HOW TO DO AN FX

"He who listens to you listens to me;
he who rejects you rejects me;
but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

Luke 10:16

HOW TO DO AN FX

Based on what I have read and seen, here’s a short list of how Fresh Expressions that reach non-churched peoples (which is the whole point, really) get their start.

1. LISTENING - Have an interest and concern for non-churched people (duh!). But you’d be surprised how quickly this gets lost. The point is not to launch a new way to do church for Christians dissatisfied with their church. STOP starting with the church! Rather FXs are meant to reach the unreached: those who do not yet know Jesus. So get with those people and listen – what are their needs and concerns? The more specific the people group you have in mind the better. Anyone can do this - clergy or laity. Most FX are led by laity – if not at the start then certainly down the line. Listening happens in two directions - to the people and simultaneously to God.

Listening happens within community. Out of the concern you have for people you know, a genuine sense of mutual friendship and relationship grows between you. There must be nothing manipulative about this – it comes from your heart. Identify VALUES you share together, especially ones Jesus has an interest in. Many “experts” over here urged us to start with VALUES not with a certain model (Messy Church, Café Church, Pub Church, Cell Church, etc.) – but with shared values. Thus Fresh Expressions are VALUE-DRIVEN things.

2. SERVICE - Based on those shared values, serve these people seeking to meet the needs you have identified with them. Be always asking as you do what settings might these people initially be most comfortable learning how to become followers of Jesus?

3. INCARNATIONAL MISSION - means not only that your efforts are adapted to reach these people - you yourself are changed in the process. Jesus was God in the flesh - "incarnating" God for us. "God became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood", as "the Message" puts John 1:14. Without losing who you are as a Christian - your identity is always found in Christ - you and your team become - or maybe already are - culturally like these people as God enables. At the very least you live among them sharing their realities as much as is possible.

4. DISCIPLESHIP & WORSHIP

However, in becoming culturally like them you never lose your ultimate goal - that all of you be conformed to the culture of the Kingdom of God. You do that in a way that the people you care about can most easily embrace.

E.g, if they are sports fanatics who play hockey on Sunday am and are not comfy sitting in pews, find another setting and / or time in which they might be more comfortable hearing about Jesus? A sports club? A gym? On the field? A bar? This is where some experimentation is needed. But you might not want to try to reach families with young children in a bar (well maybe you do – but you’d better come talk to me first!).

BIG QUESTION: How would you describe the difference between following Jesus and going to church? The more you explore that distinction, the more you’ll understand what any FX is asking of you. Only later do you move toward finding out how to help these new followers of Jesus worship - expressing adoration to God for Jesus in the Spirit in their own way. What can result is a Fresh Expression of church created by a sense of mission.

This works in that order and rarely in reverse.

All the examples you read about in this blog were developed through a similar process.

Why do we need Fresh Expressions? Why don’t people just go back to church? Here in the UK….

80% of the 80 year olds once attended church. But only

60% of the 60 year olds did and only

40% of the 40 year olds did and only

20% of the 20 year olds (and that’s being optimistic!)

[Source: The Revd. Canon Paul Bayes, National Mission & Evangelism Adviser, Mission and Public Affairs Division, Archbishops' Council of the Church of England.]

The same is likely true in Canada (actually our situation is probably more drastic).

So we simply must discover new ways to reach the vast majority of the population - for Christ’s sake and theirs.