote Punk Monk, is also training to be a pioneer minister in the Church of England and so came more fully in touch with the work we are doing with Fresh Expressions through his training.

We are absolutely delighted to have them as partners. It will strengthen us in terms of the prayer base involved in local mission strategies and the planting of fresh expressions, and developing patterns of prayer and worship within fresh expressions as they start to grow.

CT: Is a fresh expression something any church could do?

Bishop Graham: More or less, yes. We would like the mixed economy to be the default setting for the church in the UK, so that it becomes the norm for any church both to develop its established patterns as much as it possibly can and at the same time ask: who will we never reach if we only do this? What else could we do? And ask the Holy Spirit to inspire their imagination and show them.

CT: Is there a secret to a successful church plant?

Bishop Graham: There's an expression in mission we use a lot: see what God is doing and join in. The two key ingredients are, one, that it comes out of prayerful listening to God about the opportunities he is preparing in an area, and, two, that it comes from what the Mission-shaped Church report points to: dying to live.

That is, you don't plant a fresh expression or do a church plant through establishing just the sort of church you believe churches ought to be like and that you personally would love to have! Rather, it is about being willing to sacrifice what you would like to have for what is appropriate for those you are trying to reach and that becomes the shape of the church you are helping establish.

It's got to be for others, not you, and it's got to start with listening to God's wisdom and not just your local good idea or cloning something someone else has done elsewhere!

CT: You must hear all the time about exciting fresh expressions being developed all around the UK.

Bishop Graham: Well, the trickiness about that story is that most of them aren't wonderfully exciting! They are just really locally appropriate and people are being reached for Jesus in a way that they weren't being reached before.

We are releasing a DVD this month with 28 stories and among my favourite is one Methodist church on the edge of a beach that was down to two members aged 90 and 85 and is now a thriving church that majors on, although not exclusively, ministering to the surfing community.

In the borderlands of Scotland, a Church Army evangelist is leading a fresh expression that is working with people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Sorted in Bradford started with relational work in skate parks and is now involved in schools and the Diocese of Bradford has formally recognised this as a church through what we call a Bishop's Mission Order and it is working very effectively with unchurched young people.

The exciting thing about all of these is that they are local, they are appropriate and people who didn't know Jesus before are getting to know him.

(CEN) We don’t want mavericks or lone wolves

Today (6th May), the Fresh Expressions national day conference in Oxford will welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury as a keynote speaker to consider the theme of 'making the mixed economy work'. Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, writes about why it is time to 'stop talking mixed economy and start acting mixed economy'.

Our aspiration is to see the church reshaped, not by a church initiative, but by sharing in the Mission of God. We are all learning: that the mission of the Church is to share in the mission of God and that mission is not an activity of some Christians, but of the very essence of what it means to be the Church. Baptism is into Christ and into his body and into his mission.

Roman Catholic missiologists Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder wrote that

the church is missionary by its very nature and it becomes missionary by attending to each and every context in which it finds itself.

The Mission-shaped Church report was about 'fresh expressions of church in a changing context'. As we engage with the missionary God in a multi-choice world, where the impact of Christendom is rapidly fading, so we will be reshaped by the Spirit, as we learn again how to be missionary here.

Our context requires more than fresh expressions of church. It requires a week-by-week partnership, which Archbishop Rowan has called 'a mixed economy church'. In such a church, every parish church and chapel, every deanery, circuit, synod and presbytery knows that it is called to mission through word and need – finding ways to give local expression to the five marks of mission. Existing churches extend their reach beyond their current attendance, and fresh expressions of church are planted to reach those who still remain untouched by existing churches.

It is time to stop talking mixed economy and time to start acting mixed economy. This requires a partnership where traditional churches and fresh expressions of church pray for one another, support one another, and learn from one another. It requires growing relationships of trust between those pioneers who plant fresh expressions and those to whom they are accountable. Such trust is properly based on integrity of character and not necessarily on supervisors and pioneers' understanding of one another's ministries. Each needs to respect the other for the things they themselves cannot do.

We do not truly act mixed economy unless we act ecumenically as well. The denominations are not competitors but partners in mission. Their shared task is to engage the whole of society in their part of the country with Christ and his kingdom. According to Paul Avis, general secretary of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity,

Mission is the whole Church bringing the whole Christ to the whole world.

