Transcript http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/ Fresh Expressions of Church The problem is we have too many churches, the solution is we need a whole lot more.

http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/
Fresh Expressions of Church
The problem is we have too many churches,
the solution is we need a whole lot more.
My story
Published in 2004.
Over 30,000 copies sold.
Huge influence in UK.
Ecumenical, across the
denominations, FX
organisation.
Worldwide influence,
third FX Conference in
South Africa in 2016
Definitions
A fresh expression
is a form of church
for our changing culture
established primarily for the
benefit of people who are
not yet members of any church.
‘the birth and growth of Christian communities that serve
people mainly outside the church, belong to their culture,
make discipleship a priority and form a new church among
the people they serve.’
M. Moynagh, Church for Every Context, introduction p x.
This is not
new but fresh
The Mixed Economy
both-and
continue to grow and develop
the church as it is
establish fresh expressions
of church
Some tributaries of the present situation
1. 1960’s discussions , little congregations
WCC, Lesslie Newbigin, John Taylor, David Wasdell etc
2. Charismatic renewal movement
3.Church Planting.
Breaking New Ground, 1984,Dawn 2000.
4. Theology of mission, Missio Dei, David Bosch etc
and Five Marks of Mission.
5. Churches Missionary Activity
of the Second Vatican Council
6. Gospel and culture network. Contextualisation
7. Missionary leaders.
Vincent Donovan, Roland Allen, Donald McGavran
Seeing in a New Way
Know how to see
“The real voyage of discovery consists
not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust
A missional
re-engagement
with society
2007 Tear Fund survey of 7000 adults in contact or not with church
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply
distressed to see that the city was full of idols.”
Acts 17 v 16
“ this majority (66%) presents a major
challenge to churches. Most of them are
unreceptive and closed
to attending church; churchgoing is
simply not on their agenda.”
Churchgoing in the UK.
A research report from Tearfund. April 2007
Playing Away
A re-imagination
of what church is
(and could become)
“ the theological doctrine of the church
cannot be simply expressed in abstract terms
about the churches timeless nature. It will
have to provide points of departure for
reforming the church, for giving it a more
authentic form. Faithfulness and the fresh
start are not antitheses in
the history of the Spirit.”
Jurgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit
A re-orientation
towards whole life
discipleship.
•
New monasticism
• Missional and radical communities
• ‘discipleship movement shaped
for mission.’
• Simple church movement
Church Growth Research Project
Report on Strand 3b
An analysis of fresh expressions of Church
and church plants
begun in the period 1992‐2012
10 Dioceses surveyed.
Liverpool, Canterbury, Leicester, Derby, Norwich,
Chelmsford, Ripon, Blackburn, Bristol, Portsmouth.
1000 fxc put forward, 518 made criteria.
https://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/research
Headlines
On average 10% of church attendance
15% of church communities.
In 7 out of 10 dioceses it reversed the decline
in average weekly church attendance
20 different models of FX & across socio-economic
groups.
75% people outside church, 40% unchurched,
35% dechurched
5820 team sent out, 20,863 now attending.
250% growth rate. ‘ Nothing else in the CofE has
this level of missional impact and adding further
ecclesial communities.’
40% started in 2010-2012
20 types of fxc- most common are Messy Churches,
Café Churches and child focused church.
The average size is 44 and starting team size is
3-12.
91% are new ecclesial groups
Large teams and transplants are 1.2%- team 50+
7.4%-team 20-49
83% parish, 11% deanery and 6% Diocese.
45% progression and 61% pioneer.
33% have communion services
10% Messy Churches
60% weekly gatherings
33% have baptisms
62% of fxc have grown or maintained
10% have died.
Health of fxc
82% typical of area
74% all age
60% adults and 40% under 16 (double parish)
75% attending to maturity issues
78% working on discipleship-one to one, small
groups, courses and serving in teams.
Leadership
48% ordained – 66% male
52% lay- 66% female
84% Messy leaders female
24% attend a Training event
37% no training
Ten parameters of fxcs
1. Was something Christian and communal brought to ‘birth’ that was new and
further,
rather than an existing group modified?
2. Has the starting group tried to engage with non-churchgoers? The aim was for
the Christians to change, to fit a culture and context, not make the local people
change, to fit into an existing church context.
3. Does the resultant community meet at least once a month?
4. Does it have a name that helps to give it an identity?
5. Is there intention to be Church? This could be from the start, or by discovery on
the
way.
