Creating churches where you are

Creating and building new congregations is not rocket science but something much more difficult indeed. I don’t think it should be, but that’s the reality.

The problems which present at the very start of the process (rocket or church) dictate the path taken. The problem is that too many people assume that all that’s required to bring about the desired outcome is the use of the amazing ‘one size fits all’ solutions when they glibly talk about planting new churches. Wouldn’t it be great if the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Burnley (or some other worthy) could just pass over a handful of their magic beans and then, having watered then, had us all stand back to watch the new church grow?

But, to quote Jan Struther’s marvellous hymn, “Back into storyland giants have fled, and the knights are no more and the dragons are dead.’ We have no time for the distractions or empty hopes and forlorn last ditch stands wrapped in sensational and dressed up in empty hyperbole; for hyperbole is never to be taken as anything meaningful or real - it’s just a smoke and mirrors extravaganza!

If we are to engage in planting churches where there are none (something I desire and long for) then we are going to have to go to places where ‘church is not’ in a style perhaps more suited to the desert fathers and those Celtic types who took themselves off to the wild places. This is about going to the places where ‘God is perceived not to be’ looking to make Church a reality for those who are not!

This is what we have been trying to sell to the established church as ‘Fresh Expressions’ for what seems like a very long time. But for those for whom this is new (and having met a cleric very recently who claimed never to have heard of the term) let me give you a stock definition:

‘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. 

Fresh expressions of church: serve those outside church; listen to people and enter their culture; make discipleship a priority; form church.’ [and that church is a sacramental reality - my words]

Would that there were really such a thing as the 'Church in a Box' product. But the reality is that there really isn't a ‘one size fits all’ solution. What's more, putting aside the hopes views of some that the cavalry, in the shape of a church plant (which appear to be more often than not church partnerships or adoptions), will be coming over the hill to save us, we find ourselves in a wonderful position of opportunity to do something amazing for God and our nation.

We have the opportunity to create ‘intentional’ (a term I so often dislike as it is so misused) and unique expressions of Church in our communities. I’ve obvious read too much of the ‘series of unfortunate events’ as I feel the need to say, “Here, dear reader, the word ‘intentional’ means ‘done on purpose - being desired and intended’. We need to engage with communities, get in step with the mission dei, and serve those we find around us who are not Church.

A real opportunity to win our estates for Christ :-)

Having had the fifteen-minute timer ping (meaning it’s s time to stop splurging the contents of my brain on the virtual paper) I’m going to draw stumps here and go make some tea and do some praying, for there is fuel enough thus far for a month of ‘God bothering’.

Apologies for typos, weirdness and ‘vicisms. ’. I leave Jan Struthers with the final words:
“Let faith be my shield and let joy be my steed 'Gainst the dragons of anger, the ogres of greed; 
And let me set free with the sword of my youth, From the castle of darkness, the power of the truth”

Think I need to focus on ministers and ownership when the next mist descends

Pax

The 'Return of Christianity to England?'

As someone who has done church on estates since the last century the news that the Church of England (CofE) has a 'new vision' to put a church on every estate caused extremely mixed emotions and the assumption that, like the Curate's Egg, not all of it would be bad!

My cynical side came from the awareness that + Phillip North's (who is a really nice chap) former church on an estate in hartlepool was recently closed. Add to the scale pan an ongoing conversation with someone from another diocese to mine over the reality where they are of clergy not being relapsed because of the lack of money. Top it off with the track record the CofE has had in removing much of the effective church presence in the difficult places by contraction and amalgamation and you'll see that perhaps the cynical streak may have some realism behind it.

Having said that this is the Curate's egg, there must be something to commend it; something that brings joy. Which there is, for at last the poorer and tougher places - 'urban estate church' is a metaphor for 'rough' places - are being thought about. The idea of those resident in large estates getting some form of help to establish and lead these new churches is great for these will essentially be what Ray Oldenburg (R. Oldenburg, 1989, The Great Good Place, Marlow & Co, New York) called 'Third places'.

For those for whom this is a new term, Oldenburg identified three places where life is lived out:
Home (the first place),
Work (the second place) and,
Social/Community (the Third Place) where community is discovered or created and maintained.

Interestingly, the third places identified by Odenburg and by this 'New Vision' just happen to be Community centres, cafés and schools (to which we can add pubs, bookshops, games shops), and more besides. This what Pioneer Missioners and others have been doing for some time under the label 'missional'

Now it's not rocket science to observe that where community is built crime rates change, truancy and other issues are also addressed and people begin to become part of a positive, supportive and cohesive reality. Local congregations were the foundations of the Church (read the book of Acts) and I think I'd have to take Philip North to task when he says that, "Big cultural problems can't be solved," by these ecclesial communities - I am certain that they can (doesn't it say something about renewal and transformation in the Bible?).

“The vision is a thriving, loving Christian church on every single large estate. “  Hallelujah!

He continues with, "It's not a building but church as community of people."     Wasn't it always?

Well it all sounds very positive and the promise of some being trained to lead churches with the potential that some might even be ordained. Wow, it's all very first century Church - and that has to be good.

There are already people out there who are calling for us to examine the estate churches with a view to (and I quote) 'develop and new theological understanding, new models and theological language'. This is a load of complete and utter tosh for the very last thing is 'new' theology!!

The CofE is promising to train those leading these new estate churches, something which includes the possibility of ordination. The leaders will naturally emerge from their church communities - we need to facilitate and recognise these leaders -  if that is what ordination will be then it's more 1AD Church and that's good. It's not rocket science to discover that local people are the best evangelists and church planters.

Blimey have none of the pointy hats read O'Donovan's 'Christianity Rediscovered' or Freiere's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed'? Of course the locals lead the locals better, they just need to have their own Rosetta Stone handed to them - inculturation, that's the key.

