What are fresh expressions of church telling us about mission in the UK today

1. What are fresh expressions of church telling us about mission in the UK today

3. 20,000 copies sold Unanimous approval at Synod Discussed and implemented in dioceses Influence in UK Worldwide influence

4. relay passing on the Spirit of life

5. 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. It will come into being through principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples. It will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context.

6. ‘ I believe we have only just begun to see the potential fruits of this movement.’ ‘ Fresh expressions are the green shoots of the future.’

7. ‘we are thinking of, not a series of scattered experiments, nor a series of enterprises in religious entertainment, nor God forbid, a kind of dumbing down…. The point of fresh expressions is the point of the church itself, that is to provide a place where Christ is set free in our midst.’ Address to General Synod,2007

8. ‘Is this movement the new highway to mission, or rather a set of new intricate cul de sacs? … they do not hold out any long term hope for the future of the church. The task of the church is just to wait, and hope, and pray and wait for better times…. But the answer is not to be found in turning our gaze to the new gods of a very different kind of Babylonian captivity.’

9. 1. There is no return address

10. ‘Two thirds of UK adults (33.2m) have no connection with church at present (nor with another religion) These people are evenly divided between those who have been in the past but have sinceleft and those who have never been in their lives. This secular majority presents a major challenge to churches. Most of them (29.3m)- are unreceptive and closed to church: church going is simply not on their agenda.’ Tear Fund Survey 2007

11. %

12. ‘The reality is that mainstream culture no longer brings people to the church door. We can no longer assume that we can automatically reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people who regard church as relevant or important is decreasing with every generation’ Mission shaped church report, p11

13. some things must die

14. 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 13; 23-6

15. some things must die • beware of the clone

16. some things must die • beware of the clone • rediscover how mission • operates in this new • environment

17. 2. The nature of the church

18. ‘ abandon attempts to define the church essence in terms of something it has or is…..no visible marks’ Household of God

19. ‘ We would drop two people off and then spend a lot of time in prayer.’

20. 3. The viability of the future

21. ‘ we can either send out men who will act as parochial clergy and hold services for groups of people or we can send out men to establish churches, on a self supporting basis from the beginning…. the stipendiary system must be subordinated to the spiritual needs of the church.’

22. 4. The leaders of tomorrow

23. ‘ most of our training for ministry and mission still assumes a Constantinian, Christendom and modernist, cultural context.’ Emerging Churches.

24. 5. The challenge of consumerism

25. ‘ many examples of fresh expressions are symptomatic of contemporary culture, which has typically adopted the rhetoric of ‘new’, ‘alternative’ or ‘fresh’ Evaluating Fresh Expressions, p.35

26. 6. The place to start

27. Prayer and Support Loving Service Forming Community Evangelism and Disciple- Making Evolving Worship Listening and Following God’s call Connection

28. ‘ we are convinced that the primary meeting place with our unchurched friends is now outside the church building. Worship must finally become more life than event.’

29. 7. The need for transformation.

30. Evangelism is no safe church activity that will sustain a conventional church, nor a routine enterprise that will support a societal status quo. The news that God has triumphed means that a transformed life ,i.e. one changed by the hearing of the good news, works to bring more and more of life, personal and public, under the rule of this world transforming, slave liberating, covenant making, promise keeping , justice –commanding God.’

31. simple in it’s nature • relational in it’s emphasis • transformational in its outcomes • George Barna

32. http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/