The key is that they are not seen as a bridge back to ‘real church’.
6. Is it Anglican or Uniting etc. This is about relationships as much as practices
7. There is some form of leadership recognised within, and also without.
8. At least the majority of members see it as their major expression of being
church.
9. There is aspiration for the four creedal ‘marks’ of church, or ecclesial
relationships:
10. There is intent to become ‘three self’ (self-financing, self-governing and self
reproducing).
These factors need contextualisation, but are some marks of advancing maturity.
So how are we responding ?
“From Safety nets
to
Fishing nets”
1
There is no return address
In working with young
people . . . do not try to call
them back to where they
were, and do not try to call
them to where you are, as
beautiful as that place might
seem to you.
You must have the courage
to go with them to a place
that neither you nor they
have ever been before.
Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the
Masai (1978)
Vincent Donovan
This is not only ‘Good
missionary advice’,
‘a beautiful description of the
unpredictable process of
evangelization, a process
leading to that new place where
none of us has ever been
before.’
Christianity Rediscovered
(1982)
Third space
1. Come
2. Go and then come
3. Go and stay
Half the picture-concentric
Jerusalem
Judea
Samaria
Ends of the Earth
The eccentric effects…
Samaria
The ends
of the earth
Judea
The centre and the Acts story shift
Samaria is not a return ticket
story moves from a focus on Peter to Paul
the Church goes west
church is done differently among Gentiles
2
The size of community
we are working in
is the most significant
factor for mission.
Multiplication rather than addition
Learning from the
work of David Wasdell
The Urban Church Project produced two
reports
Let my people grow
Divide and Conquer
DW in 2002
Oct. 1974
June 1975
‘We have become involved in the public re-enactment of
heresy. We believe and proclaim a gospel of grace available to
all but we operate a structure which takes the form of a club
with limited membership.’
D. Wasdell, Let My People Grow (London: UCP, 1974) p.7.
2
C of E Average Attendance - by parish size 1974
392
20000 plus
265
15000-19999
184
10000-14999
192
8000-9999
191
6000-7999
1 more cleric adds
90, a second adds 81
172
4000-5999
158
2000-3999
1000-1999
116
500-999
69
39
250-499
24
<250
0
50
Number of
Attenders
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
‘the single-clergy model church levels off at an average
congregation of 175, regardless of parish population.’
C of E Permeation of the Community 1974
1.6
20000 plus
15000-19999
1.8
10000-14999
1.8
Invisible
2.4
8000-9999
3.2
6000-7999
4.1
4000-5999
6.1
2000-3999
Visible and impact
10.6
1000-1999
12.8
500-999
17.4
250-499
21.4
<250
0
5
10
15
Percentage of the parish who are attending
20
25
C of E % Permeation of the Community - 2011
1974 %
0.9
20000 plus
15000-19999
1.1
10000-14999
1.3
8000-9999
1.8
6000-7999
1.9
2.4
4000-5999
3.2
2000-3999
4.0
1000-1999
5.1
500-999
6.8
250-499
11.9
<250
0
3
6
9
Percentage of the parish who are attending
12
1.6
1.8
1.8
2.4
3.2
4.1
6.1
10.6
12.8
17.4
21.4
Wasdell’s key messages
‘It has become crystal clear that the strategy of growth by addition
of new members to existing groups or congregations is selfdefeating. As numbers increase, so the quality of life which sustains
the group is destroyed. Opportunities for personal learning,
participation and maturation, pastoral care, taking of responsibility
and use of gifts, all begin to disappear.
Now there would appear to be only one alternative to growth by
addition, and that is growth by multiplication … then the most
important problem to be solved is the question of what that unit
looks like and what kind of leadership is required in the church to
enable multiplication to take off and be sustained’’[1]
[1]
D. Wasdell, Divide and Conquer (London: UCP, 1975) p. 16.
15
3
Public worship services probably
are not the best starting point
‘ we think we can reach them through church meetings’
Prayer
Love
Relate
Prayer
Create
4
Who is church for?
4.
Why are you here?
The church is Gods gift to the world.
‘ the church is missionary by it’s very
nature…….
the church does not have a mission
but the mission has a church.’
Prophetic Dialogue.
Bevans and Scroeder
"The church is not the sender but the
one sent. Its mission (its "being sent") is
not secondary to its being; the church
exists in being sent and in building up
itself for the sake of its mission.“
David Bosch, Transforming Mission.