At last as desperation begins to bite, the CofE is doing what it should have been always doing: Looking too provide Church for those who are not Church in the places where Church is not but the people are. Blimey - we've been doing this with Fresh Expressions and Mission Shaped Ministry (and Introduction) courses.

Stories of people changed when the find Church because they feel safe, but surely the reality is that people are changed when the find Church because the meet Jesus and are changed by the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. Bath and Bread - Blood of Christ - nothing we've done separating us from the love of God: This is what it's about.

Great that this 'New Vision' is potentially, "Going to every place, including places that many people don’t go to, like estates"

I applauded the damning self-indictment: “A church which abandons poor areas is not the church of Jesus Christ." Always good when the people in charge get to realise that.

But what of the years the locusts have eaten?

I know God can restore them, but we still have the same bishops and senior clergy who have closed churches, ignored the poor ("If you can't pay you can't have!"), covered up or turned a blind eye to acts of abuse and the like.

As Ric Thorpe so rightly says regarding Council estates: “Council estates are places that are sometimes cut off from the rest of a parish."

NOTE: For sometimes, read more often than not!

Remember how Jesus walked on water

Overall I am made very happy that this 'New Vision' is being paraded and have a few things I need to resolve in my head so the voices rising from my own passions and madness are quelled:

i. This a great potential initiative - its exactly what we were doing in the pentecostal church over thirty years ago and it worked well then in the communities of faith we engaged with and supported in the tough places. So we are thirty years behind them - what can we learn from them and the Fresh Expressions folk? A hint: it's not bung all your money into Pioneers and hope they will rescue us!

ii. The establishment of worshipping communities in fellowship with each other and the wider ecumenical world and the collegiality and disciplinary structures are essential if we are to bring about a holy, loving, and life-giving Church. John Wimber struggled with this, the Pentecostal church struggled with it - so how are we not going to struggle?

iii. What of the various covenants and mutual commitments we Anglicans have made? I see and hear nothing ecumenical in any of the conversations, media stories and other utterances. Are we looking to build Church or the CofE? There is a difference!

iv. There's nothing new here other than the fact That Philip North has got Justin and others excited about doing what we should always have been doing!

v. Bishop's Mission Orders have been with us for ages and yet I've not heard of homogeneous or other forms of church coming out of them.

If they do, why haven't they pushed and publicised anything?

Who is going to own the new entities that will be springing up on an estate somewhere near you?
Will it be the same person running the church that's ignored those people and their patch of earth?

How will the established churches fare when these new 'Third Place' churches thrive and not only see growth but also see transfer growth? How will the incumbent of St Willyballs on the shelf cope when they see their sheep stray in a church near them?

vi. Prayer. I haven't seen a single thing that speaks of Prayer (or Jesus come to that, or the power of God's Holy Spirit).

I have so many more thoughts and questions and yet the timer has pinged and fifteen minutes of scribble has not come to an end. I hope this proves helpful to those who might stumble across it. It's not meant to be negative - it's an honest entry to this, for the discussions will last probably as long as the 'New venture' (a colleague gives it three years before the next 'New Vision' arrives).

I'm less cynical and pray that it is the Lord building this house with us - may it truly be so.

Feel free to challenge, educate (hope you've lots of time for that one), dialogue, explain and excite me with this. I am so very up for it but need more than a sideshow and fireworks.

Pax

Be careful - people are watching

It always comes down to choices doesn't it?

The choice to bless or curse, to believe or reject, to do right or do wrong.

The choices we make always have an influence on others and all too often it seems that ‘Church’ (that collective of voices and attitudes) knows more about what it dislikes than what it believes. ‘The Church’ excels at making choices without thinking what it communicates to the rank and file believer and the world outside it. We speak and the God we claim to follow becomes the God we represent and speak for.

A few weeks back, sitting in a local pub, engaged in conversation, we found ourselves discussing the Church. “The problem with the Church is that it is stuck in the past,”said one of the people present. I could only say I wished it was, especially if that past was the Church in the book of Acts. As the discussion continued another person chipped in with the observation that the past the Church was stuck in the fifties. “Church is only concerned with the ‘high and mighty’ whilst ignoring ordinary folk,” said another.

As I tried to explain the realities of the Christian witness that is the church (the local expression of Christians together where I am) as I know it to be today I found myself wading through a raft of views which positively acknowledged my position yet railed at Church and what it stood for or was perceived to be. Distant stand offish clergy who were desperate to get people into their churches with its irrelevant message telling the people around them how they stood for whatever it was that would win approval.

“The Vicars I’ve met are like politicians. They’ll say whatever you want to hear to get you in,” said one of the more animated. “But you’re not like that,” they added as they sought to ease the pain and be kind.

No matter how much they acknowledged the work and ministry we were doing, the sticking point was ‘Church’ as they perceived it to be. Perceptions shaped and affirmed by the press, the clergy (the dogcollar makes us both spokesperson and model) and anecdotal tales. They generally liked the things they thought Jesus said but they just didn’t like ‘Church’ and didn't know enough Christians to make ‘church’ real for them.

What my conversations with the world regarding Church tell me is that it is out of touch with it. Our attempts to appear in and with it don’t only look fake but also make us look absurd. We are regarded like a Vicar we had in our town in the late sixties who, donning a chunky pullover got a guitar (with rainbow guitar strap) and called everyone ‘man’ and became a figure of gentle ridicule!

Of late I’ve been accused of being part of an intentional deceit. The guilt was by association rather than commission, but that didn’t stop it stinging!

We're too desperate and so we look to recruit ‘ethnic minorites’ so we can parade them to remove the charge that Church is predominantly white. Across the globe the Anglican Church is definitely not a white majority group.

