Share

The Church of England has officially endorsed the move towards a mixed economy church (ie fresh expressions alongside more traditional or inherited forms of church) and fresh expressions of church are being encouraged at every level.

Nationally, a new toolkit of policies has been developed to help with developing ministry and recognising new communities.

Guidelines on ordained pioneer ministry were agreed by the House of Bishops in 2006. There are over 40 ordained pioneer ministry candidates in training (October 2007) and several already ordained and deployed. You can read more about it here.

Guidelines on encouraging lay pioneer ministry were agreed in 2007 and are being implemented in many dioceses. The provision of suitable training in every area for ordained and lay teams is one of the main recommendations of this report.

A new mission measure came into operation in 2008 which creates a device called a Bishop's Mission Order: a legal way of recognising a fresh expression which crosses parish or diocesan boundaries. You can read more about it here and here.