Fresh Expressions is all the rage in the Methodist Church in Ireland at the moment. I am sure that at Re:call there will be at least some mention of this. I thought I would blog some thoughts.
Firstly, I am not against structuring church meetings and doing church activities in fresh ways. Cafe church in Richhill might be considered a fresh expression of church. Indeed I don't like the fact that attending some churches makes you feel like you have stepped a few decades back in time.
Firstly, I am not against structuring church meetings and doing church activities in fresh ways. Cafe church in Richhill might be considered a fresh expression of church. Indeed I don't like the fact that attending some churches makes you feel like you have stepped a few decades back in time.
However, I believe that Fresh Expressions alone has limitations. It is a solution that is not centred on the content of what is proclaimed. Indeed it would seem that some advocates of Fresh Expressions are cautious of proclamation. You could be an evangelical or a liberal and still go along with Fresh Expressions. That makes me fear that some of the architects of Fresh Expressions don't think that it is the nature of the message that is the most important thing. It seems a pragmatic solution for broad churches. Yet I believe that the message is of utmost importance and that any growth will be superficial if they message is fudged.
About a decade ago I heard the then superintendent of the Pordadown District, Shaun Clelland, state that during the course of his ministry the church had lost its confidence in the gospel. I hope to see that confidence restored. While Fresh Expressions of church might help us reach more people I want to see our church proclaiming the gospel to these people. Fresh Expressions may make our gatherings more attractive but I believe that we will make little real progress unless we teach the word, pray hard, have authentic community and give priority to sharing the saving message of the cross.
2 comments:
Hi, Paul.
Interesting thoughts on this. I often wonder about the 'labelling' phase, when we take what God is doing in the church, put it into a structure and give it a name. God had obviously been moving the MCI towards body ministry for some years before 'connexions' began as a structural response. I think Fresh Expressions is the same, and God is in it.
I understand your concerns about how church movements can focus on what is essentially asthetics, and forget about their raison d'etre, but I don't think organisations like Fresh Expressions preclude what you've described as proclamation.
I admire very much how you preach the pure gospel. With us, at Castlewellan, you talked about 'Gospel Plus' approaches. I think things like Fresh Expressions come out of dissatisfaction with an organisation which, perhaps unintentionally, renders so many people imprisoned by religion. The truth is, our church with all its traditions, some helpful to a lot of people, has become 'Gospel Plus'.
Fresh Expressions, as I understand it, doesn't go as far down the road of 'deconstructing religion' as some movements do, but the move of God in the church at this current time is causing people to ask: "What is the Church?" "How can we be Church?".
Hopefully, the priority of Fresh Expressions isn't to make church trendy, like some poor-quality early-nineties youth ministry. Hopefully the priority of all such movements and groups is to remove the "plus", and reimagine what it means to celebrate the gospel and to live it out.
Dear Mister Spence
Thanks for your comments. They are very thought provoling.
Paul
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