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
If we are to become a church shaped by and for God's mission in this world, the last thing we need is a fresh expression of amnesia. Two hundred and thirty three variations of the word 'remember' appear in Old and New Testaments. As poet and philosopher George Santayana has it: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' So as we immerse ourselves in talk of being sensitive to the multiplicity of different contexts and cultures around us, and of the need to connect appropriately with those contexts and cultures, it is salutary to be reminded that we haven't always thought, much less acted, in this way. History is replete with examples of a dominant group misguidedly imposing its own cultural perspectives on another, while being ignorant or simply dismissive of those of the other.
But don't our churches themselves need a Transition agenda? Just as oil is running out, isn't Christendom running out too? Our churches have long been dependent on the power of Christendom, making all kinds of things possible that local Christian communities could not have done on their own. Christendom made church a very comfortable place to be. As Christendom runs out, many of the ways we are used to 'being church' are becoming unsustainable. We can improve our welcoming processes, we can take out the pews, we can use PowerPoint in the sermons, but these are lightbulb measures. We need to help our churches become resilient and sustainable Christian communities, not dependent on the structures and support of Christendom for their future.
As I move across churches to encourage, teach and discuss the vision for fresh expressions, I'm increasingly aware of the importance of the words we use and how we use them when describing what we're trying to achieve. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the 500 most used words in the English language each have an average of 23 different meanings. Hardly surprising then that phrases like 'fresh expressions' and 'mixed economy' come to mean very different things to people, depending on their involvement and level of understanding. The development of anything new will always demand, in time, a new kind of language to clarify it. We need to welcome that new vocabulary, whilst working hard to explain it and, where possible, improve on it. So how are we doing so far?
