It is sometimes thought that fresh expressions of church are just for small, struggling or even failing churches. But the vision of a mixed economy approach applies to all churches, even those which seem to be doing well. Archbishops' Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions, Bishop Graham Cray, has been looking at one church which asked the question: 'Who will we never reach if we carry on as we are?'
St Andrew's, Histon is a charismatic evangelical church in a village just to the north of Cambridge, with an average Sunday attendance of about 250. But the vicar, James Blandford-Baker, realised that they were missing many people who would never come into a Sunday service. So At Andrew's began Essence three years ago in an attempt to offer mothers a space to explore their spirituality alongside the Christian narrative.