Church is generally too old and so we look to young vocations in the hope this will change the PR and see them (as one person put it) like ‘Judas sheep’ who will lead the young into our church buildings.

We engage in sexual politics which affirm lifestyles, gender issues (which confuse gender and sex and uses the words as if they were one and the same) and approve of just about anything that crosses our paths with the mantra that ‘Jesus just wants us to be happy’. Actually the truth is that Jesus wants us all to be holy.

The Christian Church has always been inclusive - today we have the danger that we are making it permissive in our attempts to attract people. We have always welcomed people to ‘come as they are’ in the realisation that having met with God they will leave different.

I pray for vocations to be explored and encouraged in all of God’s people that all might fulfil their baptismal calling. I struggle as I find some people groups highlighted and sought out to the apparent detriment of other groups. I am frustrated when someone obviously called is restricted because they will have passed the age of fifty by the time ordination occurs. I despair when the reason for this is given as “Best use of our financial resources.” Ageism appears to be one of the very real problems the Church has today and the view that only the young can win the young denies the experiences I have had over the years.

The reality is that we are making choices which lead us to think we are dressed to win people and build Church whilst the world gazes upon our nakedness and laughs at us as we reinvent the story of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ in our own context/

I’ve scribbled this as part of the scratchpad and a memory dump this blog is. I do it to stimulate and help me dialogue internally (and externally as I talk with God and other people) as I look to move forward. If you stumble across it, I hope it helps you in your context, and I welcome comments and discussion for this can only (generally speaking) be helpful.

Church us about welcoming all who are ‘far off’ and the realities are this:

‘Nothing we’ve been, nothing we’ve seen, nothing we’ve done, or will do. Nothing future, present or past can ever separate us from the love of God’

AND

‘Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But be careful to make sure that you do not fall into sin correcting them.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’

Simple innit?

Mission Shaped Introduction

For the next six weeks, beginning tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd September), Tamworth will be hosting  a Mission Shaped Introduction course. This has to be one of the most impressively effective courses I have attended or delivered as we look at what 'mission' really means for those who call themselves Christian and for those who pass by the church buildings without a clue about what really goes on in them or the message they long to tell. 

This is a course which seeks to get us to think of the ways in which we can bring the Gospel into the lives of people where they are and when they are able to receive, and hopefully, live it for themselves.  

It is about thinking of new ways of being, and doing, Church: Often referred to as a 'Fresh Expression'. Which, for those who aren't sure about what a fresh expression is, here's my definition:

Christians coming together to live the Christian message in ways that those outside of the traditional (or inherited) church can understand and embrace. 

Basically it is: Christians 'doing church' for those who are not church.

Many people, when they hear the words 'fresh expression', if they have heard the term before, jump to the conclusion that this is 'Messy Church*' but in many cases they would be wrong because there are many more forms of fresh expression than that.

What we are actually talking about is planting new communities of Christians, these are what we usually refer to as 'church' and that can cause some real difficulties in the minds of some and the realities of others.

What the Church needs today is a combination of the older and 'established' expressions of church working together with newer 'fresh' expressions to build a Christian community across our villages, towns and cities. We call this a 'mixed economy' model. What we are doing is creating new churches to work with the old: The problem is that some think that we are merely creating something to bring people into the church that the new church came out of - here's an example:

St Blogspots, residing in it's wonderful Norman building, offers Messy Church' to the people around them. The project goes well and by its first anniversary there are eighteen families coming to the services and it is beginning to develop its own identity and character. Just after the first birthday celebrations one of the PCC members asks when those who come to Messy Church will be seen in the 'proper' services and is more than a little disgruntled to be told that they quite like will never come. "What's the point of us paying for it if they're not going to come in to our (declining) services," they ask - And they ask that because what they thought the PCC had agreed to sponsor was 'Messy Evangelism', something that would bring people into their services! 

Whilst some of those who come to the fresh expression might indeed come to services in the sponsoring church (or one of the sponsoring churches if sponsored by a Churches Together group) the reality is that what you are hoping for is, like any parent; for the child to mature and become an independent adult with a good relationship with them.

There are many views regarding the venue of these fresh expressions and all of them are right and yet many of them are also perhaps just a little wrong too. Here's are some attitudes I have encountered to reflect upon:

i  If we 'do' the fresh expression in our church building that makes it ours.
Our service, our people, OUrs, do you hear me, OURS! (you can add a maniacal wahahaha if you wish!)

ii. If you 'do' the fresh expression in a different building (venue) then we just have to wait until they are led into the church that gave them the money to do it!
After all, we paid for it and so it is ours.

iii. If we do a 'fresh expression' then we might lose some of the members of our own church to it (and the subtext here is that they are already losing member) so surely it's better to keep those we have rather than send them off to start their own thing. The should be committed to ours.

iv.  if we do a fresh expression and it is successful it could become more popular than our church and they'd soon forget that we are the parent and they are the 'daughter*' church - they might take the place in the hearts of the community that is by virtue of the time we've been here, ours!

v. If we did a fresh expression and it took off and worked and attracted young people and those who have never come to church that would be great. What a privilege to have been part of birthing a new Christian community here. We long for the day when we can have like-minded partners working together for the Gospel in fellowship together.

We find thinking like this because we are all human and struggle when the places we cherish are also struggling. Our desire to see Christ proclaimed can sometimes be tempered and even chilled by our desire for stability and maintenance of the familiar - and with the right mindset and actions both of those can be achieved without being limited as Church or as a person. This course is a remedy and a spur to achieve great things for God (and be blessed as well).