That understanding needs embodying locally, in every locality. We can't be properly missionary, and we can't fully embody the mixed economy, without one another. This is not so much unity for the sake of mission, as partnership in mission, which will reshape the church.

We have to take seriously the scale of the task: 34% of adults in England have had no significant contact with any church and the proportion of young people and children will be much higher. In my view it will not prove to be enough to encourage the majority of churches to plant fresh expressions of church. I am thrilled that so many are doing so. I work hard so that many, many more will do so. But I also believe we need to find ways to reach beyond the reach of the churches in this nation, even beyond the reach of those which plant fresh expressions of church.

I believe we need a new breed of self-supporting missionaries, mostly lay people, whose vocation from God is to plant fresh expressions of church in the locations of their life circumstances, in the work place and the leisure centre, wherever they are, or wherever God sends them. I'm not looking for mavericks or lone wolves, but disciplined people, called by God, equipped by the church, who are prepared to be accountable to one another and to the church's senior leaders, and who will reach more deeply into our increasingly post Christian society than most local churches can reasonably be expected to go. We need regional and national orders of missionaries in life to re-evangelize our land.

With a mixed economy, ecumenical partnership and a new missionary movement we really could see the landscape changed, not just in the church, but in the nation.

This is not about reversing decline! The scale of church attendance in previous times is almost irrelevant to the case I am arguing. It is about learning to be the church in our current context. It is about a church which is missionary by nature learning how to be missionary in its current context. And it is about grace. According to St Paul, those who have been encountered by the grace of God in Jesus Christ owe it to those who have not. We are 'debtors' to them (Romans 1:14), because we are debtors to grace. Mission is not a duty, it is a reflex in response to the love of God.

Changing the landscape: making the mixed economy work will also host the launch of the next Fresh Expressions DVD, expressions: making a difference. Comprising 28 stories, the DVD (£15) is available from the Fresh Expressions shop. Look onsite too for details of the newly-produced Share booklets, the first seven in an ongoing series – ideal for anybody considering, or involved in, growing a fresh expression of church.

Zone2

Two worship services now run in parallel at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral on Sunday mornings. Alongside the traditional choral service, a new, informal worship zone takes place in the building’s Concert Room. Canon Richard White explains more about Zone2.

The 10.30am Sunday Eucharist takes place in two 'zones' simultaneously. People can choose whether to attend the choral service in the main cathedral space, or Zone2.

This development comes out of considerable prayer, discussion and reflection by the Chapter over the past eight months and is enthusiastically supported by them as central to our cathedral's commitment to mission and evangelism.

We are committed to creating ways to worship that are culturally accessible for a wide range of people. Many find our existing worship immediately attractive, beautiful and moving. It is 'mission-shaped' worship for those people. It is growing in numbers and we aim to attract many more to it. Others though, especially those without a church background who aren't used to classical music and formality, can find it somewhat intimidating and uncomfortable. For many people today, finding their way into our worship is as foreign and threatening as going into a betting shop to place a bet would be for some traditional churchgoers.

Visitors to the new 'zone' make their way down to the Concert Room where we set out large, round tables in café style. Good filter coffee, soft drinks, croissants, and fresh fruit are served so that everyone feels welcome as soon as they arrive. Many of the components of a more traditional Sunday morning service are found in the new 'zone' with Bible reading, teaching, confession and prayer being expressed in an informal and interactive style with all ages worshipping together.

People at Zone2 have the opportunity to go up to the main cathedral service to celebrate Communion for the last part of our time together but others prefer to stay with us and continue to be part of what's happening in the Concert Room. People can chop and change between the two, as suits them. All are welcome to either.The new format, which has been running for about the last six weeks, takes place every Sunday during school term times.

Parents attending the choral service can leave their children at the new 'zone' where recognised adult hosts supervise and care for them. Others come to Zone2 as a family unit.

I've been impressed that our cathedral statement, 'A safe place to do risky things in Christ's service' is referred to frequently in discussions and decisions. Sometimes our tendency to shorten phrases leads to the last three words being dropped but, of course, they are the reason the cathedral exists. In Christ's service we meet, give, work, plan, spend and make decisions about risky opportunities. By definition, risk sometimes go wrong. If we never fail then we're just pretending – which is why the risks are only worth taking if they are genuinely in Christ's service.

