When Carl and Sarah Belcher arrived in Lincoln after working for Eden in Salford, they spent six months praying and slowly realised God was calling them to work with vulnerable people in a needy area of the cathedral city. Soon a fresh expression of church was emerging.
The Monks Road district of Lincoln is very diverse with a mix of young professionals, older people who have lived in the area for years, newcomers from Eastern Europe and those who live there because the housing is affordable. Crime levels are high and indices of deprivation place it in the lowest 5%, making it one of the most challenging areas in the county.
Sarah and Carl realised there were established churches in the area and had no plans to start another, but by what Carl calls a 'happy accident' they began to meet with needy people who were struggling to engage with church as it is and had no background in the Christian faith at all.
According to Carl it is not easy to start a church, but neither is it complicated.
For us it has always been about making friends really, and asking what can we do to help on a very real and practical and relational level
he explained.
And from there, as people got on well with us, it was a matter of introducing them step by step to how God can impact their lives and make a difference as they became part of the Christian community here.
This fresh expression of church places a high level of importance on helping people in practical ways with housing, employment and life-style difficulties, without being judgemental. Carl and Sarah are 'tent-makers', leading the congregation but doing some paid work too.
The Threshold Monks Road congregation meets in small 'life groups' during the week and at a local YMCA centre on Sundays. Sarah says worship can sometimes be a bit chaotic, food is an important part of any gathering, and birthdays are always celebrated. And there is a refreshing degree of honesty and openness in all that happens. The small team that works with them is invaluable too.
Richard, who is in his twenties, says he is a different person, after having stumbled across Threshold in a local park. He has found faith and God has made a real difference to his life.
I have become happier, more cheerful, grown more in confidence and learnt to express myself a lot more,
he said.
Christine was homeless and widowed and life was very difficult. Then she heard about the new church and went along. She was baptised and said her life has been transformed. Life still isn't straightforward but her addiction problems are much less severe and she no longer goes out 'looking for fights'.
The congregation is steadily growing, as are individual members, but as Sarah explained, it is not easy being a church leader, however much they love and enjoy it, and living in an area like Monks Road. Carl and Sarah are also kept busy caring for their young twins.
A personal cost is part of starting a fresh expression. With anything God asks you to do, there is often a flip side to it. For family, for marriage, for things you often hope for or dream of, yes, there is a cost. But it's so worth it to see other people coming to know God,
she said.
And Sarah is very honest about the importance of setting a good example:
All the time we are conscious that we need to model the fact that God comes first, family second and church third. But trying to get that balance is very interesting!,
she added.
On 21st March, the Bishop, Dr Graham Kings, came and commissioned us as a community at a café in the town. We had about 70 people there and started off with some children's activities before the bishop led the commissioning and we signed the rule of life – something we had been developing in our meetings since Christmas by looking at Acts and the gospels to find out what it means to be a community of disciples. The rule was signed by all the community and the commissioning was essentially a commitment by us all to seek to live the life expressed in the rule.
We organise felt making sessions as part of our outreach activity, and we made felt 'stones' on the commissioning day to be included in a prayer cairn. People came up and prayed for Reconnect as they put down one of the stones. The bishop also seemed to enjoy the day, even having his face painted (after the ceremony!)
We see Reconnect as a shop window to say Church is not just about Sunday mornings, it's about many other things. Our aim for Sundays is to meet in such a way that our energy can be put into making friends with non-Christians in the area and serve the community. One of the most effective ways so far has been to clean the local beach a couple of times! It was an easy thing for us to go and do. The first time we did it we had various people ask us what were we doing, and the second time we had four local residents come and join us to help.
We have a monthly pattern of meeting one Sunday in a local school, the second Sunday in our homes, third Sunday 'out and about' serving the community and fourth Sunday worshipping at other local churches. We dub this 'Festival' Sunday when Reconnect regulars go to a church somewhere else. We can't provide the experience of a bigger church, worshipping in a larger fellowship, so we say go and enjoy that experience and feed back into Reconnect. We also meet as adults on a Tuesday evening to worship, pray and explore our mission and community values together.
