1 / 80

International Conference

+Graham Cray. International Conference. Fresh Expressions. FROM INITIATIVE TO MOVEMENT. HISTORY. A Tale Of Two Reports. MISSION SHAPED CHURCH. ‘church planting and fresh expressions of church in a changing context.’ General Synod Feb. 2004. Approved by General Synod.

trory
Download Presentation

International Conference

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. +Graham Cray International Conference Fresh Expressions

  2. Fresh Expressions FROM INITIATIVE TO MOVEMENT Fresh Expressions

  3. HISTORY Fresh Expressions

  4. A Tale Of Two Reports

  5. MISSION SHAPED CHURCH • ‘church planting and fresh expressions of church in a changing context.’ • General Synod • Feb. 2004

  6. Approved by General Synod • ‘In each diocese there should be a strategy for the encouragement and resourcing of church planting and fresh expressions of church, reflecting the network and neighbourhood reality of society and of mission opportunity. This strategy should be developed withecumenical collaboration.’ MSC Fresh Expressions

  7. MISSION SHAPED CHURCH • This is primarily a report on what the Church of England is already doing in many dioceses, rather than a recommendation that it begin something novel. There is good news to tell, and our recommendations come from a review of actual practice.

  8. FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH • Alternative worship communities • Base Ecclesial Communities • Café church • Cell church • Multiple & Midweek congregations (Missional clusters, midsize communities) • Network churches • School based church

  9. FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH • Seeker churches • Traditional (geographical) church plants • Traditional forms of church inspiring new interest (including New Monasticism) • Youth congregations • Family and Under Fives Congregations • Children’s congregations. Fresh Expressions

  10. Celebrating and building on what is mission-shaped in traditional forms of church… The mixed economy …and finding new, flexible, appropriate ways to proclaim the Gospel afresh to those who do not relate to traditional ways

  11. Parallel Developments • Revision of the Ordinal • Mission leadership criterion for all ordinands

  12. February 2009 • That this Synod • (a) affirm the mixed economy of traditional churches and fresh expressions of church, working in partnership, as the most promising mission strategy in a fast changing culture;

  13. February 2009 • (b) encourage those responsible for vocations and training in dioceses and parishes to promote the imaginative recruitment, training and deployment of ordained and lay pioneer ministers in and beyond title posts; Fresh Expressions

  14. February 2009 • (c) commend the making of Bishops' Mission Order to integrate suitable fresh expressions of church in the life of the dioceses; and Fresh Expressions

  15. February 2009 • (d) request the Mission and Public Affairs Division and the Research and Statistics Unit to gather evidence on the spiritual and numerical growth of the mixed economy church in general and fresh expressions of church in particular, and to bring a further report or reports to Synod in the next quinquennium.' Fresh Expressions

  16. Team Fresh Expressions

  17. Ecumenical

  18. The New Ecumenism • Unity grows as we partner one another in mission! Fresh Expressions

  19. Partners ACPI

  20. Advocacy Synods, Consultations Conferences, Committees Graham Cray Bishop Graham Cray Archbishops’ Missioner Rev. Stephen Lindridge Methodist Connexional Missioner

  21. Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Teams • prayer and strategy • training • resources • mapping • find/support pioneers • accompaniment

  22. Resources Rev. Norman Ivison www.freshexpressions.org.uk

  23. making a difference resources

  24. Training Vision Days Rev. Andrew Roberts Fresh Expressions

  25. Research Rev. Dr. Mike Moynagh Fresh Expressions

  26. CRITICAL FACTORS • New imagination about the church • New climate of permission • New resources

  27. CONNECTING THE CENTRE TO THE EDGE

  28. ARCHBISHOP ROWAN • MSC + ABC = FEI

  29. Definition Fresh Expressions

  30. what is a fresh expression? • 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

  31. called to proclaim afresh • ‘The Church of England ... professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, • ‘Which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation.’ • ‘Bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation.’

  32. A fresh expression of church is • Missional – it seeks to benefit non-churchgoers • Contextual – it seeks to fit the context • Formational – it aims to form disciples • Ecclesial – it intends to become church

  33. Definition • Disciplining the language. Fresh Expressions

  34. What’s in a name?

  35. fresh expressions • Not the opposite of ‘stale’ • Not a rebranding of existing work • Not a bridge project designed to being people to existing church • Not the opposite of traditional – the complement to it.

  36. fresh expressions • Not church-lite • But deep church • taking the right shape • in the right place • at a price … the comfort and convenience of those who plant it

  37. Emerging Church? • Some people are particularly concerned for mission and they value the conversation, because it has helped them to think about how to reform the church in ways that will increase their capacity to see churches grow as they reach out to others in a post-Christendom society. Fresh Expressions

  38. Emerging Church? • Other groups have found in the emerging conversation resources to enable them to reinvent church when they were on the verge of leaving. For them the key concern has been with authenticity, with creating a space in which they could express their spirituality honestly and practice their faith with integrity.’ Fresh Expressions

  39. Context Fresh Expressions

  40. Context • Postmodernity • PostChristendom Fresh Expressions

  41. ENGLAND Church attendance and experience segmentation in 2006 Regular churchgoers(at least monthly)14% 5.9m Other religions 7% 3.0m Fringe churchgoers(less often but at least 6x yr. ) 3% 1.4m Unassigned 2% 1.0m Closednon-churched 33% 13.7m Occasionalchurchgoers(less often but at least annually)7% 2.9m Open de-churched 5% 1.9m Closedde-churched 26% 10.8m Opennon-churched 1% 0.5m Base: Adults 16+ in England (unw. 5907 w. 5774) Pop’n (000s) = 41,043

  42. Time bomb! • The Church is almost fourteen years older than the general population of England. • C of E average– over 61 • National average – under 47

  43. ‘More of the same just means less of the same.’ Fresh Expressions

  44. Motivation Fresh Expressions

  45. Paying our debts • ‘I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.’ Romans 1:14-16 Theology Point 1.

  46. The Church’s Challenge • Who will our current forms of church never reach? • Do we have a spiritual responsibility to those with no knowledge of the faith? • Hence – fresh expressions of church!

  47. Progress Fresh Expressions

  48. Fresh Expressions

  49. Numbers? Fresh Expressions

More Related