Zone2 is a new and exciting venture and will need a period of experimentation. No doubt there will be teething issues and practicalities we hadn't anticipated as we enter this risky thing in Christ's service but, although it's early days as yet, it has been very encouraging to see an average of 60 people coming along. Some people have already said they see it as their church; others have spoken about being able to relax in this environment rather than feeling quite stressed about how their children are reacting to what's going on around them in a more traditional setting.

We are not trying to abolish traditional choral formal worship because the cathedral does that superbly well but in a cathedral building you have got the space to make a choice. It's wonderful that people here now have that choice.

(CEN) Making and growing disciples in the countryside

Country life is changing at remarkable rate. The 21st century village is, more often than not, now home to a range of communities – and the challenges and opportunities associated with them. A conference at the beginning of May, run by Fresh Expressions and the Rural Churchplanters’ Forum, will look at one of those challenges in more detail: making and growing disciples in the countryside. Revd Sally Gaze, author of Mission Shaped and Rural and leader of the Tas Valley Cell Church, South Norfolk, explains more

Lots of people have a very set idea as to what life, or ministry, in the countryside is like – usually people who have never lived or ministered here! Sometimes their image owes more to The Archers than reality but the fact is that rural contexts are very diverse and the countryside is changing very quickly indeed. We asked those booking for the conference to let us know a little more about their own settings and the variety is amazing; one Minister's parish covers 350 miles and includes 10 distinct communities; four islands, five villages accessible by road and one by sea on the mainland. In a classic understatement he says, 'The traditional parish model cannot provide a model of ministry that enables mission and innovation to be developed'.

It's interesting that there are recognisable differences in what people think of as a rural setting. A lot of places that describe themselves as rural would not be seen as such by others in more remote areas; there are real regional differences being played out against the same backdrop. Many of the 'rural' areas surrounding the London belt for instance would not be seen as such by many working in far flung areas of England, Scotland or Wales. That's fine – we wouldn't say one 'urban' context is exactly the same as another simply because it's urban. The same is true of the countryside.

The Rural Churchplanters' Forum came into being because training was available on how to start mission initiatives in the countryside but there seemed to be a gap when we started to think about what happens when people become disciples for the first time and want to grow and mature in faith. In rural contexts we don't have the resources of many large, urban churches so youth work, for instance, may be a particular challenge if you only have one teenager who's attending what is the only church in the village. Where can that teenager go to gain support in his or her faith? Maybe churches across an area can resource age appropriate fresh expressions of church. Christians in the countryside need to pull together. That is shown in the work of other organisations too – The Arthur Rank Centre is very supportive of what we are doing and we also have a good relationship with Rural Ministries.

We also have to make the most of what the countryside can offer in that we often have the opportunity to do things in small, or mixed age, groups. It's not about how many people you can get to come to a particular event or a once a month service, it’s about how you can enable them to grow in faith, to follow Jesus in a practical everyday way.

In a major cultural shift in recent years, many people – whose families have lived and worked in the same rural area for generations – can no longer afford to live there. Instead others move in from the towns, some settle well but others have a very different approach to life and the area they inhabit. This means there can be several 'villages' within a village as the very different communities live side by side but appear to have very little else in common. The challenge as we minister in these situations is to share the good news of God’s love with all of the people in the area, whether they are long-time residents or newcomers.

Another major social trend to contend with is the increased use of technology. We are seeking to communicate the Gospel in an age where people are used to comfortable surroundings, the big screen and instant communication. With many village churches working together, planning ahead for church services and associated activities remains a must… but people's decision as to whether to attend or not is now much more likely to be decided at the eleventh hour. That's not a purely rural phenomenon of course but the mobile phone – signal permitting – has undoubtedly changed the way we communicate and commit. What does that mean for us as church communities?

making and growing disciples in the countryside will bring together people from across the denominations that have planted or are hoping to plant a fresh expression of church in a rural area. Helping us along the way will be Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, and other members of the Rural Churchplanters' Forum. Our hosts are Pete and Kath Atkins, leaders of the Threshold family of churches in rural Lincolnshire.

What do I expect the outcomes from the conference to be? I think it will:

highlight key issues for the national Church to consider in terms of making and growing disciples in the countryside;

identify ways in which we, as pioneers of new kinds of churches in the countryside, can support and learn from each other each other.

Some ministers, seeing the unity of the church as being vital to mission, are concerned that the development of fresh expressions of church is something that will lead to further segregation but I believe diversity is good for unity. It is as we listen to people – and honour their different needs and preferences – that we communicate the love of God.

making and growing disciples in the countryside takes place at Bawtry Hall, Doncaster, from May 4-5. For further details, contact Sally Gaze at sally@tasvalley.org.

