Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
Psalm 84:5
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
Psalm 84:5
This isn't really a blog.
What you are about to embark on is more of a pilgrimage to places where I saw God moving mightily to change His church and His world.
The menu to your right is your guide to that record.
Go where ever you feel moved.
Each entry contains at least one major lesson learned. For example.
Christ Church Central - the centrality of the gospel
Sanctus1 - adapting "church" for an emerging culture.
Building Planes, MSM & Dorothy - good stuff on FX and planting leadership
Messy Church - for children and families (almost 1/3 of UK FX have a kids focus!)
Tas Valley, Southrepps, and Ashill - three models for rural FX and cell churches ("Stuke's" is also cell-based but university & urban)
Huddersfield (+ Sanctus1, Southrepps and Ashill) - what the UK means by Network focussed
and much more. It continues to be edited.
It chronicles our trip more or less in order.
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WHY DID WE DO THIS?
At the suggestion of good friends and colleagues, this blog will record my adventures on an FX Pilgrimage. Not FX as in special effects, but Fresh Expressions as practiced in the UK.
The trip begins as we arrive at Gatwick June 6 and stay overnight in Ealing. Deborah will stay on with dear friends she has not seen in years while I'll be headed to Sheffield, Bedford, Tas Valley, Cambridge, London, Newcastle and whereever God makes the connections. There, God willing, I will see churches reaching apartment dwellers, messy churches, churches planting in rural East Anglia, Anglican Cell churches, Network-focussed churches, revived churches and those who know how to do such things.
What is an FX? Somewhere on the UK website (http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/section.asp?id=584) you'll find this definition:
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. | ||
Read or see what is already happening in Canada and the UK at
www.therez.on.ca/index.php?option=content
&task=view&id=109&Itemid=108
This exciting set of ventures puts mission where it belongs - into the hands of ordinary people like you and me; people who have a deep desire to share the love they have for and from Jesus with their friends and neighbours. I hope to bring back examples of ministries that are thriving and reaching non-churched peoples, examples that we can adapt in our Canadian context.
Twenty seven years ago to the day, Deborah and I were married at Little Trinity. For our anniversary we are flying back to where we honeymooned - the UK. We are covering her flight expenses ourselves - its our anniversary gift to each other.
The diocese is helping me out with mine so that I can visit Fresh Expressions of church so our itinerary will not be what it was in 1981.
Much is planned. God willing, after staying where we stayed all so many years ago, my FX pilgrimage takes me on my own to Sheffield to meet with...
Christ Church Central (doing excellent work reaching people in apartment buildings)
Staff at the Sheffield Centre, including George Lings
Dropping in on St. Thomas' Pilgrimage featuring dynamic missional speakers
Visiting near-by Manchester for two appointments
Meeting with staff of the Anglican Church Planting Initiative
and more....
Then I head off to Bedford joining up with Deborah again with at week's end to attend a Messy Fiesta on Saturday. That looks to be a lot of fun - and visionary.
Following that The Rev. Sally Gaze has been brave to invite me to preach in two of her rural congregations on Sunday June 15. We are looking forward to the slower pace of East Anglia.
We will discuss the Tas Valley churches and also visit several Norfolk area pioneers in and Network Focused churches.
After a few appointments in Cambridge and London, we head back north to visit friends in Newcastle. There the rector of St. Luke's will take me under his wing to show me the work being done there.
After one final meeting back in Sheffield we will have a few restive days in London before flying home.
Prayer Requests?
Obviously for our flight.
This will be the first time for me driving on the UK side of the road - gulp!
Rarely in England are roads on a grid - pray the Spirit give us / me directions along the way.
Church Planting friends in Canada were just in the UK and loaned me their SAT NAV (GPS).
that should help.
For son John and other housesitters as they keep a watchful eye on the place and walk Zephyr.
And that we find both time to learn and time to enjoy these three weeks
Stay tuned and I'll keep you informed.
Blessings
Someone e-mailed noting...
"I just received a report about the decline in Sunday attendance in the
> Church of England. You may help us to verify this when you visit England."
Notice the concern of the article was decline in Sunday attendance.
As Steve Croft points out below many Fresh Expressions (FX) of Church meet midweek: Cell Churches, Messy church, Network-focussed churches, etc. For many of these attendance figures are not kept.
Still FXs are not the whole solution. Someone has estimated that the UK would need not 700 but 10,000 FXs to replace all they have lost in the last few years.
Here's the latest:
Steve Croft, Archbishop's Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions
team, said that pessimistic interpretations of churchgoing trends in England had not yet caught up with how people are worshipping in the 21st century.
In an interview yesterday on Premier Radio, Dr Croft backed the stance taken in today's Times by Lynda Barley, head of Research and Statistics for the Church of England, in stressing that the complete picture needed to be
taken into account before a proper analysis could begin.
He told Premier's Drivetime audience: 'Christian Research needs to catch up with how people worship ?they have to include worship figures during weekdays. We haven't really caught up with how people worship yet!'
Stressing that there were genuine signs of growth in both traditional
congregations and fresh expressions of church, Dr. Croft, who tours the
country visiting new congregations alongside existing ones, underlined the Archbishop of Canterbury's frequent insistence that a mixed economy was the way forward.
'The church always has to learn to be innovative in every single
generation, this generation no less than any, even more so in a time of change.'
'We need to go to where people are and speak to them and serve them.'
'I think the future of the Christian church in this country rests, we hope and pray with God, but also with the creativity in doing many different
kinds of things.'
'Many people are looking for the church to be more spiritually deep, not less. That is not just my opinion. It is my experience.'
www.freshexpressions.org.uk/
section.asp?id=3586
I say Amen to that!