A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the

3. 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.

4. This is not new but fresh

5. both-and continue to grow and develop the church as it is establish fresh expressions of church

6. Why are we doing this ? • The nature of God himself • The nature of the incarnation • The nature of the cross & resurrection ‘no mission is possible without theology.’

7. Your situation

8. What is your situation? • 2. What are you hoping to • get out of this afternoon?

9. Church attendance has fallen from 88% to 60% (but still 3rd highest in Europe)

10. “ Ireland has become part of the Western European scene. We have been moving in a secularising direction. But the pace of this has been accelerated by the extraordinary leap forward in our country’s prosperity. Desmond Connell-former A/B of Dublin

11. The proportion of the population that says it belongs to no church has doubled in 5 years from 8% to 17%. There is a more marked decline in urban areas, among men, the young and working class Conflict and Consensus-a study of values in the Republic Of Ireland

12. Going out Coming In. Christendom Spirituality Authority Authenticity Conforming Choosing Community Self reference Sunday Time Chaos Organisations Networks

13. But not secular

14. How have we defined a ‘searcher’? • Someone who has had cause to reconsider their core values, or think about the big issues like ‘the meaning of life’, in the last year • 2000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of UK adults, conducted 24-27th April 09

15. Are People Searching and why? • 73% of people are searching • All ages, male and female, all but the lowest of social grades • 70% of people are searching because of either the credit crunch, concern about personal finances or job insecurity

16. What kind of church?

17. OHCA Jesus focus Jesus followers Holy “UP” Apostolic Catholic “OUT” “OF” “IN” One Church is any expression of the life of Jesus in communal form Enduring Marks Fourlinked Journeys

18. “ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1;8

19. Judea Samaria Ends of the Earth Half the picture Jerusalem

20. Pastoral Contacts Occasional Offices Evangelism Processes “Concentric” Jerusalem

21. The ends of the earth Samaria The eccentric effects… Judea The centre and the Acts story shift Samaria is not a return ticket story moves from a focus on Peter to Paul the Church goes west church is done differently among Gentiles

22. Directions out 1 Hold onto Jesus words • What might they mean for us? • Judea: safe familiarity – our people • Samaria: mixing with the disagreeable and disreputable – no longer our people • Ends of the Earth: beyond our imaginations - never our people

23. Temptation • 2 Don’t be deluded by Judean success • Acts 5.16: crowds from the towns, healing of all !! • Yes God loves Judeans too – but its only part of the story • Yes Peter was apostle to the Jews Gal 2.7 • But the Judean journey is not enough • It doesn’t equip you for Samaria or beyond • It’s different in Samaria, Athens, Rome, or where you live • Be honest whose coming • Jerusalem% Judea% Samaria% Ends of the earth% • Re cycling Judeans hasn’t a long term future …

24. Come to Alpha Don’t try to make it happen • It’s not about our power • It’s not about rebadging • It’s not about complusion

25. Let the Spirit disturb the church by his eccentric behaviour Follow what God is doing

26. Five important issues to face

27. 1 Public worship probably isn’t the best starting point

28. Prayer and Support Loving Service Forming Community Evangelism and Disciple- Making Evolving Worship Listening and Following God’s call Connection

29. 2 Mission shapes the church

30. Christ and the Church: Church doesn’t just belong to Christ, but is shaped by his dynamics, reproducing his patterns. • A typically bipartite process • Like humans from breath and dust, or in the covenant • Spirit and Mary • Christ=God the Son and Son of Mary • So • Incarnation was not a transplant • Christ the eternal son is shaped by the mission context/ he even has Mary’s DNA • neither was Incarnation a case of Cloning Incarnation

31. Incarnation cont… 2. The Process exhibits continuity and change • cf Philippians 2: Celebrating sacrificial changes • Christ Jesus = FX of God the Son? Continuity : his ID, relationship to Trinity etc • Change: Enfleshed, ministry, Death and Resurrection So church should not be photocopied – but created, holding continuity and change together. Jesus: Sent by God, shaped by Mission

32. ‘The reality is that mainstream culture no longer brings people to the church door. We can no longer assume that we can automatically reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people who regard church as relevant or important is decreasing with every generation’ Mission shaped church report p11

33. “ we understood mission one way and organised life to accomplish it. We have awakened to find out the mission moved on us. To keep focusing on mission, we have to turn the furniture around and face a different direction. We may even have to move into another room.” Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church

34. “church planting is a process by which a seed of the life and message of Jesus, embodied by a community of Christians is immersed for mission reasons in a particular cultural or geographic context. The intended consequence is that it roots there, coming to life as a new indigenous body of Christian disciples well suited to continue in mission.” MSC report

35. 3 This might change US

36. Dying to live “ I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 13; 23-6

37. TOGETHER TO GOD’S FUTURE • ‘…do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, beautiful as that place may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have been before.’ • Vincent Donovan

38. KEY PRINCIPLES • Inculturation (Embodying the Gospel) • Planting not cloning. • 'Dying to live’ • Something new grows

39. KEY PRINCIPLE • FROM - Detailed advance planning • TO - Discernment in context. • ‘Seeing what God is doing and joining in.’

40. YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE OUTCOME • DETAILED PLANNING WILL BE LESS EFFECTIVE • MORE A MATTER OF DISCERNMENT • SEE WHAT GOD GROWS • New members? • A cell? • A project? • A church?

41. 4 Welcome the three eccentrics

42. The 3 eccentrics • Who are the Philips? • A Dangerous Deacon? • Allow space for the unknowns • Discover Cornelius • who evangelizes who • Pray for Pauls • Eccentrics will do it differently

43. 5 The challenge of discipleship

44. Simple in its nature • Relational in its emphasis • Transformational in its outcomes

45. How do we incarnate the gospel in consumer cultures? • ‘The changing nature of our missionary context requires a new inculturation of the gospel within our society.’ • ‘The gospel has to be heard within the culture of the day, but it always has to be heard as a call to appropriate repentance. It is the incarnation of the gospel, within a dominantly consumer society, that provides the Church of England with its major missionary challenge.’ Mission Shaped Church

46. The model of Jesus life • INCARNATION - The world to enter • CROSS - The world to counter • RESURRECTION - The world to anticipate

47. Some ways forward

48. Listening

50. Alan Roxburgh’s Five Steps • Awareness • Understanding • Evaluation • Experimentation • Commitment The Missional Leader