Mission takes shape

Holy Communion at an ‘All Souls’ service hosted by Sanctus 1 in Manchester.

Picture: Ben Edson

It is the fastest-selling Church report in decades. And it’s not about the gender of Bishops, sexuality, membership numbers or finance.

‘Mission Shaped Church’, exploring ‘fresh expressions of church in a changing context’ has sold around 15,000 copies in 11 months and its impact is already being seen in dioceses throughout the country.

“People who previously saw themselves on the margins or doing things insignificant in the mainstream of the Church now feel they are in the centre of the Church’s mission,” said Revd Dr Steven Croft, Archbishops’ Missioner. “There’s an explosion of interest in exploring new ways of being church.”

The report, from a team led by the Rt Revd Graham Cray, Bishop of Maidstone, identified a range of ‘fresh expressions’ of church and proposed a ‘mixed economy church’ to suit the present era. One size no longer fits all, it argued, illustrating a range of new models from ‘alternative worship communities’ to cell churches, from traditional church plants to midweek congregations.

In response, the Archbishop of Canterbury initiated a new agency, Fresh Expressions, to support and cultivate emerging expressions of church life. According to Steven Croft, team leader at the new agency, the very fact that the Church has officially endorsed alternative notions of Christian community is proving hugely influential.

Café-style

In the wake of publication, several café-style churches have been set up while the number of network-focussed churches, which work with a stipendiary clergyperson, has doubled to more than 20.

Once a month the Rev Philip Roderick hosts Contemplative Fire, a service for up to 80 people in a 12th century monastic chapel in a Buckinghamshire hamlet. Part of a regular sequence of local gatherings for ‘stillness and storytelling, the playful as well as the profound’, services come from an ‘open Catholic tradition’, explained Philip, featuring procession, incense, movement, body prayer and visual icons. They “celebrate the sacrament of the present moment in the beauty of nature, liturgy and teaching”, he said.

“It is an attempt to blend ancient and modern, a deep journey to meet Jesus, the one who transforms our consciousness.”

Aiming at ‘people who can’t do traditional God language’ and are put off by modern church structures, Contemplative Fire is winning unlikely converts. Philip said: “It is amazing how many people who are not Christians are delighted that the Church of England is hosting traditions which honour the contemplative and mystical.”

Another fresh expression comes with Sanctus 1, a community of some 50 people, aged between 18 and 40, who meet in the heart of the city of Manchester. Led by Ben Edson, of the Church Army, this is a church based around weekly cell groups which host discussion, film, music, all framed in an act of worship.

“Our approach is more interactive, more adult education than you find in traditional church,” said Ben. “We’re on an experimental journey exploring faith, worship, spirituality, friendship and lifestyle.”

Once a month Sanctus meets for worship either at Sacred Trinity Church, Salford, or in Manchester Cathedral. “We are more dechurched than non-churched,” said Ben. “People returning after having been bored, hurt, or generally fallen out with church, now finding a new way to be in Christian community.”

More information: www.freshexpressions.org.uk

Mission Shaped Church is published by Church House Publishing, price £10.95. To buy a copy, contact 020 7898 1300 or www.chbookshop.co.uk