KidsAlive325

John Marrow is a Church Army evangelist working in Guildford. He works with local schools and runs an after school midweek fresh expression of church for families in three different locations across the diocese.

We started in January 2006 at Emmanuel Church, Stoughton, because we wanted to reach those families we don't normally get to see at all. In this area of Guildford we have so many football groups involving hundreds of kids on Sunday morning: 'traditional' church times are completely unsuitable for them.

I had visited Kidz Klub in Liverpool and, for years, I had been considering whether a similar thing would be appropriate in our own context. KidsAlive325 is different in that, instead of bussing the kids in, we invite whole families to what is 'after-school church'.

Do people think of it as a church? I think it's a mix. Some people, when they first come, see it as a club while others decide to come along because they don't see traditional church as meeting the needs of their children. A further group would see it very much as 'their' church because a standard setting is very alien and strange to them.

KidsAlive325 is now operating in three different places: Emmanuel Church, Stoughton, Guildford; St Andrews, Oxshott where it runs in the side chapel of a parish church; and Heatherside Church, Camberley where it is set up in a local school. In Oxshott, non-churchgoers make up about 70% of those who come along; in Camberley they are all non-churchgoers.

A team of volunteers helps to make the whole thing happen – 60% of my puppeteers for instance are retired folk. At Emmanuel I have Year 5 and 6 kids help with the technical stuff like the PA system and they love that. We simply couldn't run KidsAlive325 without this sort of teamwork – particularly as the service runs every week during term time so that demands a lot in the way of commitment. It really is a joint effort; a couple of weeks before one series has finished we'll be thinking about the theme for the next one; we'll then write our materials on that theme and get the three groups together to paint all the backdrops we need.

One of our previous themes was Godzworkus Circus and I was Jonno the clown. When I first did that, the kids realised that I didn't actually mind being a fool for Jesus. We want the children to know that it doesn't mean that you're boring if you go to church; we can be full of life and have fun.

It's all about building relationship, both within the teams and in the community. People are generally happy to get involved and, through that, we can get to know the families who come along. I just really enjoy getting to know the children, their parents, their families and obviously the staff and the people involved in the school as well.

It has now got to the stage at Emmanuel where we're thinking along the lines of 'what's the next step?' I work closely with the staff team there and a major question at the moment centres on the Year 6 boys who think KidsAlive325 is now 'too young' for them.

There are no easy answers to this sort of question but it's important that the traditional churches involved in this fresh expression of church are very much involved in its development. I make it very clear during KidsAlive325 that there is a very strong relationship with the local church and that means a lot. The vicar of Camberley is there every week and he is very much part of that relationship building process with that community. In this way he has been available to pick up pastoral concerns and baptism enquiries from the people he meets at KidsAlive325. They are connecting with him and the wonderful thing is that he, in turn, is now thinking about possible ways in which a baptism could take place at the after school service rather than in church.

At Emmanuel we have already celebrated a baptism from one of our KidsAlive325 families. This was a major step forward because, years ago, that particular family had been 'turned away' from a church and they had real bitterness about the institution of church and all that it stood for.

KidsAlive325 is not 'my' ministry as such – or Church Army's. It's got to be the church's ministry and the church's mission. It's about working alongside the local church in a real mixed economy way.

When I first started KidsAlive325, some people said it would be just like Messy Church and that we'd soon have them right across the country. The way things have worked out so far I'd say that KidsAlive325 could almost be seen as a follow-on stage from Messy Church because we don't incorporate a service or time of time of worship into a wider programme of activity; instead we are the service. Another difference is that the children and families who come will be given refreshments as soon as they arrive and they are welcome to bring a picnic tea to eat afterwards but food isn't part and parcel of what we do.

Sessions run from 3pm to 5pm. Younger children will arrive from 3pm, the service starts at 3.45 for a half hour slot and they can then hang around until 5 if they want. That's a vital time for us to follow up on people and we have a pastoral team to help those who want to find out more about faith issues, or anything else related to what we're doing and why we're doing it!

