Transcript http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/ Fresh Expressions of Church My story Published in 2004. Over 30,000 copies sold. Huge influence in UK. Ecumenical, across the denominations, FX organisation. Worldwide influence, third.

http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/
Fresh Expressions of Church
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
Today’s changed world calls for local congregations
to take new initiatives .For example in
the secularising global North, new forms of
contextual mission such as “new monasticism”,
“emerging church,” and “ fresh expressions”
have redefined and revitalised churches.
Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes.
World Council of Churches
Affirmation on Mission and Evangelism,2012.
Available at International Review of Mission
A missional
re-engagement
with society
2007 Tear Fund survey of 7000 adults in contact or not with church
“ 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
an openness to change and a spirit of innovation
are part of what is needed to reverse these trends.
NCLS Research paper
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
2.4% OPMs- Liverpool 6%
8% attend MSM
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.
This is about
being……….
Contextual
‘ I have become all things to all people,
so that I might by any means save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel,
so that I may share in its blessings.’
1 Corinthians 9;16f
‘ The Theology of the West, was itself a limited,
contextual product of a particular set of experiences.’
Every time and every culture has to reflect
on faith on its own terms.
The Christian faith needs to engage a context
authentically as a missiological imperative.’
Prophetic Dialogue.
Stephen Bevans & Roger Schroeder
Shaped by the constants of the faith
and the context of the mission.
How is faith experienced and
embodied now?
•Incarnation- a world to enter
•Cross- a world to counter
•Resurrection- a world to anticipate
Mission shaped Church report, p87.
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)
Third space
1. Come
2. Go and then come
3. Go and stay
‘not leaving the tradition
but driving to it’s heart’
Gerald Arbuckle, Refounding the Church
Missional
‘ 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
“ we understood mission one
way and organised life to
accomplish it. We have
awakened to find out the
mission moved on us. To
keep focusing on mission, we
have to turn the furniture
around and face a different
direction. We may even have
to move into another room.”
Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church
‘Mission is often described as if it were
a planned extension of an old building.
But it fact it has usually been more like
an unexpected explosion.’
John V Taylor
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
Disciple Making
The glory of God is
the human person fully alive
Irenaeus of Lyon
•How we see God
•How we see ourselves and others
•How we see our community
•How we see creation and society
“ If not part of a mutually
discipling community the
culture will disciple you.”
Graham Cray
‘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.
What kind of people are we called to be?
What kind of community is capable of
raising people like that?
Ecclesial
church
“ 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.
Unity and diversity
Unity
‘ 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
Possible processes for creating
new contextual communities, centred
around Jesus, for those outside
the church
Prayer
Love
Relate
Prayer
Create
Effectuation
Saras Sarasvathy
http://www.effectuation.org
Who am I ?
What do I know?
Who do I know ?
•Who is the mission for?
•Who is the mission by?
•Who is the mission with?
A visual framework
Values: eg. hospitality, creativity, service, authenticity
Clouds
Your
context
Vision
Pioneers
Who is
with you?
Treasure
8-9
Thirst Café Church
Saturday Gathering, Halifax
The Net Church, Huddersfield
By knowing and loving God
and each other,
we seek to enable non churched people
to develop a real and relevant relationship
with Jesus.
Barnwell, Oaks
The icebergs
The danger of expectations
The problem of measurement
The problem of measurement
• Who is the evaluation for ?
•What is the evaluation for ?
•What is to be measured ?
The problem of measurement
• What measurements might be used ?
The problem of measurement
•Expectations
•Time frame
•Criteria
•Who assess
Beware of the default position
Staying the course and
passing on the baton
Losing the focus
Isolation
Taking the tough decisions
The danger
of
domestication