This is what the Mission Shaped Introduction (and the fuller course which may follow on) is all about. So here are detail of our MSI course:

And if you can't attend ours, then ask your Vicar / Pastor / Minister about running one in your church, deanery, Churches Together group

or contact Fresh Expression by clicking HERE

* Messy Church is a fantastic coming together of people as a church in its own right. It is attractive to families, accessible for all ages and fun - and there's often a meal and a chance for real engagement and encounter: Just like the early Church. It is about creating a new structure, not a tunnel into the church that might have started it off as a means of bringing people into their building (that's Messy Evangelism).

* 'Daughter church' - a term far too often used to point to a church that is inferior or subservient and under the control of, or at least looked down upon by, the 'Mother Church'. We should have partners and flat structures in church (and that works both ways for those in churches founded by an older parish church).

Church Growth strategies: 'Change (or move) the building'

Working on Stanley Hauerwas' premise that:

'Church growth strategies are the death rattle of a church that has lost its way.'

We started our journey looking at some of the church growth thinking before us with the issue of 'worship' and the bus moves on today to consider the building we meet in. As we do I have to say that I am still surprised at the number of people who confuse the living stones that are Church with the bricks and mortar that is the church building - and sadly this is more than something of a problem with descriptors or syntax!

I recently visited a location where the original rural community had dwindled and almost died away almost as quickly as the new build housing developments had risen from the fields that once supported the area. No longer was the hand being put to the plough but to the world of commerce and because of this the new inhabitants of that place were generally commuting into the nearest cities as a new dormitory community was formed.

The problem was that the community was served by lovely old, yet small, rural churches. You know the sort of place: Lychgate, lovely little graveyard and possibly no toilet! These gems of church architecture and social history were posted around the new community with the result that there was no church building in the centre (a question: When developers build, why do they forget the infrastructure like shops, doctors, church and other staples of a good community?).

The answer here would be to build or otherwise utilise something suitable in the centre of the new population; a place where the community could come together and meet their needs (spiritual, social and community). The problem was that the lovely people in the pretty churches, although all up for growth and the spreading of the Gospel, only really wanted that to happen in a way that grew their congregations - and to be frank that just wasn't going to happen, So the place continues with the dying remnants of the churches that once was now keeping the lights on and having conversations over tea which hearken back to the 'good old days' (which I think happen after a gap of ten years has passed) when they had a congregation!

Meanwhile time will continue to pass and the Christian witness in that place will cease and the Church will have had another brick fall from the wall that is ministry and engagement fall and the witness will be weakened, probably never to return.

There is a another place I know where the people don't come into the church building even though it is central to the community. Here there are voices which call upon the people to move from the old building into something fresh and new and ready to be filled with new believers. Talking to one of the zealots (the definition of such being anyone who is more passionate about Jesus than me) about their desire for a new building I was told, 'This building is old and no one comes in - we need a new building where people are attracted and the old is put aside.'

Now I'm all up for Fresh Expressions of Church, especially in what we call a 'mixed mode' or 'mixed economy' setting where we find the inherited or established churches alongside night church, café church and other engagements where the people and Church come into relationship and God is seen to be acting in the place and in the people they serve (and it's not the established church building). The problem is that as attractive as it is 'moving out' is not the general panacea for healthy and successful church. In fact when we have an old building we find ourselves take up with the 'cure of souls' (that means we care for the people in our patch) and function also as the 'curator of a place's memories' - and this is important.

To move into a place where the people ARE is important and missional (telling people about Jesus) important BUT being in a place where people identify themselves as part through their heritage and family history is something we cannot afford to pass up and brings some unique selling points and relationships.

More recently I am beginning also to hear those who want to move from an existing building because they don't want to be tied to a building and the maintenance and the money having your own place demands.

'If only we weren't tied to the building,' said one of the most lacklustre and boring people I think I may ever have met, 'Then the people would flock in I'm sure,' they continued. My question was, 'Why? What good is a change of venue without a change in the way that you think about those who aren't coming?' My question was met with a steely star and the conversation dwindled away and my colleague left offended.

There are many reasons to change what is inside the building - after all we celebrate the various architectural bits from the generation passed and yet struggle to make the buildings fit for purpose - changes that keep a building relevant are useful and necessary as much for the soul as the welfare of the people and when the time comes that the building is no longer an effective place than it needs to become a 'festival church'; a place where the building is used for set services during the year but no longer for regular Sunday (and other) services.

Add lighting, PA, TVs or projector screens to help make the services run (and projectors and TVs cut costs as there's less paper to print and trees to cut down!) as we would like it to run - and what about a place for baptism other than the font (get digging)? Building kitchen space and toilets and the stuff that make a building useful and utilise every crook and nanny* you can find in the place: We must never walk away from our buildings lightly and yet we must not let them handcuff us either!

There's a lot in this splurge and there's so much more I'd love to add and comment upon but I'm sure you get the picture by now. Our buildings should be aids to ministry not lead weights that drag us down and yet, that said, sometimes we blame the building when the real problem lies in the nearest mirror.

Pax

* Yeah I know - apparently it's a 'vicism'

Mixed Economy Gym

Had to be done: Watch the difference between established church and fresh expression in a Gym setting:

The term 'Mixed economy' comes from former Archbishop Rowan William. He used it to explain how 'Fresh Expressions of Church' could exist alongside traditional 'inherited forms of church' without interfering or hindering each other in any way.

This is a great demonstration of the steady 'established' running (literally) alongside the more charismatic expression and bot run their race beautifully - and drink tea in the lough afterwards too I'd reckon!

* If people think this is useful - let me know and I'll stick it on the web so you can download it!

Balancing the books - Mixed Economy Church

Over the weekend I found myself engaged in a number of conversations, all of which ended up on one of two issues: Leadership and money - two areas where, if what I heard was true (and I have no doubt it was an accurate portrayal), the Church is lacking!

