Fresh Expressions mission shaped ministry

Course website for mission shaped ministry.

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For the mission shaped intro course, please use the link to the left.

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For more information about mission shaped ministry and to find your local course, please visit the Fresh Expressions website.

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Changing the landscape: fresh expressions and the long term

Listen to Rowan Williams and Martyn Atkins exploring the long-term development of fresh expressions of church.
(Media) Archbishop and Methodist General Secretary give backing to FEASTs

Addressing a national conference looking at the way ahead for fresh expressions of church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and General Secretary of the Methodist Church, Rev Dr Martyn Atkins backed the development of regional support teams.
Fresh

An introduction to fresh expressions of church: what they are and how they thrive.
(Media) First Bishop's Mission Order creates new church in Exeter

The first ever Bishop's Mission Order formally authorizing a new form of church is being made for Exeter Network Church.
Church on Tap

One Canadian congregation realised it was failing to reach those who found conventional church off-putting. Rob Hurkmans explains how Church on Tap came into being.

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How the mighty fall, and why some churches never give in (by Will Sudworth)

'Decline can be avoided, detected and reversed.' So begins Jim Collins' latest book How the Mighty Fall, based on four years of research into companies which found that decline is 'largely self-inflicted'. Below is a re-wording of the main findings, using 'church language' to see if it helps our exploration of inherited church and fresh expressions.
A fresh expression of church is NOT a cheap and cheerful option (by Caroline Holt)

Those of us in the church need to wake up to the fact that many people don't feel comfortable with any of our traditional ways of doing things. They also don't have a clue what we stand for. The Wesley Playhouse may look nothing like a traditional church - with its children's soft play area, climbing frames, ball pool and café in the middle of it - but those who come along to our Playhouse Praise once a month see this place as their church, and so it is. A fresh expression of church should be one that understands a generation and culture that's very different to what we may know and recognise. The young families I come across don't know what to sing and they don't understand our words. Why should they?
The hardest thing I've done in ministry (by John Maher)

Over the years I have done a number of things in ministry that are very challenging. These have included successfully 'Wimberising' a typical Episcopal parish by introducing healing ministry, worship bands and other influences from the Vineyard. We also built new parish facilities and relocated. However, these things were nowhere near as challenging as planting a new church to reach people no other church is reaching.
How deep are we willing to go? (by Mark Berry)

Graham Cray told General Synod last week that a crucial factor in the spread of fresh expressions has been 'a new imagination about the form or shape of church'. He is right. We have seen over the last half decade an exploration emerge which concerns not just the stylistic aspects of our gatherings - music, dress, structure, location, etc - but concerns the very substance of what it is to be church. The question is, if this is good, how deep are we willing to go?
‘Help, we do not know where this is going!’ (by Jeff Reynolds)

The aim of Twilight, which meets from 7pm, is to try and be a church community outside of the traditional thoughts of church, ie, day, time and building. Over the year we have attracted people from various churches, de-churched people and people who just wander in because they fancy a coffee at Costa. Interestingly, many people with little or no inherited church connection return regularly. That is where the 'problem' is now beginning for us.