#184 – Sound-bites and Metaphors

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Over 500 people attended the recent Fresh Expressions Conference at Lincoln Show Ground entitled ‘Changing the Landscape’. The conference was addressed by Archbishop Rowan Williams, Rev. Dr. Martyn Atkins, Bishop Graham Cray and many other leading supporters of the Fresh Expressions movement which is now into its second phase. What was particularly encouraging after nearly 6 years of the Fresh Expressions movement is that the leading figures in the Church of England, Methodist Church and now the URC are all still firmly behind the initiative.

The Archbishop started the proceedings with a moving opening address. He is a master when it comes to condensing complex concepts into short phrases, sound-bites or metaphors. This isn’t to cheapen the concepts but to make them more meaningful to ordinary folks. His opening remark was that we are ‘moving into the space opened up by Jesus Christ’, indicating that Fresh Expressions, although virgin territory for many of us, has already been explored by Jesus who now invites us to get involved in new ways of being church. ‘Church’, adds the Archbishop, ‘is what happens when Jesus Christ is around’. It’s not something we manufacture or pioneer as enthusiastic, well-meaning Christians but the consequence of the living presence of Jesus.

Fresh Expressions are not alternatives to the existing, traditional model of church but are about the transformation of the whole church. They are about pushing back against a static institution, challenging the trivialisation of the gospel and fighting against the shrinking of discipleship. To be involved in Fresh Expressions of Church is a major challenge not only for the church itself, but for those individuals whom God has called to pioneer such ventures.

The Archbishop then went on to define three enemies of renewal:-

1. Entertainment – presenting the gospel as a means of entertaining the congregation
2. Problem Solving – thinking that by planting a Fresh Expression we shall see a ‘quick fix’ to the problem of decline. He reminded us that St. Paul’s conversion didn’t solve all his problems, but provided him with a whole new set.
3. Fitting God Around the Edges – we can be tempted to allow God only marginal access to our lives by only thinking of Christianity as a Sunday activity. God wants to be at the heart of everything we do.

Rev. Dr. Martyn Atkins, the General Secretary of the Methodist Church spoke about the ‘acid test’ of all church. It is when the exotic becomes indigenous and a Fresh Expression of Church becomes Church. Many years from now we will look back upon the new things we have started and say, ‘they are now the norm’.

He recited a recent experience where he was speaking about Fresh Expressions of Church to a sceptical and traditional couple who were resistant to change. The message that really hit home with them was that ‘they had had church the way they wanted it for many years, now they must allow their children and grandchildren to have church the way they now want it’. The couple had realised that as parents they had been prepared to make any sacrifice for the well-being of their own children and the time had come for them to apply the same thinking to their ‘children’ within the church.

Martyn concluded his address with the reminder that Methodism is a ‘Connexion’ which means it is a body which celebrates collectiveness in diversity. Therefore we need to embrace the many forms of church which are now emerging and not allow parental control to stifle new thinking and new ways of doing things.

To listen to the talks by Rowan Williams and Martyn Atkins, click here.