When Rowan Williams introduced the term 'Mixed Economy' - that wonderful world where Church (established and new) stood side by side as ONE:

The vision was a bunch of believers who saw each other as family; a source of celebration and collaboration: The reality is (for many) something quite different.

The intention was that new communities of believers (AKA 'church') created by those who otherwise would not be 'doing Church' coming into relationship with Christ in new, vibrant and accessible 'Fresh Expressions of Church'.

BUT (Yep, there it is, there's always one somewhere) the reality of the whole situation is (in my humble, perhaps naive and uniformed opinion) that, reminiscent of that when Saddam Hussein was removed from power, the next step hasn't been properly thought through and this is where the problems are beginning to bite.

The problem is that many of these Fresh Expressions (FE) have come into being and when the celebrations stop and the fireworks are but distant memories we find ourselves facing a few real, and yet not show-stopping (but potentially fatal) issues unless we stop, draw breath, and work out how we might make it all work. To do this we need to deal with expectations, assumptions and what prudent management really looks like - and here's my thinking on it:

'Bringing them to church' Four little words that highlight much of the discontent that exists within the traditional churches where a Fresh Expression has been established. The problem is that the idea of a Fresh Expression is to create a new fellowship not 'bring them back' (a rather silly expression that reflects on what never was regarding a people who have never been Church) and so many in PCCs are wondering why they spend money on something that doesn't add numbers to their local expression of Church. This is perhaps best seen in the area of Messy Church - for far too many (including clergy) are really seeing this as Messy Evangelism, a means of bringing them in to our church congregation - the key is in the word 'church' for it implies that those who become part of the Messy thing will form a new congregation. Now this might be in the same building but it's not, as a colleague said, "An introduction to the building and some of the people in it so that they get comfortable and transfer across to the proper services,"  but the establishment of a new expression of Church that celebrates diversity and sees a peer, not a child (and how often do we use the term 'church plant' or 'daughter church' as a  statement of superiority and as a possessive? and the growth of the Body of Christ.

This frustration finds its voice in the minutes of a friends Church Council meeting, "We keep paying the bills for the phone box plant* and yet we see no benefits for us here at St Bogsplats* so why should we keep paying when we have our own challenges and needs?" What many see is a modified heading 'Bringing them back to our church' and this thought leads us nicely on to the next area.

Finances
Perhaps the biggest threat to the whole mixed economy model is the reality that many traditional churches are struggling (which is why Fresh Expressions came into being) in terms of attendance and finances. Now, when money gets tight PCCs seek to conserve spending and this means that some Fresh Expressions are finding their support cut or even stopped. Change the lens on the microscope to focus at the diocesan level and you'll find that the same is true again; many diocesan Treasurers are also struggling and so, in order to pay their bills, expenditure is reduced and Fresh Expressions (and other areas) are finding themselves with less (or no) financial support. This means that some are finding themselves without a 'paid for' leader, a situation which although very New Testament is also interpreted as abandonment by those within the FE and as prudent by those on the corridors of power.

The Poor old Bishop is faced with more going out than coming in and so, Micawber like, looks at the budget and opts for the path of institutional happiness rather than misery. The problem is that, as sad as it is, the cutting (or removal) of funding for an emerging church that meets in a pub is a simpler and less visible (and therefore contentious) option than that of removing the dogcollar from St Bogsplats,  merging benefices or closing churches.

Prudent (Biblical) Financial Management
I am a firm supporter of the practice of getting people to pay for whatever it is that is being launched as a Fresh Expression. I think it is right for Church (at all levels) to 'cast its bread on the water' - to be generous in funding the start up needs of a group such that capital costs are met and to fund the minister for a set period - because this is what we're called to do in the book of Ecclesiastes. It is a call to prudence and a stand against inactivity; a call to do something that will, in the end, bring rewards that other will consider 'lucky'!

Once the initial costs are met there needs to be a sliding scale of support as the new church begins to take upon itself the running costs (which includes some contribution towards the Parish Share/Common Purse payments from the start). It looks a bit like this:

It is important that we don't give birth to new communities that are parasitic in that the expectation that they can do the stuff at the expense of others and yet I have met many who complain that they have been 'dumped' by the funding agency (church, diocese or other body) because funding has stopped without any warning, something that has resulted in:

+ Disenfranchisement from the body who used to fund them

+ People leaving the plant because they felt unloved and 'done to'

+ Negative perceptions of the Church as greedy, uncaring and money-grabbing hypocrites

+ All involved being rendered bitter, broken and impotent as a result of being associated with failure

The reality is that we (local church, diocese and Archbishop's Council) need to be planting and funding things that expand the Kingdom of God in a balanced and business-like manner.

We need to have plans in place with financial and spiritual models (that's why the Mission Action Planning (MAP) is so very important) considered and firmed up.

We need to understand that every plan looks great until the enemy is engaged and then lines, goals and plans of action need to be revised and changes implemented - and that this is not failure but proper and prudent behaviour.

We need to realise that prayer is not reserved for the times when it's all going wrong - it's the action we need to have at the beginning and at every step along the way - it's the covering fire and the means by which we advance.

And so, twenty-five minutes into this splurge, I leave you with some food for thought and my brain slightly quite as I rush off to do visits, funeral stuff and engage with wonderful people on the way through today.

This is not a subject that is finished I'm sure (and we never got anywhere near the leadership issue, did we?)

Pax

PRAYING - PLANNING - PAYING - PRAISING - PROCLAIMING - PROSPERING

*Apologies to any FE that is a plant in a 'phone box and if there is a St Bogsplats :-)

Loyal customers are not the same as faithful disciples!