By knowing and loving God
and each other,
we seek to enable non churched people
to develop a real and relevant relationship
with Jesus.
‘Are there structures and patterns which let that
basic event of encounter happen again and again?
Because if not , the church has become
something very different from where it started;
it’s become a community which says once there
was an encounter with Jesus and we like to
remember that.
We have to ask much more radically , how do
we structure a community in which it goes on
being possible ,even likely ,that people will
meet Jesus and in meeting Jesus will want more
people to meet Jesus.’
Rowan Williams
The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are
few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to
send out labourers into his harvest.
Thirst Café Church
Barnwell, Oaks
Saturday Gathering, Halifax
5
We are making
disciples of Jesus
rather than doing
‘discipleship’
or simply increasing
attendance
‘Our theoretical knowledge based discipleship
is like a beautiful shirt which has shrunk in
the wash: created to turn us into giants, it has
become something which fits only midgets.
We have reduced discipleship from a life
changing journey marked by irruptions of the
Divine into something so limited and vague that
we can no longer define it.’
Alison Morgan
Following Jesus , p52.
•Volunteers or disciples?
•Students or apprentices?
•Individuals or community?
What kind of people are we called to be
in following Jesus?
What kind of community is capable of
raising people like that?
Dallas Willard
I am suggesting that the only
answer is
a congregation of
women and men
who believe the gospel
and live by it.
Leslie Newbiggin.
6
Church is multi level
“ And so from the start , where Jesus is,
there is the church, the church is the
assembly of those who are finding their
relationships, their lives transformed
by the presence of Jesus.”
“every expression of the church is, in it’s
own way, another worked example of
what
the encounter with Christ looks
like in the life of a particular community.”
Church as four sets of relationships.
up
of
out
in
Moynagh, Church for Every Context p 106.
This is about
• Context
• Mission
• Disciple making
• church!
‘not leaving the tradition
but driving to it’s heart’
Gerald Arbuckle, Refounding the Church
Unity & Diversity
‘ Diversity is part of God’s gracious purpose but
separation and mutual recognition is not.’
‘ There must be new ‘forms’ of church, outside the walls
of the existing church and distinct from the
community from which it came. Separation there
must be- for the sake of mission but equally separation
cannot be the last word for the gospel is about Gods
purpose to unite all things in Christ.’
Ecumenical Review 29
Pablo Picasso
‘ If you want to preserve tradition
don’t wear your grandfathers hat,
have grandchildren.’
7
This might change US
Dying to live
“ I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat
falls to the ground and dies, it remains only
a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds.”
John 12; 23-6
YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE
OUTCOME
Control to chaos
Answers to questions
Certainty to risk
8
What kind of leaders
Four enduring features?
• Dissatisfied
– Not grumbler but wanting change for the
better
• Visionary
– Looks beyond what is to what could be
• Hopeful
– Change is possible and this inspires others
• Risk takers
– Acts on convictions and out of comfort zones
Stuart Murray: Ch 7 Planting Churches: who?
This is not solo work
Pioneering teams
‘ one of the great myths of entrepreneurship has
been the notion if the leader as a lone hero…
The reality is that successful entrepreneurs either
built teams about them or were part of a team
throughout.’
Thomas Cooney, What is an Entrepreneurial Team
Values of a creative team
• creativity
• curiosity
• risk
• contextual
• prototypes
• serve
There is a spectrum of pioneering
Pioneer
Starter
Pioneer
Sustainer
Sustainer
Innovator
Sustainer
Developer
Stephen Bevans & Roger Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue
‘how did the Spirit lead them to
respond creatively & continually in
new and surprising situations
as they preached the gospel.’
Possible processes for creating
new contextual communities, centred
around Jesus, for those outside
the church
Learn from the fridge
Effectuation
Effectuation
Saras Sarasvathy
http://www.effectuation.org
Three key questions for creativity
Who am I ?
What do I know?
Who do I know ?
Learn from the spider
Find a suitable starting point
Bridge the gap
Create an anchor point
Mission dynamics
neighbourhood or network
same culture or cross culture
progression or pioneer
possible team sizes
6
Four good practice questions
• Who is the mission for?
mission goals questions
• Who is the mission by?
mission resource questions
• Who is the mission with?
mission partner questions
• What sort of resulting community?
mission outcome questions
7
Disturb us Lord,
when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true
because we have dreamed too little,
when we arrived safely
because we sailed too close to the shore.
Sir Francis Drake
http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/