LINCOLN, UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) -- Fresh Expressions was initiated in 2005 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, but now involves the Methodist Council, the United Reformed Church and a number of other partners in the United Kingdom.

Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of Methodist Church; Rev Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of United Reformed Church; Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams

The initiative has resulted in hundreds of new congregations being formed alongside more traditional churches.

Addressing a national conference looking at the way ahead for fresh expressions of church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and General Secretary of the Methodist Church, Rev Dr Martyn Atkins backed the development of regional support teams.

It was the first major Fresh Expressions gathering since the United Reformed Church became a formal partner in the movement last year. URC General Secretary Rev Roberta Rominger also attended the event.

Speaking to more than 450 delegates at the Changing the landscape conference in Lincoln, the Archbishop said, “As fresh expressions gets more successful, more widely known, more active and innovative, it’s really important to remember that fresh expressions is not first and foremost about capturing a new market for a product.

“Fresh expressions ought to be, and I hope and pray is, the Church’s way of pushing back against static, infantilizing forms of religious belief, pushing back against trivialization, against the shrinkage of faith and discipleship to boring and manageable dimensions.”

Describing the Church as an ‘echo chamber of the divine Word’, he urged patience from both traditional and fresh expressions of church. “Fresh expressions is not an instant solution to the Church’s problems of membership and support, or whatever -- it’s not a quick fix for the issues and needs of those involved. And that means, of course, that it’s quite a risky territory to be in.”

Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops’ Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, said the aim of the day was that the “mixed economy of an enriching partnership between inherited models of church and fresh expressions of church should become a long-term part of the landscape of the Church in the UK focusing particularly on how we can help fresh expressions of church grow through to maturity and sustainability and how we can own and encourage those developments regionally.”

Dr Martyn Atkins said that partnering in the Fresh Expressions initiative was incredibly symbolically and sustainably important to Methodism. “It’s a means of embodying the covenant relationship between our churches in a particularly apt model of ecumenism for today. The partnership reminds the Methodist movement that it is a movement committed to discipleship. It allows us to express our Methodist ecclesiology which is essentially missional.

“It provides us with encouragement and an open door to do what we feel God would best have us do, that is namely to seek authentic, culturally sensitive and apt ways of -- to use a phrase of John Wesley -- of ‘offering Christ’ and creating almost accidentally out of that process Christian communities that enable disciples to come into being in any time and place.”

He warned, “In a time of decreasing resources -- whether of people or finance -- we’ve got to resist the temptation to continue to resource what we have long had without asking serious questions of it, and then immediately withdrawing support in tight times from things which are just coming to be. The Church cannot be the place where ‘last in, first out’ is the rule.

“Consequently we must face the sharp challenge that those expressions of Christian Church that do not appear to enable groups of human beings to worship, love and serve God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and live out their lives as Christ their Lord might choose, as authentic disciples, cannot continue to automatically expect or command the lion’s share of the resources of an official organization. The Church, whatever else it is, is not a self-preservation society."

The event saw the launch of a five-year strategy to support and encourage fresh expressions of church through FEASTs (Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Teams).

FEASTs bring together pioneers involved in fresh expressions of church; permission-givers working within denominational structures to effect change and release resources; and champions for the initiative - even if they may not be pioneers themselves.

Working across both large and small areas, the FEASTs encourage prayer for fresh expressions to emerge and for the strategy as a whole, train, resource and map fresh expressions, and identify and support pioneers.

Overseeing the growth in FEASTs is Fresh Expressions Connexional Missioner for the Methodist Church, Stephen Lindridge. “Some regions and FEASTs have a very clearly defined area and relationships across the denominations; in other cases it is very disparate. Separating Great Britain into seven regional areas is an attempt to tackle this problem.”

FEASTS are already up and running in some areas. Rev Dave Martin, Mission and Development Enabler, Plymouth and Exeter Methodist District, said, “We have been operating FreD (Fresh Expressions Devon) for a few years now. It has been an invaluable group from which to launch msm courses and more recently to draw together strategists and practitioners. We need to keep reminding each other of the worlds we inhabit.”

Kerry Thorpe, Diocesan Missioner for fresh expressions of church in the Canterbury Diocese, and convener and teacher of a local FEAST, said, “We have been running the mission shaped ministry course in the Kent region for the past two years. We have drawn together leader teams of fresh expressions of church across the Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester, and in partnership with Methodist, URC, Baptist, Salvation Army. It has been exciting to see these teams grow and develop together, and use the insights learned in their home projects.”

Canon Tony Hardy, Canon Evangelist, Diocese of Manchester, added, “The FEAST group for Greater Manchester and Rossendale has existed for little over a year but has made fantastic progress. Our local FEAST group has initiated a strategy for training and supporting fresh expressions by working within the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester plus Rossendale valley.”

The Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee, said, “The Fresh Expressions Steering Group in Lincolnshire was ecumenical from the start, and this has ensured maximum co-operation in sharing ideas and deploying resources. As a result, imaginative projects, training courses and support structures have been put in place -- some of which have been rolled out across the country as a whole. We were one of the first FEASTs, and by God’s Grace we seek to go from strength to strength in the future.”

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To find out more, visit www.freshexpressions.org.uk/feasts . You can listen to the full audio of Rowan Williams’ and Martyn Atkins’ addresses at www.freshexpressions.org.uk/training/lincoln . Images are available from the event by contacting Karen Carter.

MEDIA CONTACT: Karen Carter, Media Officer, Fresh Expressions (karen.carter@freshexpressions.org.uk) or on +44 (0)7545 928 724

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Chief Reporter