The Guide contains how-to-do-it advice on starting, developing and sustaining fresh expressions of church based on shared experiences.
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The Guide contains how-to-do-it advice on starting, developing and sustaining fresh expressions of church based on shared experiences.
More about The Guide
Posted by Andrew Wooding on 20 April 2009
I'm currently part of the leadership team in the Anglican Church of Second Life where I go by the name Helene Milena. Running church online seems to make things move even faster than in other forms of fresh expression from what I can tell, presumably because of the sheer pace of change on the internet. Online church is also something that seems to be classed as even more unusual than many other fresh expressions, although I would dispute that. From my point of view, church via a skate-park or in a surfing community seems equally unusual and way outside my experience. I'm sure it all depends on what you are used to.
I've been asked to write a paper for the DDO of Wakefield Diocese who wants to know more about the challenges and opportunities which this ministry in Second Life presents. The matter of leadership succession was one question that came to mind and I have found no information to answer my questions. It seems sensible to ask practitioners to help me out here so that I can learn from what has actually happened.
Fresh Expressions of church seem to start from the vision and enthusiasm of one person or a group of people. It takes vision and drive and persistence to start anything new. But what happens when the original leader(s) feel called to move on? Who takes on the leadership? Each group will have developed in its own particular way. Does a new leader have to have come up through that particular fresh expression in order to understand what makes it tick and so take it forward well? Is it better to have someone one new come in to bring fresh vision?
I know Dave Male moved from The NET. How did that work out? i-church also has experienced a change of leader twice in my time of being a member. It's obvious that nothing can continue with the same leadership for ever. Change happens in both traditional and new groups and is sure to bring out insecurities in the process. What are the opportunities and challenges of leadership succession in a fresh expression?
Note: If you can help Ailsa with her question, please leave a comment below.
Comments
Moving On
Posted by Kate Kendall on 7 May 2009 - 09:34
We started the Open Door FE in Cambridgeshire back in 2002 and moved to a new parish in Easter 2008. The first part of our time with OD was spent getting it up and running, the next stage was getting it independent of us so it could carry on when we moved on. The church was a very traditional Anglican church and dependent on the clergy lead so establishing a confident lay leadership, who still understood Anglican structures, was a part of our task. During the interregnum it carried on, now someone new is in post it's up to them and the lay leadership as to what happens next. We felt God was calling us to plant more seeds rather than carry on nurturing that one plant, as it were.
The Net Church
Posted by Ross Garner on 25 April 2009 - 21:23
Nick Haigh went to the Net Church as a theological student for one of his placements during training. After a short curacy with me in Bredbury he went to become the second vicar of the Net. YOu can read a bit about his experience in the Fresh Expressions Mixed Economy journal : http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/uploads/documents/mixed-economy-journ... on page 22.
posted by Ross Garner
Freshness at any cost?
Posted by Mark CE on 22 April 2009 - 05:59
(Flip it's hard writing a long reply in this tiddly box - maybe that's deliberate!)
I belong to Soul Survivor Watford - the fresh expression that was fresh before the term 'fresh expression' was invented!
But my DDO tells me (and he's right) that SSW cannot be considered a "fresh expression" that I could include on my "potential pioneer minister CV of freshness."
Soul Survivor Watford is no longer fresh. Even though the original leader (who remains very fresh!) is still there.
This blog post is asking vital questions about any expression of church (whether 'fresh' or not, and whether or not the leader moves on). ie "What is at the heart of this expression of church? What is/are the core values and callings of this community of people? What is it about the togetherness, the community-ness of this group of people that makes us an expression of the church of Jesus Christ worth preserving - ie what do we value more than being 'fresh'?
I think people worry about losing the freshness of their expression, as though the only alternative to freshness is staleness. But perhaps there is another alternative to freshness: graceful maturity!
In any normal church it is often a change of leadership that gives the most significant "freshness" boosts, often including a painful changing of the guard, perhaps losing something of value in the process, and gaining other values.
Freshness at any cost would call for completely new leadership. Allowing our once fresh values to gain maturity, perhaps at the cost of freshness, would suggest promotion from within or something similar.
Whatever happens I would suggest losing the "fresh" from the title! 2 reasons: 1 "Freshness" is a very dubious core value for any expression of church.
2 If you're still calling yourself a fesh expression after a certain length of time (cue Bon Jovi) you give fresh a bad name.
Posted by Pam Smith on 22 April 2009 - 12:31
It depends where you see the energy and vision coming from. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' - so vision can't just be something that's injected at the beginning, it has to be ongoing and as you say Mark a change of personnel can be the stimulus for that to happen.
I've had the interesting experience of being on the one-year East Midlands Mission Shaped Ministry course at the same time as taking up the post of priest in charge of i-church and I've found the process you need to go to in starting a new FX is also very valid to coming into an existing one. Establishing values, working out what group(s) you're there for, looking at what's already out there and listening to what is needed, looking at how people move into discipleship - every session has had some relevance to steering any expression of church IMO, new or established.
And then there is the question of who really is the leader - one of my favourite icons of leadership still has to be Lucy in Prince Caspian, told by Aslan to follow him even when the others can't see him and are grumbling at her for taking them the wrong way. The leader of course is not Lucy, but Aslan - she's just showing them where he wants them to go.
Of course in real life we have to be careful that we know who we're really following!