There's no doubt that people can find change very difficult to handle. Many of us are aware of the definition of culture as ' the way we do things round here'.

As a leader in a variety of contexts, I know that - whether it be church, business, college or family - all have ways of 'doing things round here'. I ignore it at my peril if I have a desire to see change and development.

Christendom has shaped 'the way we do things round here' for a long time, but we know it is on the wane as the prevailing culture. For the church, the change of religious and social contexts presents far reaching implications. I am not sure that a fresh expression of church 'here' and a new service 'there' are enough.

I think there are two key challenges:

1. To look beyond mixed economy

The church has bought 'big time' into the concept of a mixed economy church, as in the traditional or inherited alongside fresh expressions. But I wonder if the 'mixed economy' idea as a shaping culture is creeping towards its sell-by date.

David Muir, in his Share blog of 11 January 2010, uses the analogy of an oil based economy. Oil has fuelled the way we do things round here, but it is a finite resource so a mixed economy using alternative energy sources enables us to move on. 

As a leader at the local level, it is obvious Christendom, as the 'power source' for 'the way we do things round here' for centuries, is on the way out. Yet to keep assuring existing church communities that they will continue much in the same way because they have an ongoing parallel existence with emerging churches, is surely to give false hope and no real sustainable future. Many congregations already demonstrate an ongoing anxiety and often anger towards leaders who try and develop a culture of responsiveness and flexibility to the developing context.

At the local level we are not always helped by some at regional and national level who for various reasons, tend not to see it this way and even deny it is happening. For example the resistance to the closure or 'mothballing' of unsustainable buildings is a case in point. Some cash-strapped CofE dioceses for instance are already cutting back on resources to further develop and sustain emerging and fresh expressions of church.

2. To select and shape leaders who are deeply rooted in God, in Jesus and are passionate about the primary need to re-shape church culture to serve a developing post-Christian context

Pioneer ministry may be a response to the 'mixed economy' church model, but I know from my days as a Diocesan Director of Ordinands that there is a danger it can be subsumed and even compromised by the culturally inherited model that prevails. Maybe it isn't just pioneer ministry that is being compromised.

We need to accept post-'mixed economy' as the prevailing culture and 'start doing things round here' accordingly.

This is taken from Malcolm's blog – a search for encounter and enlightenment with a 'church as we know it' vicar.

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If you have something burning to say and want to contribute to the Share weekly guest blog, please contact Karen Carter. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, Church Army, Fresh Expressions or any of its partners.

Now I know we have eco congregations, although they are still largely about lightbulbs and churchyard gardens. You might fondly think that using a bit less electricity is doing your bit for turning the tide of global warming. It isn't – not even close. And it's great if Christians can get involved in the Transition agenda, not least because it calls for significant personal change in local communities, and the Christian faith has a lot of wisdom and power to bring to that.

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.

The danger with the 'mixed economy' is that our existing church communities are being assured that they will continue to have a parallel existence much as they are. But if Christendom runs out, most of them won't; and they will run into the coming era ill-equipped to be resilient and sustainable church. In the present battle over resources within the mixed economy, fresh expressions are already beginning to feel the heat. Here in the Diocese of Exeter, out of the 40 or so 'mission posts' promised in our restructuring five years ago, only a handful have seen the light of day and now there is a moratorium on them because of lack of resources. The future of the church could fall between two stools.

David Muir is an Ordained Pioneer Minister in the Okehampton Deanery of Exeter Diocese. With a long background in adult Christian education, he is now supporting 24 largely rural parishes to create fresh expressions of church that will resonate with the increasingly diverse population of Devon. He is also course leader of The Pioneer Disciple, an Anglican/Methodist Devon adaptation of the mission shaped ministry course (see www.exeter.anglican.org/pioneer), and he writes a regular column on how to do church in a 'pioneer' way (see www.exeter.anglican.org/pioneerprimer).

If you have something burning to say and want to contribute to the Share weekly guest blog, please contact Karen Carter. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, Church Army, Fresh Expressions or any of its partners.

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?