The Anchor

Pioneer minister Hayley Matthews is chaplain for MediaCityUK at Salford Quays and coordinator of The Anchor, the chaplaincy's on site base. The site is associated predominantly with the development of BBC North but The Anchor serves a much wider local 'audience'. Hayley explains:

Everyone always thinks of the BBC when MediaCityUK is talked about but, by the time everything is up and running here, there will be lots of different businesses associated with media and production – people like caterers, set designers, web specialists, costumiers and make-up artists.

There is a lot of interest around the BBC personnel just about to make the move into Salford because some are coming from what was the Manchester base in the city's Oxford Road while others are transferring from London as this area develops into a national, and international, media hub. New businesses are arriving every week. Work is also going on to create a 'new' Coronation St here because ITV is also moving to Salford and the old set will no longer be used.

When I saw this job description last year I knew it was 'me' but I didn't think there was any way I would get it. I was just coming out of my curacy and was very aware that there were lots of Christian people involved in the media, including many priests, who were very clued up on who's who and how the whole thing worked. I didn't even have a TV but, as soon as I heard I got the job last autumn, I bought one and got Sky installed at my new vicarage!

My office with The Anchor is based in what was an old pie-making factory which now houses full-sized studios. Morning prayer takes place at 9am daily and we celebrate the Eucharist at 12.30pm every Wednesday followed by a time to sit and have lunch.

When people begin to move on to the 220-acre site, owned by Peel Holdings, we will also hold some of our worship in the University of Salford building and the multi-faith spaces provided in the BBC areas.

Any new company that moves here has to satisfy a requirement that 40% of their jobs will go to local people. Some of these people will have had three generations of worklessness in their families and MediaCityUK will provide the opportunity for a real change in fortunes. It can be easy to think that the only people working on site will be high-profile broadcasters earning impressive salaries. In fact there will be lots of people on modest incomes.

This is a three year post through Greater Manchester Churches Together with major funding coming from the Diocese of Manchester but, despite its Christian leadership and funding, The Anchor is open to people of all faiths and none. Its role is much 'bigger' than simply serving the BBC buildings and people, important though that is.

My job is very much about creating a sense of community. As part of that we now have a monthly film night at a restaurant in The Quays and I also arrange The Big Business Breakfast, involving the free Big Bacon Buttie, for anyone working on site to meet their neighbours and maybe even swap a couple of business cards first thing in the morning. It's for people on their way into work – otherwise they tend to get immersed in their work and don't come out too much at all.

Outdoors too there is lots of scope with this work. We held a Christmas carol concert on the piazza outside the main studio buildings last year and about 80 people joined in with us on that, even though it was bitterly cold at the time. I'm already planning ahead for this year's event on 15th December when there will be upwards of 2,000 people on site.

Before then, on June 5, BBC Radio Manchester is making its first live broadcast from MediaCityUK and I will preside while Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton, preaches and a number of other local faith representatives take part. It's all a great opportunity for creating that sense of community by integrating MediaCityUK with the surrounding areas. I have been to all the Deanery churches to preach and preside so they have a contact here because it's all about people feeling that they can come on site to see the regeneration of their own area.

I have also started a community gospel choir so that lots of different people feel they have a foothold in MediaCityUK. The idea of priestly presence is really important in this context so I wear my dog collar wherever I go. Overbury, the developers, even gave me a personalised 'chaplain' hi-vis jacket and hard hat so that I could go on site and be instantly recognisable. I am not there with an agenda or to Bible bash; I am there to support them in whatever impacts on their work.

A turning point for me came when the Archbishops of Canterbury and York both came to bless The Anchor and officially open the bridge which links MediaCityUK with Trafford where the 'new' Coronation St is going up. When I gave my presentation I looked out to see a couple of hundred people there and I had met them all. These are people who really care about Salford and its people and who are working hard to make MediaCityUK meaningful to everyone.

I would very much like to encourage the formation of an ecclesial community here but it's too early as yet. To do anything remotely churchy for the unchurched would be offputting as we are surrounded by churches so people are spoilt for choice as all traditions are catered for. However there is a need for something for those who are perhaps exploring their faith and how it might affect their lives from day to day.

I'd rather see a catholic, incarnational, charismatic encounter that supports people in developing a rhythm of life that they can take with them into their own routines. This new monastic approach is the direction I'm going in but I'm still at the discerning stage because the commercial outlets aren't open and the people aren't here in any great numbers as yet. It's important for me to have an idea of the ebb and flow of MediaCityUK on a day to day basis.