Today's content has been written by a guest who brings some challenging words to us regarding the challenges of consumerism in the Church:


Church growth experts [and ministers] in all forms of church are aware of the effect of consumerism on church attendance. We live in a society that is used to choice and being able to get ‘what I want, when I want, where I want’. Sundays are no longer a holy or special day, but instead are as busy with as many options as any other day: shopping, leisure, sports, family activities etc. Modern church has woken up to this and, more and more, is providing alternatives to the traditional Sunday service in order to try to be accessible. Styles of service have also benefitted from this need for variety with café’ style church, Messy (craft-based) church, and specially targets Fresh Expressions of church. All are designed to be available when and where the target group are most likely to respond to their invitation. Within this effort to remain ‘relevant’ and accessible, new forms of church stand alongside the traditional: the mixed economy of old and new, where more established forms of church continue to provide for those for whom conventional works.

However, I have recently become aware of another consequence of the consumer mind-set that prevails even within more the traditional church. It concerns the attitude of those who consider themselves to be members of a particular church or fellowship. Let’s consider church to be like a local restaurant, with a core of loyal patrons. They have chosen to frequent this restaurant because they find it enjoyable; the food, the atmosphere, the prices, everything is pleasing and encourages return visits. It becomes a regular haunt; their dining experience of choice. They become known to the proprietor and to other regular customers. The maitre d’ will ensure that a table is always available for them and that their favourite dishes are on the menu; occasionally he might suggest something new for them to try, broadening their horizons within a very safe framework of the familiar.

Suppose the restaurant experiences some financial difficulties, perhaps the chef leaves, or other trusted members of staff. Some of the regular clientele will fall away; others might stay loyal, but only as long as their dining experience is satisfying. Although they would be sad should the restaurant close, ultimately, the customers feel no obligation to ensure the continuation of the restaurant; that is the sole responsibility of the owner and staff. After all, there are plenty more restaurants that could become their new favourite.

So it often seems to be with church. Regular attendees have exercised their right of choice to select this particular church or fellowship. They come because they find the experience pleasant: the music, prayers, and length of service etc. appeal. They get to know the minister and others regulars and start to become comfortable. Any changes in the accepted style or method will be greeted with some concern. Perhaps the church comes under financial pressure from the Diocese to pay Parish Share. Quietly, some of the members drift away. The church isn’t what it used to be; it is no longer a satisfying experience. There are other churches that offer a more enjoyable alternative. Those who stay look on with dismay at the falling numbers, but feel little or no obligation to engage with the difficulty; that is the sole responsibility of the minister – after all, this is his enterprise, They are just consumers; they are happy to support him but have no accountability for the health or continuation of the church. Should it close, they can always find another one. The consumer culture in which we live today has created an indolence that has robbed the church of any sense of dependability:

loyal customers are not the same as faithful disciples.

How different is the model of church we find in the New Testament. There we see shared responsibility, shared vision, shared workload. The church of Acts 2 were not consumers coming to be gratified, but were co-workers in the Kingdom, as passionate and engaged as their leaders in the life and activity of the church. Perhaps that’s why three thousand were added to their number in one day?!

Growing Church - something to consider

I meet so many people who bemoan the fact that they are a 'welcoming church' and yet they have no one to welcome! 'What's the point of being ready for newcomers when they never come?' they cry. 'It's just not fair!' (they add petulantly :-) )!

The problem is that you can have the food laid on and everything nice of those nice people to enjoy but if they don't know you're open for business and ready, willing, able and desirous of visitors, how will they know to come?

And why should they? After all, most of the people outside our doors don't have a scooby what we're doing and less idea of any reason why they should want to get into the company of a bunch of 'Bible-Bashers' (as one of my funeral customers so kindly put it this week!).

Thus chastened they, the church members, decide that they will scuttle off out and take me at my word and invite people to their church so the people who were sitting inside the doors waiting to welcome them could be fulfilled. So they went door to door and stuck leaflets through the letterboxes telling the inhabitants that they, the church, were really keen to be their friends and laid out the many benefits like eternal life, friendship, love, forgiveness, eternal life, acceptance and eternal life (have I mentioned that?).

But still no one came. The residents knew they (the church) were there at the end of their road but they didn't really know who went into the building (and it could be a trap, couldn't it?) and so they decided to give it a miss!

Then the people who were waiting to welcome the people and the people who'd gone out to invite the people to come so that the people who were waiting to welcome them could welcome them all came and had a moan because there they were: Waiting to welcome and having invited and no one had responded. 'What are we supposed to do now then (clever clogs*)?' they asked.

So I told them that they needed to get the members of the church to get to know the people in their streets; the next door neighbours and the grumpy old goat with the Mondeo who played Saga radio far too loud when he set off for work in the mornings (of course, he's blinking deaf so what you you expect?). 'Get out there and make friends and then, when you have, invite them to something at the church and the people who are waiting to welcome people will have people to welcome and they will be happy!'

So, reluctantly (after I persuaded them that they wouldn't have to 'share their faith') they did that and eventually they invited some of their new friends to come to church with them and, amazingly, come to church they did! And the welcomers welcomed and the church grew a little and yet still the church (for church is a cognisant entity like nature isn't it - clever bricks that make up a building we meet in) was not happy - so again they came to me and said:

'Why have we only had a few of the people in our streets come? We made got to know them and we made friends. gave lifts, moved lawns, mended cars and even did their shopping. Why haven't they ALL come?'

So I asked them what they thought their building looked like to people outside of it. I asked them how hard it was to get to the place - was there a car park? Did the buses run past the door? Was it a safe and friendly area? What was it like where they lived and was that a problem?

So they looked at the places the people they were asking to come lived in and realised that they were stuck in areas where Church (that's the whole of the Christian body) were never really seen and then they realised that there were so many needs and so much going on that the people were stuck in their own environment and so ....

They decided to 'do' church in the community rooms on the estate where they lived and set up youth projects and arrange stuff for the young mums (especially the single-parents) who were trapped in their homes and put on tea and chat sessions for the older folk (I always said I'd never use the 'f' word!!!) - and still no one came to their building in town.

