Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries (“WPM”) is a vibrant discipleship movement with a history of
growth based in the centre of Wolverhampton seeking to worship fully, love all and serve the city. They are looking for a Young Adult Outreach Co-ordinator to work as part of our team who is passionate about discipleship and mission with a heart to engage with young adults particularly those who are marginalised.
More details are on the attachment below which you can download.
The Vision: Making disciples on mission with Jesus across South Lincolnshire.
St George’s Stamford is a larger Anglican church (500+) and looks to be both attractional and missional as we share the good news of God’s kingdom in Stamford and the surrounding countryside.
St George’s and the Diocese of Lincoln are looking to recruit an Associate Minister who has experience in growing and enabling Fresh Expressions and missional communities. We want to resource and enable new missional communities and Fresh Expressions in the places from where we currently gather people. The Mission Enabler will discover, equip and release missional leaders back into their local communities.
There’s nothing like seeing a plan come together, so for the folk at Leicester Diocese who’ve been developing the Flexible Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) training across the region it’ll be a sweet moment when three lay pioneers are licensed this year at the Cathedral. Theresa Morgan, Wendy Hardy and Ruth Leonards – part of a team who lead eleven30, a Fresh Expression which is just about to celebrate its 10th birthday – have journeyed together through the training programme which aims to provide contextual and practical training to pioneers who are already involved in leadership. The model is based on the principles of coaching, and starts with the understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach which can meet the needs of pioneers and the ministries they lead. “Eleven30’s services start with a ‘What’s in the Box’ game to introduce a topic for the children,” says Theresa Morgan, “It’s a tool to move them from where they are beginning into deeper engagement.” Ooh, we feel an analogy coming on…
Eleven30 is a Fresh Expression based in Syston, Leicester, and is primarily aimed at young children and their families (photo above). Set-up in response to a local need for a model of church which met the needs and lifestyles of young families, the bi-monthly meetings are now led by a lay team who plan and deliver the worship, creative activities and social times. The team were already skilled in organising and leading the sessions, but flexible MSM provided an opportunity for them to receive training and support in the missional and spiritual aspects of leading the Fresh Expression.
“What is distinctive about flexible MSM training,” explains Matt Pitt, Pioneer Development Worker, “is that the model allows us to respond to the needs of the pioneers where they are at that moment. We’re not training them in a standard programme which may or may not be relevant in five years time, but working alongside them to understand their current situation and helping them to ask the questions that will help them get to where they need to be.” This approach, rooted in coaching practice, is one strategic method that Leicester Diocese are adopting as they work towards their vision to see as many Fresh Expressions as inherited churches thriving in the region by 2030. “It’s a model for multiplication”, says Pete Atkins, Team Coordinator at Fresh Expressions HQ, “Coaching is a valuable tool to develop Pioneers, and the Leicester example shows how it can be used to develop sustainable ministries.”
Ah yes – sustainability, that hallowed end-goal for Fresh Expression ministries. Flexible MSM training has the long-view built firmly into its methodology, and eleven30 provides a great little snapshot of how they do that. Matt spent a year spent alongside eleven30’s leadership team, providing monthly coaching sessions covering topics such as Spiritual Discernment and Listening for Mission. He was supported in this work by pioneers from another area, alongside encouraging the team to begin to identify the next generation of leaders from within their own community. This flow between learning from experienced practitioners whilst identifying potential in new pioneers is key, as is the continued commitment to training the soon-to-be licensed lay leaders in order that they can deliver the flexible MSM programme to others. In these ways sustainability is kept central – leaders are identified, trained, and then trained to identify and train others.
“The training deepened my knowledge and understanding”, says Theresa. “It gave us space as a team to look with outsider’s eyes, and think ‘outside the box’ about where we’re heading”. And as eleven30 prepare to celebrate a decade of local pioneering ministry, we look forward with them to seeing what else emerges as they
There’s nothing like a pie chart to get our Fresh Expression hearts a-fluttering. Data – lots of it – facts and figures, slices and colours showing trends and declines. Ooh, we love it… Suffice to say, when confronted with a set of pie charts and line graphs recently showing numbers and attendance of Methodists engaging with Fresh Expressions it didn’t take long before we were reaching for our calculators and thinking caps – what do these figures show us, and what does it mean for Fresh Expressions in 2017?
Time to hit you with some numbers. In 2015 the average weekly attendance of Methodists at Fresh Expressions was around 30,000 – showing an increase of nearly 5,000 people since 2012. That means that 12-13% of all Methodists attending a weekly form of worshipping community are in Fresh Expressions… and that means that this is a statistic worth paying attention to. If such a sizeable and growing number of Methodists are engaged in Fresh Expressions what can we learn as a movement as we seek to provide resources and share learning?