We had a trial run at Wilmcote House on four successive Sundays earlier in the year. As a result of that, one family – who live in Wilmcote House – decided to join us. At Christmas we had the Wilmcote House Nativity. All ages were welcome and children had the chance to dress as an angel or shepherd to hear the Christmas story, enjoy a free breakfast and take part in some craft sessions.
Wendy Sanderson, Night Club Chaplain, Church Army Evangelist, Lay Pioneer Minister and co-founder of Solace tells the story of this unusual fresh expression of church in South Wales.
From the beginning we met a lot of people who were into clubbing who were interested in Jesus, God and faith but often, not traditional expressions of church. So we began on April Fools Day 2007 aiming at people who were searching for something. I am 32, and clubbing is part of my life, so Solace has grown out of our lives as clubbing people. On our launch night over one hundred people turned up, mostly I am sure out of curiosity, and now on Sundays we draw on approximately fifteen to twenty people a week. When the Archbishops of Canterbury and Wales came, of course numbers rocketed. We like guest speakers!!
We engage with the de- and un-churched – in fact anyone who is interested in exploring faith. We have wanted to break down the negative stereotype that many hold concerning Christians and Church. Most of the other churches in the area are geared up to the needs of young families with children, but we are uncompromisingly focused on the many younger adults who are single. There are many, many single clubbers in their twenties and thirties who do not relate to forms of church which seem to over-focus on families. In many ways, Solace is a spiritual community, a society of friends where clubbing is an important part of our lives, and most of us are single. We are pleased that Solace has developed into a place of hope, a place of peace and safety. Some have said they value it as a place where you can be completely yourself and be accepted unconditionally and where people are non-judgmental.
When it comes to discipleship, we specifically work on a one-to-one basis, where the themes and discussions on Sunday nights encourage people to explore or re-imagine spiritual things. We allow people to challenge each other on Sunday nights, and encourage people to dig deep with the Christian faith and the stuff of life. This is learning about the faith through proactive engagement in activity. Something like an Alpha Course or Emmaus just would not work in a clubbing context.
Three years ago I moved with my family to Mawsley in my first post as a Curate. 'Christians in Mawsley' was then a group of Christians coming from different traditions that didn't really reach out to the village. There was a sense of collaboration and enthusiasm but no clear strategic purpose, and I was asked to assist in developing this into what we would call now a fresh expression of church. I was a traditional curate in a benefice to four churches in other villages, but also being a pioneer in Mawsley.
Building on growing relationships with local people in Mawsley we began twice-monthly gatherings for public worship in December 2006. We meet on Sunday mornings in a Community Centre in the heart of the village – very much in secular space – where children's ministry began last year. Small groups have also met, with varying degrees of success, in homes across Mawsley. Larger scale 'messy church' events for children up to 10 years of age and their carers have become a regular opportunity for outreach here at significant times such as Christmas & Easter (and have spread to a nearby village too). We deliberately hold these in Mawsley's local Primary School. These more participative forms of worship have successfully engaged with fringe people, again of the 'de-and-unchurched' type. This year on Easter Monday, we had a Messy Church event and ninety-five children plus their parents and helpers attended. For the first time the school parents' group asked to be involved this year. These events happen mainly because of the participation of many fringe and non-church parents.
We have sought to develop our participation with other village events as a form of outreach to local people. So we play our part in fayres, family 'It's a Knockout' and other social events, and this has increased our ability to build relationships with people who do not go to church. Regular assemblies, a Bumps & Buggies group and starting an annual litter pick have also played their part, too.
I made a conscious decision when I went to Mawsley to invest some time in me. I wanted to discover my spiritual side, and in response to my experience at the convalescent home, I plucked up the courage to go to Mawsley Church. I took the children with me. Everyone was so welcoming and I soon came to learn that the small congregation were all on different parts of their spiritual journey. It was within Mawsley church that I found the family I had yearned for. It was right here on my doorstep.