The sense that I get is that it's not about providing a church on site; instead it's enabling people to be disciples – whether living or working here. There will be a lot of transience at MediaCityUK and some of the people will be based at Salford for just two or three days a week before returning 'home' – wherever that may be. You have to ask, 'Is it going to help them to have a fresh expression here?'

When the people have moved in, maybe the Holy Spirit will say something different; I'm very open to however things may develop!

work:space

A time of 'quiet and contemplative spirituality in the workplace' may seem like a pipe dream in these difficult days of economic downturn but that is exactly what is happening in several locations across Poole. Paul Bradbury explains.

Reconnect is a missional community in the heart of Poole. One of several initiatives growing from this community is work:space which is a resource for people in the workplace, offering half an hour of stillness and silence at the centre of a busy working week.

I had spent time listening to people talk about their spirituality and found that many of them pray or meditate. I wanted to connect with people in the workplace because we are trying to meet people where they are in a setting where they spend so much of their time.

work:space started in Barclays Bank headquarters in Poole and it is open to people of any faith and none. Using resources from the Christian tradition, it offers people an opportunity to reflect and explore their spirituality within a work context.

work:space has continued to develop in Barclays House and we now offer a small library of books on spirituality and work that people can borrow. The Barclays work:space group is small because a number of employees have come to the end of their contracts while others have taken leave due to stress but there is no doubt that it is making a difference to those who come and helping to nurture faith in them.

More recently, work:space started in the training college of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Poole is home to the charity's purpose-built conference and training venue in the Old Town area.

The college hosts teams from lifeboat stations across the country for training and development. Within the building is a beautiful room with amazing views across Holes Bay – a great setting to host work:space. The group will be meeting monthly at first but we hope in time to be able to make it a weekly get-together. It has been really well received by the people within the organization and I'm quite excited about the possibility of it also developing within the council offices here.

It really does feel like we doing the right thing at the right time with this because employees are under such pressure and this is a valuable resource for them – though it can be hard to get people to drag themselves away from their desks, even for half an hour, because they are worried about how that may be seen or what workload will be there when they return.

Sacred Space

The Rhondda's café church, Sacred Space, first opened its doors in Porth three years ago. Gethin Rhys, minister of Porth URC, organises the monthly sessions with Porth Newydd vicar, Chris Coles. Gethin describes how a sabbatical led to a new way of doing church.

Our first meeting, at Porth Plaza, was entitled Aspects of Love and it attracted people of all ages to watch film clips and listen to music about love in all its forms. We 'tasted' two Bible verses (involving horseradish and honey), wrote prayers and penned letters and postcards to prisoners of conscience adopted by Christians Against Torture. BBC Radio Wales also interviewed us on behalf of Good Morning, Wales!

At another service, we launched a 90kg rice challenge. The idea was to sell 90kg of fairly traded rice (in 1kg bags at £2.75 per kilo) to enable the Malawian farmer who grew the rice to send a child to high school for a whole year. A harvest session, entitled Bread of Heaven, saw us prepare bread for baking while worshipping together at the same time.

Our February 2011 topic was 'Money, Money, Money', when we looked at the 'art' of tax evasion and its devastating effect on people's lives in the UK and abroad. The informal format included Monopoly and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Sacred Space, as an ecumenical venture, is sponsored by the Porth Newydd parish of the Church in Wales and Porth URC. It all began when I used some time on sabbatical to look at café churches, I came back quite convinced that we should get involved in that. I spoke to my Anglican colleague, Chris Coles, because I felt this was something we could share – Rhondda has one of the lowest levels of church attendance in the UK. Before too long, Sacred Space had got off the ground.

We use the council-owned Porth Plaza in the centre of the town; it's a very good building for Sacred Space – especially as it's not on church territory. The council also let us have it for free for the first year which meant we could start the café church without a big financial outlay.

We meet on the third Sunday of the month at 7pm, it's not the ideal time but it reflects the fact that we are running conventional churches as well and Sacred Space is an add-on. In my other church we have a café church at 5pm on a Sunday and I think that's a good time but Chris has got Evensong so can't do it then. The 7pm start does rule out very young families because it runs too late for them to get children to bed and ready for school the next day.

