Fresh Expressions

In the late 1990’s and into the New Millennium, things were changing and stirring…. Disciples of Jesus were trying new and different things in response to where they saw the Holy Spirit at work. People in a number of denominations and mission agencies worked together reflecting on the 90’s church-planting movement and beginning a process of investing and pioneering new forms of church. These fresh expressions weren’t simply a fad or an attempt to be cool but looked to address a rapidly changing culture in the UK and a change in attitude to attending church and to a spiritual life. New things were taking place in different contexts, locations, times, as these different expressions sought to re-imagine church for this new environment, whilst staying true to a missional and Christ-centred gospel. In 2004 the Mission Shaped Church Report, instigated by Archbishop Rowan Williams, listened and noticed what was happening, and new language began to develop such as ‘the mixed economy.’ The report went on to make recommendations for the future practice of this pioneering mission movement. It has gone on to be one of the most widely read and purchased Church of England reports ever. It argued that… “The time has come to ensure that any Fresh Expression of Church that emerge within the Church, or are granted a home within it, are undergirded with an adequate ecclesiology” Mission Shaped Church Report All of this was exciting and encouraging for many practitioners at the time who were working hard to disciple people and develop new and imaginative expressions of Church but found them hard to be accepted as ‘church.’ The report recognised their importance, placed value on their role in a ‘mixed economy’ or Church and furthermore recognised the need for the “identification, selection and training of pioneer church planters, for both lay and ordained furthermore recognised the need for the “identification, selection and training of pioneer church planters, for both lay and ordained ministers” (MSC pg.147.) From this the Fresh Expressions initiative was born, as a partnership between the Church of England and the Methodist Church and initially led by Bishop Steven Croft (now Bishop of Oxford) with Revd Peter Pillinger as the Methodist Team Leader. Over the next 15 years new denominational partners joined the movement – the United Reformed Church, the Salvation Army, the Church of Scotland and the Baptist Union of Great Britain – all of whom identify growth and encouragements in these new experiments in Church. The initial team identified: “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”