I was not the only one to benefit from my experiences with our church. The children made new friends, and drew strength from the improvement they saw in me, a happier mummy. The question arose around baptism and I pondered over my decision for many months. I let the children decide whether they also wanted to be baptised. The answer was a resounding yes. I decided it would be a wonderful idea to have a family baptism. I wanted to share this point of Megan and Ewans spiritual journey. I saw my position as their spiritual guide, equipping them with the many tools our faith offered for their later journey in life. On the 28th September 2008, we had the marvellous experience of being baptised by submersion as a family at Mawsley Church. It was an incredibly charged moment for me personally, I could barely hold back my tears of emotion. That day I felt all three of us had turned a corner and we began a new journey strengthened by the love of God.
Doing mission and ministry in the context of fresh expressions of church, requires creative imagination and an incarnational approach to evangelism. Mark Berry, a Lay Pioneer Minister, tells the emerging story of safe space, a fresh expression of church that draws on celtic spirituality, radical hospitality and a form of new monasticism.
We see the community as itself an embodiment of the Kingdom inwardly and outwardly. The community is a small but rich tapestry of Christian expression seeking to live in shalom and self-surrender. We actively allow space for different views and interpretations of the Christian faith in the context of relationship and community.
It has been important for us to develop a rhythm of living which ripples out from our main gathering – The Table, where we have a meal, spend time in prayer/reflection and share communion – so we have developed a weekly rhythm which has seven aspects:
Perhaps the best way to describe who we are is as a new-monastic community, a community of followers who are seeking first and foremost to be equipped, resourced and supported in living a life that exudes mission, to reflect a mission and holistic spirituality and to live that life alongside those for whom church has no meaning or real life connection and to be focussed on being agents of transformation in the world in which we find ourselves.
We took to heart the instructions in Luke Chapter 10, to step out, to go lightly and to offer peace where we meet community. So we began to get involved in community: in AFC Telford United Football Club – where we help sweep up after games, spend time in the bar with staff, players and supporters and have got involved in the Trust which owns and runs the club; we regularly have a stall/prayer corner in our local Mind*Body*Spirit fair; we organise children's creation walks – a mix of nature hunt, learning about the environment and Bible stories; and in partnership with our local council and the Methodist Church we run sank•tuary, a safe haven/chill out venue for Clubbers from Midnight to 4am every Sunday morning. In each of these situations we have encountered "people of peace" who welcomed us in: the Chairman of the Football Club, the nightclub owner etc. all of whom have no connection with Church.
Our emphasis then is not to grow the core community but to "share lives" (1 Thessalonians 2) which reflect the Gospel and model a different way of being. We seek to be people of shalom, to begin by offering peace and by living in the wider community rather than "reaching out" into it and drawing people "back in". Brueggemann writes* that the "Towel and the Basin" are the tools of Shalom, and that the Towel only becomes three dimensional when it is wrapped around the foot, so we believe our faith and church only takes on a third dimension when it serves, when it is lived for the Kingdom.
We don’t know where we are going, we are a pilgrim people. We know that we hope to keep going, to keep serving, to keep challenging, to keep being people of shalom, the destination is up to God. We long to take bigger risks, to live deeper in the love of God and each other, to see individuals name God, to see community restored and to see culture transformed. The things we do follow from who we are and where we are, the particular winds and currents that lead us.
Rob Ryan, an Ordained Pioneer Minister, starts out building a fresh expression of church in Rochester.
I have had a dream for a good few years; a dream of connecting with people who long, maybe are even too scared to dream, of church being a place which really connects with people outside, but also with themselves. People who dream of a church where differences are celebrated, where diversity adds to the community's flavour. They are not worried so much about what people believe, but more concerned about how people believe: how they live out faith, how they are Christ-like. People who don't care so much about worship style, but rather, are interested in something that's authentic and enables them to connect with God where they are emotionally and spiritually.