They didn't need to!

Church was being lived out where the people were :-)

Just like it was supposed to be all along!


*of course they were far too polite to actually call me that, but I know what they were thinking!

Fresh Expressions - Stale Church, protectionism and misunderstanding

One of the most obvious things in the whole of Christendom has to be what we call a 'Fresh Expression' of Church! One of the most depressing things has to be those people who consider them to be of limited value or a means of gathering people together so they can be shepherded into 'proper' church', especially when they consider themselves to be missionally minded.

Fresh Expressions provide an opportunity for people who 'aren't Church' to become 'Church' and this means that it happens when, and where, those who aren't can make be there. Not only that but it also does church in a way that those you're doing it for can understand it and make it theirs, as you lead them to a place where God makes them theirs!

Now there appears to be some who have misunderstood these Fresh Expression in that, using 'Messy Church' as an example, they see it as outreach rather than church and this is wrong, the Fresh Expression IS church and therefore, being a Cranmer fan, includes .bath and bread. - yes I defy people, the aim of the Fresh Expression is to build a sacrament entity - that's why it's called church!

So a few foundational thought and the erasure of a few lines that some appear to have drawn:

1. All clergy are pioneers - would that they were, but of course they should be in terms of hearts desire and in the equipping and enabling department too (which means supporting 'Mission Shaped Mission' course to their members and perhaps even signing up yourself!).

2. Fresh Expressions are hard - but they are valid and effective. They take time and should have as the subtext the understanding that it is Church that's being built, not some parachurch club!

3. It's all well and good being an 'entrepreneur' but that's not permission to be other than Church and something where it's hard to identify what you're doing as less than Christian. We do what we do in the name of Christ and if we neglect to proclaim Him or preach His crucified and risen we have to ask what we're doing and why?

4. Missioners, Pioneers and church-based Clergy are part of the same Church with the same goals and should see that we can only be effective when we are effective together - take a quick reminding glance of 1 Corinthians 12 - then realise the strength of the Church is in the engaged and effective, and deployed, laity

5. Mission, and especially Fresh Expressions, are best done across parish and denominational boundaries - stop making Parochial ( in its worst sense) and start being Kingdom minded.

So there we are - Monday is with us
let's need the difference where we are this week - be blessed out there :-)

Let’s get Missional!

Many words are found in church language yet not all of us fully understand them. Realising this, I thought I’d have a quick go at making sense of them here – so here goes:

Missional
An extremely popular word these days. For me, it was George Carey, as Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) who made me aware of the word  but Priest and theologian, Leslie Newbiggin, who made it real.

Newbiggin used the word to describe the life, ministry and mission of the Church thus:

‘The Church is sent into the world to continue that which he (Jesus) came to do, in the power of the same Spirit, reconciling people to God.’

It is in the reconciling  (mending relationships) between God and the people in it that Church finds its most important role, for we are not (as someone said recently) ‘do gooders’. We are in the world to point to – and look like Jesus!


Missional Church seeks to build bridges and make Jesus, the Christ, known in the world. It looks at ways of being effective and influential and in being involved with, and in, everything around us.

Missional Church is a church with open doors, hands and hearts – welcoming and embracing all who come into contact with it as family and friends.

Fresh Expressions (FE)
I was recently invited to an ‘FE’ evening and the person next to me assumed it meant Further Education (which was a fair guess) - never good when we fail to define the terms, abbreviations and acronyms we use, is it?

A good definition of an FE is:

‘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.’

In a nutshell – if people who are not part of church would come if there was a Wednesday, 5pm service, then that service would be a Fresh Expression.


One such service is ‘Messy Church’ which seeks to build a church for those with children.
Note – it is a church in its own right, not merely something to bring people into the other Sunday services. This would make it messy outreach!

Fresh Expressions have four marks in that they are:

·     missional – serving people outside church;
·     contextual – listening to people and entering their culture;
·     educational – making discipleship a priority;
·     ecclesial – forming church.

A healthy, effective and flourishing Church consists of the traditional church buildings and services and alongside these we have Messy Church and other services, some in the same building and others in cafés, clubs, pubs, homes and wherever the need is found to be.

These many expressions of church (traditional and fresh) work together for the Kingdom of God and do so across denominations and any other boundaries that might exist. This is exciting Church as it creates new relationships with people and churches around us too.

Hopefully this short piece has given you a feel for what missional church and the opportunities and excitement that is to be found by be part of it?

To find out more take a look at the 'Mission Shaped Ministry' site

and have a look at

Fresh Expressions   too!

Mission Shaped Ministry

A brief 'heads up' for those who live within striking distance of Tamworth (Staffs) who might be interested in doing the 'Mission Shaped Ministry' (MSM) Course beginning on Thursday 26th September.

It's an amazingly valuable and effective resource for those engaged in (or thinking about) some form of Fresh Expression (FE) of Church and those who want to understand what it's all about and what FE might mean to them and their churches in an ecumenical setting (yes, that means people from ALL and ANY Christian churches are welcome)

The course covers various elements, including:
Starting, sustaining and growing fresh expressions of church;
Mission context;
The mission of God;
Vision and call;
Values;
Preparation for mission;
Listening for mission;
What is church?
Gospel and culture;
Team roles and behaviour;
Leadership;
Spirituality;
Discipleship;
Children and all-age;
Evangelism;
Lessons from weaknesses;
Handling setbacks and failure;
Small group church;
Worship and the sacraments.
(Phew)

How Long Does it Take?
Six evenings and Six Saturdays (plus potentially a weekend residential too)

Interested?
Then please contact me so we can gauge the demand and sort the thing out.
You can do that by messaging me or visit the St Francis' site (link on left of page) and mailing me.