We deliberately have a different format each time we meet. I plan it with Chris though there are a few lay people who sometimes come and join us but it's quite difficult to find times to be able to get together. Looking at long term viability we are going to have to find a way around it so it doesn't become dependent on us as clergy. In terms of who comes along to the sessions, at the moment we get many people who are connected with other churches but we are not often reaching the unchurched. Throughout the first year we advertised it pretty heavily and are on local radio quite a lot but it hasn't really prompted people from outside the churches to try it. We might have been better doing café church in a midweek slot but, again, it all depends on time, energy and resources.

At the moment we do attract people from various churches right across the age range – apart from the very young. We now have a number of children from seven and eight years upwards, a few teenagers and adults from 20s to 80s. We call it the Rhondda's Café Church so we get quite a mix of people from a wide area.

Craft activities do particularly well; that's really what engages people and makes it all age. Adults get involved in the craft because children ask them to help with what they're doing, adults wouldn't necessarily do that but a request from a child usually breaks down barriers and really makes a difference.

We follow the liturgical year reasonably closely whilst trying not to repeat the same themes too much because we don't want to get into a rut. We've always tried to ensure that it's never the same from one session to the next in order to avoid complacency. A recent Sacred Space was based on 1 John 4, for instance; the first time we had based café church on an extended Bible passage. We are very, very determined that when people arrive they shouldn't know exactly what to expect.

I was a stranger at every café church I visited on sabbatical and it was very interesting because I'm afraid a lot of them had become holy huddles and I did feel like a spare part when I arrived. That's why there is always something for people to do, maybe a quiz or a puzzle of some sort, when they first walk in the door at Sacred Space. The idea is that they won't feel awkward while waiting for something to begin.

At the start of my sabbatical I went along to a fresh expression of church with my teenage daughter. We went to a Sunday meeting but there were no welcomers so we did feel like spare parts – that wasn't a good start.

It got worse because there was a teenage group which met in parallel with the main meeting but no-one told us that at the start of the service. We only discovered that vital bit of information at the end and my daughter was really disappointed that she could have been with them doing something more interesting and appropriate to her own age group.

I also deliberately tried not to mention what I did for a living as I visited all these places because they would then treat me differently when they knew I was a minister.

A fresh expression needs to be genuinely fresh otherwise we are deceiving ourselves. There has been quite a churn of people since we started but there are some who have hardly missed a café church since we began, many of whom are from the Anglican congregation. It took my congregation a little longer to latch on to it all.

In our Sunday morning service at Porth URC we have started a Sunday school after a gap of many years. Some of those Sunday school children are coming to café church and that makes for an interesting crossover. There is also a core of people who come to Sacred Space immediately after Evensong. There have only been one or two sessions when there hasn't been somebody there for the first time from the outside but they are mostly from other congregations.

A number of initiatives, inspired by Sacred Space, have spun off to other churches as a result of these visits and that's great. The fact is that we didn't know what it would turn out be when we started but this is what has happened in this context whereas my 'other' church-based café church has developed differently. They each take shape in their own way in their own time.

I am still convinced this is the kind of church that could be much more accessible than something involving pew-based worship. I know that Sunday evening at 7 is not the best time in the week for reaching these people but at the moment that is a challenge that can't be met very easily. The Plaza building is hired out to other people, we are confined to the times we can book it, our own church schedules and the availability of people who have family and work commitments. A possibility for us may be to have it before Evensong, perhaps on a Sunday at 3pm.

The Spirit blows where it will and I'm not too inclined to try and control that in any way. In some fresh expressions material there can be an emphasis on knowing of the people you intend to reach, a target audience if you like, but we don't do any of that and I think we are the better for not doing it. Sacred Space has worked by not being strategised and, as a result, I see it as a real development for outreach.

It would be great to see people not connected with any other church at Sacred Space but at the moment it is clearly providing a very important service for all our churches. We have no problems with this and will not be making any major changes in the way we do things in a bid to change the outcome – at least for now.

Church people are the only people in the world who know about what Sunday of the month you're on. Realistically I think it is already on the way to being a full blown church but, for it to have a full identity, it would need to meet weekly. It would need that regular meeting for the core to build but I'm already ministering with two churches so there are all kinds of issues around that. We haven't got the critical mass of leadership people to make that work and those we do have don't want to leave traditional church.

There have been some amazing moments along the way. At one session on patterns of prayer, we had a group of teenagers just wander in to ask what was happening. They said, 'Can we come in and have a cup of coffee?' I said yes and they were there for the whole time, taking a full and active part in it. One boy had been excluded from school but I wish his teachers could have seen him that evening, being involved in confession, adoration, intercession.