This is a question that Graham Horsley, Methodist Fresh Expressions Missioner, says the church is rising to; “We now face the positive challenge of integrating new ways of being church into our existing circuits. We’re seeking to maximise the effectiveness of both traditional and new ways of being church, and help them to complement one another.”
Of course, these figures – juicy as they are – come with the inevitable health warning that Fresh Expressions are largely self-defining, and to some degree the numbers can be skewed by this lack of clarity. However, there is certainly an upward trend in overall numbers of (self-declared) Fresh Expression ministries within the Methodist Church as well as numbers of those attending, and knowing and sharing these key trends is important. They point to the growing desire to connect with expressions of church which resonate contextually, theologically and in practical ways – and the continuing need for movements such as Fresh Expressions to provide support as established churches rise to this positive challenge.
Meanwhile, the Methodist statisticians are continuing to dig further into their numbers through qualitative research which will shed further light on the emerging situation. The fruits of this work won’t be available until 2018, but us Fresh Expression stat-watch geeks will be watching with interest to see what new findings emerge, and – crucially – what we can do to resource the developing work.
Article by Hannah Skinner
Imagine Church for those who don't do Church is the challenging title of the next Glasgow Fresh Expressions Vision Event on 22 April 2017.
David McCarthy, Martin Fair Sara Deeks
£12 including refreshments, please bring your own lunch.
Sessions 1-3 feature interactive learning with presentations, interviews, stories, activities and questions.
10.30 Registration and refreshments
10.45 Welcomes and worship
11.00 Session 1
What is happening and why it is important: How fresh expressions of church are changing the landscape.
12.10 Break
12.20 Session 2
Values and how fresh expressions of church are developing and can develop in your context.
13.30 Lunch
14.00 Local story feature 14.15 Seminar
Listening for Mission
15.05 Session 3 Where next?
16.00 End
For more information or to book:
Sara Deeks
sdeeks@churchofscotland.org.uk
Sharing the stories of Fresh Expressions is what we do, but sharing good news of Fresh Expressions is what we LOVE to do. When the jungle drums brought news that Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministry (WPM) was awarded a Gold award for their work last November we were rightly made up for them, but also wanted to find out what they’re doing that other Fresh Expressions can learn from.
“For those of us involved in leading WPM, the Gold award from the Christian Funders Forum was a totally unexpected – but very lovely – recognition of the work we do here,” says Deborah Walton, WPM’s leader. “However, for the young people who are part of our community it means much more. Many of them have never received such encouragement or appreciation before, and so this has been a special moment for us as a wider organisation. It is a great confidence boost to people who have received a lot of knock-backs through life.” This sense of community ‘ownership’ of the award has been outworked in several ways. A service of celebration followed by a Ceilidh gave community leaders and members a chance to mark the moment together, but since then – in a creative and contextual plan that perhaps sums up the embedded practice of WPM – the Gold award has gone on tour. “The award is travelling at the moment,” Deborah told us. “Everyone is having a week with it – its currently working its way around a block of flats!”
This tour is not to give everyone their own little moment of glory, but represents the desire at the heart of WPM to ensure that their work has longevity – that there is a legacy which goes beyond this moment and leads to a life-long relationship between young adults and wider structures of church. WPM has now been established for ten years, and this has been an intentional development in its practice. Whilst the Sunday night meeting, ‘Vitalise’, used to see high attendance figures, there was awareness amongst leadership that these young people were mostly drawn from existing church links. “Our mission has always been to those on margins,” says Deborah, “young adults who don’t have support structures in place and who may have had a rough time through life.” Whilst Vitalise numbers have reduced, the community gathering is now comprised significantly of people with no previous church background – and through WPM’s Bluefish Chaplaincy around 400 young adults a week are engaged with and supported.
The challenge that this shift creates is how to embed sustainability into the ministry; young adults grow up, and if they have only ever engaged with one style of church how will they find a longer-term home in the inherited church? WPM are working actively to remove barriers between young adults they work with and wider church experience. “It’s about bridging the gap”, says Deborah, “thinking about discipleship as a life-long journey and building familiarity with inherited church.” Monthly services led by local clergy help build this wider sense of community, and moments to mark belonging within different denominations begin what the team hope will prove to be long-term relationships.
This commitment to long-term discipleship is a distinctive and intentional aspect to WPM’s work, and is perhaps what was recognised through the Gold award. As the trophy continues to tour we are excited to see how things evolve as this pioneering work is sustained and nurtured. The Gold award is a great moment – and we hope that it brings encouragement in every living room its visits – but the work is ongoing and points to a future that will sustain its community members for the long-term.
Story by Hannah Skinner
When we are confronted with experiences of complexity we invariably tell stories. When the people of Israel found themselves in exile they did the same.
The experience of exile, the disorientating loss of all the key symbols of what it meant to be God’s covenant people (land, king, temple), maps onto our own experience in a context of the church at the margins in society.
