How might we start a fresh expression?

Digging deep foundations will avoid problems later - it is worth taking time to do it well

Preparing carefully for a fresh expression of church is vital. Building a community round Jesus that will draw people into the heart of God's love is so valuable that it is worth taking time to do it well.

We can't emphasise enough the benefits of listening and learning before you start. Digging deep foundations will avoid problems later.

The links below give suggestions about how to prepare for a fresh expression in seven illustrative contexts. We hope that at least one of these pages comes close enough to your situation to be helpful. Maybe you fit more than one context and it would help to read two pages!

The suggestions are meant to spark thoughts and help you avoid forgetting things. They need to be adapted to each situation.

The suggestions arise from our observations of fresh expressions. But this is a quickly changing field and we are far from sure that we have got everything right. Are we being too bold in our generalisations? Have we left important things out? Do you think our suggestions are helpful? Your comments could be of real benefit to other users.

The following overviews apply to seven different contexts.

  • Do you belong to a planning group? The group may be exploring the possibility of a fresh expression or a church plant on behalf of your local church or a group of churches.
  • Do you lead a church-run group? Perhaps you lead a luncheon club, a women's meeting, an Alpha group whose members resist going to 'normal' church, or some other church group that contains people who don't attend church. You think it might have the potential to become a fresh expression and you want to explore this further.
  • Are you a 21st century 'missionary' – employed perhaps to work on your own initially on a housing estate or among a specific group of people (such as youth or an ethnic group)?

We suggest you browse through the material in Going deeper once you have read the most appropriate page(s) above. 

Experience suggests that starting a fresh expression needs careful thought. Sometimes there is more to bear in mind than people realise. The more time spent in prayer and preparation at the beginning the more likely it is that the venture will be fruitful.

 

Comments

Re:Source Church Planting Course

Posted by Craig Andrew Gilman on 05 October 07 - 10:39

To further my development and increase my networks I'm off to start this today up in Sheffield!

http://www.resourcechurchplanting.com

Posted by Laurence Keith on 09 October 07 - 15:37

i was there too. it seemed to go really well, and all the team said they thought the people on the course were great. long live small ecumenical groups that expose us to different ways of thinking!

Starting a fresh expression

Posted by Ian Mobsby on 01 November 07 - 09:27

For me, it is really important that what ever starts is shared by a few people committed to being a christian community, and that if you are starting with mission - to ensure that you listen and watch for real opportunities for engagement with de and/or unchurched people. What ever it is - needs to be wanted and valuable to people who are not yet or disaffected Christians. But - it is really important that is not just one individual being a missionary - more of a group of people coming together - otherwise it is not going to be sustainable.

I started by emailing loads of people with an idea I had - which led to a meeting of people interested, and then began once a month as a gathering of people who wanted it to happen, and the fresh expression of church called Moot grew out of that. The need I saw - was for a space for people to explore spirituality - so began with discussion, which became community which led to mission and worship - and before the end of 2 years - we had a fresh expression of church. So the lesson I really learnt - was the need to build community as well as mission.