'Fresh expressions'

When this phrase was first introduced, the broadest interpretation of its meaning was encouraged, so that as many as possible felt able to include themselves in a movement that was seeking to do mission in new ways. As the phrase took hold, however, anything from a full church plant to tea after the service was considered to be a 'fresh expression', and for some this began to devalue the phrase itself. The definition was then helpfully tightened up, emphasising the process from new beginnings to something mature and established. However, I still find that people want to define more clearly exactly where they are in that process, and who still ask the question of their project: 'Is this a fresh expression of church?' The simplest answer may be yes, but how might we extend the vocabulary to reflect the process? 

One way is to break down the three key components of church, namely worship, community and mission, and to identify which of the three is our starting point. A new project, for instance, may simply begin as a fresh expression of community, and may look as though it is a long way from being fully 'church'. Add the other two components, however, and the fully grown 'fresh expression' of church will begin to emerge. On the other hand, a fresh expression may never move beyond the first component, and its value then must be measured in terms of its connection to the wider church.

'Mixed economy'

This phrase has been helpful in communicating the importance of embracing both inherited and emerging models of church. Stand up in front of an ordinary congregation, however, and mention 'mixed economy' and eyes glaze over and ears may become deaf to the vision of a new future for the church. No wonder, then, that for many, 'mixed economy' means a smattering of the new, with 95% of the way we've always done it (hardly a mixed economy!).

In my own setting, I was anxious that the whole church should not only understand a 'mixed economy' strategy, but come to embrace it as an exciting and viable vision. Eventually, we developed and adapted the language and imagery of lake and river, emphasising both the contrast and connectedness between the two, and my own church now calls itself 'the Lake and River Church'.

Whatever words we use, let's ensure that our vocabulary communicates that the church is very much on the move and is pioneering a new future!

Canon Phil Potter is Director of Pioneer Ministry in the Diocese of Liverpool. He is author of The Challenge of Cell Church and The Challenge of Change, published 2009 (BRF).

If you have something burning to say and want to contribute to the Share weekly guest blog, please contact Karen Carter.

'I think the church over the next few years is going to hear the word of the Lord through the credit crunch. A former diocesan secretary in Canterbury used to say: "The Church of England as it is now structured cannot afford the Church of England as it is now structured." And my guess is, that is true for almost every historic building with plants and churches and manses and so on.

'The critical question then is, if we have to be a more lightweight church in terms of plants and bureaucracy - not in terms of theology and spiritual vision - then will we find the way to live the mixed economy in the new realities? I'm quite convinced that means a townwide partnership of every church willing to take part; that we dare not compete with one another. We do need to complement one another's strengths. And one of the threads that runs right through that sort of ecumenism is actually fresh expressions.

'So it may be that in God's economy - and having been taken by surprise by what he's done already, I'm just having a guess at how he might take us by surprise in the future - that this becomes critical in enabling the energetic partnership of churches together doing lighter weight church in serious mission and involvement in their communities. Hope '08 gives a hint of that. I think fresh expressions gives a hint of that.

'The real changes, I think, will be renewing of imagination to do church with less of the very costly historic resources. That doesn't mean the mixed economy disappears, because we will still in historic denominations do beautiful liturgy, do dignified worship. But I am convinced that there's got to be some significant change in the use of our available resources.'

The full 14-minute interview with Graham Cray is available as a podcast extra, alongside the December 2008 Fresh Expressions podcast. All Fresh Expressions monthly podcasts, plus other audio material, can be found here.

'The "strength" of the Church is never anything other than the strength of the presence of the Risen Jesus. And one thing this means is that, once we are convinced that God in Jesus Christ is indeed committed to us and present with us, there is a certain freedom to risk everything except those things that hold us to the truth of his presence – Word and sacrament and the journey into holiness. These will survive, whatever happens to this or that style of worship, this or that bit of local Christian culture, because the presence of Jesus in the community will survive.

'Fresh Expressions, I've suggested, has helped us see something of this liberating vision. It's true, from one point of view, that this takes us beyond a concern with denominational identity; and for some this is worrying. Is it really Anglican, or Methodist, or Baptist? What I hope is that, in the next phase of the work of Fresh Expressions, as it continues to enter more fully into the bloodstream of the churches, we start asking instead – of Fresh Expressions, but also of some of our inherited patterns – "Is it really Church?"'

The remainder of this article can be found in the debut issue of mixed economy, which is available free of charge from the Fresh Expressions website. Other articles include Howard Mellor (on evangelism as parable), Steven Croft (on milestones on the journey), Brother Damian SSF (on mission and spirituality) and Ian Adams (on international perspectives and developments).