“The church is one of those former power brokers who once enjoyed a place of influence at the cultural table but has been chased away…and is now seeking where to belong’ Lee Beach
The Valley of Dry Bones (Eze 37: 1 – 14)
This famous passage in Ezekiel, when read in this way, offers a great deal of insight for pioneering and missional leaders wrestling with the church’s own experience of exile. Here are three tasks for the leaders of the people of God in exile based on this passage:
1. Give space for lament (vs 1-2)
Ezekiel is taken on an extensive tour of the valley of the dry bones. The symbolic power of this image of destruction is clearly not enough, Ezekiel must be led ‘back and forth among them’ and shown not just their number but their condition (‘very dry’). This intense study of the tragedy and hopelessness of exile is not mere detail. It suggests that lamenting the pain and loss of exile is an important task, one which we much not cut short. As Beach says ‘without the act of truth telling, a legitimate hope can never emerge.’
2. Be willing to surrender (vs 3)
Ezekiel is then asked a question: “Son of man, can these bones live?’. The answer may seem obvious, but Ezekiel’s reply is more revealing: “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know?’ Gone is any pretence that some strategic alliance, or military miracle can bring back Israel. Instead what is offered is not despair but a surrendered willingness to participate in whatever God’s will might offer by way of renewal.
In our changing context, trying harder at some of the strategies and forms that have served us well in the past will bring diminishing returns. Leaders must be the first to let down their arms and recognise that renewal begins when we don’t have an easy answer any more – what we must have first of all is rapt attention to God and his will.
3. Lead people toward a reimagined home (vs 4 – 14)
The instructions that follow result in a vast resurrected army (vs 10). This may look like a restoration but it is not – it is a resurrection brought about the Spirit and will take Israel to a new place, not a return to the old. Twice the picture is interpreted as a return home (vs 12, 14). However, everything we know about the results of the exile suggest that this is not a nostalgic return to the Israel of old, but instead a radical reimagination of how being the covenant people of God could be faithfully expressed.
This reimagination was expressed in three main areas with three radical insights:
It is not hard to relate these insights to all that is being explored through Fresh Expressions as its leaders learn to recognise God’s presence beyond the safety of the church and nurture new communities of disciples in faithfully living out the gospel in the midst of a dominant and alien culture.
The story of exile is a story of God’s people rediscovering itself, finding a way home by the leading of God’s Spirit, reimagining the principles of the covenant in new and radically faithful ways. It is their story and ours as the Spirit leads us in a new movement of reimagination in post-Christendom Britain.
Paul Bradbury is Pioneer Minister at Poole Missional Communities and has just started a role as Pioneer Hub Co-Ordinator for South at the Church Mission Society. Paul is the author of Stepping Into Grace exploring the prophet Jonah’s journey into mission.
Dying to Live: Rural Fresh Expressions Conference 2017
22-24 May at the Hayes Conference Centre Swanick.
This ticket is for one full admittance with accomodation and meals and admittance to all 48 hours of talks, seminars and content at the conference.
Price is £160.00.
Please note a small number of reduced price tickets are available for young adults – contact kath.atkins@freshexpressions.org.uk for details.
Please note … to book also requires online booking form here https://goo.gl/forms/tUeu1liMVkn7WK033
Pioneers are those who are primarily drawn to engage with those outside the church, gathering others around them as they seek to establish new contextual and ecclesial Christian communities. However, to make any such initiative sustainable, the pioneer must also build a strong team of people around them who will share the vision and the ministry. Paul’s desire is to see more pioneers, lay and ordained, trained and empowered to lead incarnational mission in their context. This workshop will focus on team-building, with Paul encouraging a leadership style which is facilitative rather than depending on heroic individuals. It will also offer plenty of opportunity for pioneers across the Diocese of Salisbury and further abroad to come together to share expertise and learn from one another.
Paul Bradbury is an ordained pioneer minister in Poole who has established a flourishing missional community reaching those who don’t want to engage with traditional forms of church. He also supports a learning community of lay pioneers in East Dorset, and is a Fresh Expressions Associate. Paul’s new book, ‘Stepping into Grace’ (BRF 2016) is described by Phil Potter, Leader of Fresh Expressions, as ‘A must-read for aspiring pioneer leaders.’
To book please follow this link:- Salisbury Diocese Sustainable Mission.
Hurry as places are limied.
The Sorted Gathering is taking place on Saturday 11 March in Leeds and is a great opportunity to learn more if you're thinking of starting a Fresh Expression or developing an existing Fresh Expression.
Sorted and their leader Andy Milne bring experience of starting, building and developing Fresh Expressions of Church in Bradford and their story is challenging and exciting.
This day is a chance to hear more and to be equipped to go and do this yourself.
The day is being hosted at Holy Trinity in Leeds. It runs from 10.30am to 3.30pm and costs £5.
Please download the flyer below for more details.