I felt strongly that, first, God was calling me to gather a group of people, with the above dream in mind, who wanted to explore their relationship with Jesus Christ and consider how they could authentically live as Christians in a 21st century world. As I prayed I felt God challenging me to put aside all ideas and plans that I had conceived, and to search for interested people where God led. It became clear to me that if I had a blueprint then I would be at risk of merely finding people to fit the gaps in my blueprint. The very thought leaves me feeling uncomfortable as that approach lacks an integrity which is core to building genuine relationships. It seemed right to me that it was more about being open to people that I came into contact with, and listening to their needs, discerning what God might call be to do in response, in loving action. God was calling me to listen and get to know unchurched people, without jumping in too soon with some form of responsive action.
I prayed to be led to people and places of peace, to areas where I could interact with people on their terms, conscious that I had no right or purpose to be there, and was in fact a guest in those locations. During these early weeks I visited nearly every shop in the High Street and had a mixed reception. I have got to know some people better than others. After some time I felt strongly that God was saying I should spend time in a local Wetherspoons pub and a local sports centre.
Mid morning I will drift back to the cathedral to spend time in prayer before slowly walking along the High Street to Wetherspoons where I am normally seated with a coffee from about 10.45. I sit, I listen and wait to see what happens. After lunch I will then move to the local leisure centre, use the gym, sit in the sauna, which is often a hotbed of discussion, and hang around in the coffee bar area and again wait to see what happens. I then return to the cathedral a couple of times a week to end the day with Choral Evensong. I find topping and tailing my day with the cathedral helps to keep me rooted and feel connected with the wider Christian community.
In the earlier days I struggled quite significantly with issues of identity and achievement. To sit day after day in the same place and be on the receiving end of a variety of reactions has been very uncomfortable on occasions. I have had very strong negative reactions along with threats of violence as well as warm welcoming reactions from a variety of people, some who have asked me to pray for situations in their lives. The stress of the day arises from really never knowing what is going to happen and, I guess, fear of missing an opportunity.
I remember one Tuesday morning in October which I had planned to use to pray in the cathedral rather than go out. I felt God say that I should go to Wetherspoons although it was only 10.00am. I did and met an older married couple who I have been having conversations with on a weekly basis. This was my first real connection with anyone in the community. This encounter had a profound experience on how I managed my day as until then I had been visiting the pub at lunchtime and later. I now go in the mornings and have found this is the time when people like to chat and have the time to as well.
I have no idea where this is going, and neither (I think) do the people that are part of this. We are simply agreeing to journey together and, again, to wait and see what God does with us. How, or whether, this links with people I meet each day in the community I do not know; I hope so – but that really is not up to me or any of us. We will simply have to wait and see what God does. In time, I am sure this will build a community of unchurched and dechurched people through a truly incarnational form of missional church.
Earlsfield is a melting pot of diverse cultures. It’s known as ‘nappy valley’, with many young families ‘camping’ here until they migrate out of the city when they want a ‘better’, and often more expensive, education for their children. However there are two other more historical social groups that make up the bulk of the community which are perhaps initially less obvious. Firstly local indigenous families, many who have lived here their whole lives and have an extended family network in the neighbourhood. Traditionally they come from a more working class culture. Many now are affluent through exercising the right to buy council owned properties during the boom of the housing market in the 90’s. Many too have done well pioneering small start up businesses with bespoke labour skills as their service. However there are still some who are less fortunate from this indigenous group who have struggled with the changing landscape of their area. Finally there is the influx of people from other nations who have been coming here for the last fifty years as the colonies of Britain’s Empire folded and immigration laws were relaxed. Many of these families arrive all together and live on the housing estates peppered around the hub of Earlsfield. There are real social issues on some of these estates. Just in the last two weeks there have been two drug related shootings on the estate near to our home.
This year we hosted a learning community for a group of people, helping to shape their thinking on faith and vocation. This is called make believe and was run with our partner CMS.