Thanks

Make me laugh: Fresh Expression

Will have to suggest this to the church - could be what we've been looking for and, to be honest, the other things we tried don't hold a candle to this.

Messy Church?

Nah, it's time for Pugin Church!

Bread on water or pearls before swine?

That's one of the challenges that so often faces us when it comes to being and doing church.

How do we decide where (and upon what) to spend our cash in our attempts to 'build the kingdom'?

Do we plant new churches and engage in Fresh Expressions (FE) or do we invest in people?

I engage with people who are keen to try new things and some of them are wonderful, other quite weird and other are just plain wacky; yet each idea needs to be considered not just with human eyes, business plans and the like but with spiritual eyes too.

For me, whilst I know it is important, money is neither prime mover or reason for binning something, what I would have us think about are:

i. impact on the community,

ii. impact on the church, and (most important until last)

iii. The calling (what does God want you to be doing?)

I have seen stuff tried and failed majestically, sinking like the Titanic without the benefit of deckchair or band and yet it has been a success. How can that be (I hear you mumble)? Well, from the ashes has come a bunch of people who have bonded and risen from the depths to engage with something else that will be a success because adversity brings one of three things:

Increased resolve and coherence

Despair and dispersion

Confusion and apathy

The key to knowing the where (and what) of any church plant, FE or church engagement is to ask a few questions - a social audit or walk around your patch with a missioner or someone who will bring fresh eyes will pay dividends in helping understand what is needed.

For instance I often find people who have decided to start doing Messy Church just yards from another church who are doing the same thing. What is called for here is partnership but no, each does it's own thing and this not only dilutes the audience but, in one notable case, brought animosity (they're trying to pinch our people!') and caused despair (all set up and no one comes doesn't leave you with a spring in your step, does it?).

We need to be speaking of kingdom rather than 'our church' - seek to do what we can in partnership (especially in smaller locations where the population and place is small, limiting those we can reach) where we can - doing what we do alone where this is not possible.

When a church began a parent and toddler group in the centre of our town they were advised that such a work 'never' brings new people in. Their response was, 'Perhaps not, but we provide something that is needed and build relationships,' and that was a start - the issue was that that neither clergy or church members tried to engage with the people who came. For those who came, the people who ran the group were 'church' and the rest were strangers (and strange) and remained that, even after a visit to a service.

I meet, or hear of, people who are doing great stuff; things that the community really lacks and has need of. The problem is that when we seek to meet them, whose name do we do it in and what is the desired outcome?

It's not good enough to do stuff anonymously for fear that using the name of Jesus or using the word 'church' or 'God' or 'Christian' or any other perceived weakness or threat, will scupper or limit the work.  We go out in the name of Jesus the Christ the name above all names and if we can't, then we need to ask ourselves what we meet for and why we're considering looking at engaging with the community.

I have asked this and my (perhaps cynical and wrong) assessment of some of the responses is this:

1. If we tell them we are Christians they will think we're 'scalp hunting' 
but what, and how, we do what we're doing will some scupper, or confirm, that.

2. If we don't tell them we're Christians we can influence them more
because they think we are the same as them (and when they find we've 'conned' them - what will they think!

3. We don't label ourselves because we want to be socially active rather than do gooder Christians
for me there are two questions here:
so are you Christians in a secular project? if so, excellent - we need Christians in politics, secular projects and the like. My next question is, 'This is a secular project or partnership with a secular group, isn't it?' (And if it's not then surely you're denying Christ?
OR
are you merely people who gather together and do good stuff using the church building as a base? Where does Christ, the Gospel and our call to 'go into all the world . . .teach them to obey, sit with you?

So much more buzzing in brain but after this seven minute splurge (I feel better now) I know I'm leaving you with questions, challenges and perhaps some guidance and thought-provoking stuff for me in return.

Happy Wednesday - visits, service writing, tenebrae to print and Holy Week to contemplate (and then lunch :-) )

Pax

Foolish Virgins and Fresh Expressions

What a stunningly great day it has been here in paradise! Running from the early morning communion (which was pretty well attended) through the Family Service (where were they?) and then on through various encounters and activities into the first evening of the 'Mission-Shaped Introduction' and then more besides - one couldn't say the day was quiet, simple or effortless - but boy was it blessed (mostly!).

This morning was about foolish virgins and not being ready for the day that was to come (yet no one was going to know the day or the hour). Made me think how easy it is to put your hand up in a meeting, pray the sinner's prayer and think that you're now in. But there just seems to be a need to be ready and the unpreparedness of the virgins meant that they didn't make it into the wedding banquet. Reminiscent of the man who did and 'being incorrectly dressed' was thrown out of the window into the darkness with all that went with it!

It's obviously not enough to sit and assume we're in, we need to do something about this Christian lifestyle - is it give money, do stuff, hold services or something else? Well the Amos reading this morning left us in no doubt that God doesn't want services, load of them, but wants relationship and it is from this relationship that we live, do and have meaning in our life!

An easy rope to start considering the needs of those who are outside the Church and how Fresh Expressions (FE) might be just what they need. The problem is that I meet people who move a service to a different time (or venue) and call it an FE! So, if you're not sure, let me give you the definition:

"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."

Simple, isn't it? It's about providing a place for those who aren't Church to become it! It's not a relocation of venue or a changing of the service time - it's about making what we do accessible to those outside - and that's much, much, much more! (sorry Police Academy gene problems!)

So - as we go through this week why don't we look at the people we engage with and ask ourselves a few questions:

When would be a good time for them to engage with believers?

Where would be a good place to do this?

What should we be doing to make it relevant to the person, their culture, social needs and personal circumstances?

Three little questions that could just set someone's lamp alight :-)

Pax