A fresh expression

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A fresh expression is a form of church for our
changing culture established primarily for the
benefit of people who are not yet members of
any church.
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This is not new but fresh
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both-and
continue to grow and develop the church as it is
establish fresh expressions of church
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Why are we doing this ?

• The nature of God himself
• The nature of the incarnation
• The nature of the cross resurrection

no mission is possible without theology.
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Your situation
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• What is your situation?
• 2. What are you hoping to
• get out of this afternoon?

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Church attendance has fallen from 88 to 60
(but still 3rd highest in Europe)
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Ireland has become part of the Western European
scene. We have been moving in a secularising
direction. But the pace of this has been
accelerated by the extraordinary leap forward in
our countrys prosperity. Desmond Connell-former
A/B of Dublin
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The proportion of the population that says it
belongs to no church has doubled in 5 years from
8 to 17. There is a more marked decline in
urban areas, among men, the young and working
class
Conflict and Consensus-a study of values in the
Republic Of Ireland
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Going out Coming In. Christendom
Spirituality Authority
Authenticity Conforming
Choosing Community Self reference Sunday
Time Chaos Organisations
Networks
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But not secular
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How have we defined a searcher?

• Someone who has had cause to reconsider their
  core values, or think about the big issues like
  the meaning of life, in the last year

2000 interviews with a nationally representative
sample of UK adults, conducted 24-27th April 09
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Are People Searching and why?

• 73 of people are searching
• All ages, male and female, all but the lowest of
  social grades
• 70 of people are searching because of either the
  credit crunch, concern about personal finances or
  job insecurity

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What kind of church?
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OHCA
Enduring Marks
Four linked Journeys
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But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 18
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Half the picture
Jerusalem
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Concentric
Jerusalem
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The eccentric effects
Judea
The centre and the Acts story shift Samaria is
not a return ticket story moves from a focus on
Peter to Paul the Church goes west church is
done differently among Gentiles
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Directions out

• 1 Hold onto Jesus words
• What might they mean for us?
• Judea safe familiarity our people
• Samaria mixing with the disagreeable and
  disreputable no longer our people
• Ends of the Earth beyond our imaginations -
  never our people

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Temptation

• 2 Dont be deluded by Judean success
• Acts 5.16 crowds from the towns, healing of all
  !!
• Yes God loves Judeans too but its only part of
  the story
• Yes Peter was apostle to the Jews Gal 2.7
• But the Judean journey is not enough
• It doesnt equip you for Samaria or beyond
• Its different in Samaria, Athens, Rome, or where
  you live
• Be honest whose coming
• Jerusalem Judea Samaria Ends of the
  earth
• Re cycling Judeans hasnt a long term future

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Dont try to make it happen

• Its not about our power

• Its not about rebadging

• Its not about complusion

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Let the Spirit disturb the church by his
eccentric behaviour
Follow what God is doing
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Five important issues to face
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1
Public worship probably isnt the best starting
point
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Prayer and Support
Loving Service
Evangelism and Disciple- Making
Forming Community
Evolving Worship
Listening and Following Gods call
Connection
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Mission shapes the church
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Christ and the Church
Church doesnt just belong to Christ, but is
shaped by his dynamics, reproducing his patterns.
Incarnation

• A typically bipartite process
• Like humans from breath and dust, or in the
  covenant
• Spirit and Mary
• ChristGod the Son and Son of Mary
• So
• Incarnation was not a transplant
• Christ the eternal son is shaped by the mission
  context/ he even has Marys DNA
• neither was Incarnation a case of Cloning

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Incarnation cont

• 2. The Process exhibits continuity and change
• cf Philippians 2 Celebrating sacrificial changes
• Christ Jesus FX of God the Son?
• Continuity his ID, relationship to
  Trinity etc
• Change Enfleshed, ministry, Death and
  Resurrection
• So church should not be photocopied but
  created, holding continuity and change together.
• Jesus Sent by God, shaped by Mission

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The reality is that mainstream culture no longer
brings people to the church door. We can no
longer assume that we can automatically
reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people
who regard church as relevant or important is
decreasing with every generation Mission
shaped church report p11

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we understood mission one way and organised
life to accomplish it. We have awakened to find
out the mission moved on us. To keep focusing
on mission, we have to turn the furniture around
and face a different direction. We may even have
to move into another room. Loren Mead. The
Once and Future Church
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church planting is a process by which a seed of
the life and message of Jesus, embodied by a
community of Christians is immersed for mission
reasons in a particular cultural or geographic
context. The intended consequence is that it
roots there, coming to life as a new
indigenous body of Christian disciples well
suited to continue in mission. MSC report
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This might change US
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Dying to live
I tell you the truth, unless a grain of
wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains
only a single seed. But if it dies, it
produces many seeds. John 13 23-6
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TOGETHER TO GODS FUTURE

• do not try to call them back to where they
  were, and do not try to call them to where you
  are, beautiful as that place may seem to you. You
  must have the courage to go with them to a place
  that neither you nor they have been before.
• Vincent Donovan

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Inculturation (Embodying the Gospel)
• Planting not cloning.
• 'Dying to live
• Something new grows

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KEY PRINCIPLE

• FROM - Detailed advance planning
• TO - Discernment in context.
• Seeing what God is doing and joining in.

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YOU CANT PREDICT THE OUTCOME

• DETAILED PLANNING WILL BE LESS EFFECTIVE
• MORE A MATTER OF DISCERNMENT
• SEE WHAT GOD GROWS
• New members?
• A cell?
• A project?
• A church?

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Welcome the three eccentrics
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The 3 eccentrics

• Who are the Philips?
• A Dangerous Deacon?
• Allow space for the unknowns
• Discover Cornelius
• who evangelizes who
• Pray for Pauls
• Eccentrics will do it differently

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The challenge of discipleship
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• Simple in its nature
• Relational in its emphasis
• Transformational in its outcomes

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How do we incarnate the gospel in consumer
cultures?

• The changing nature of our missionary context
  requires a new inculturation of the gospel within
  our society.
• The gospel has to be heard within the culture of
  the day, but it always has to be heard as a call
  to appropriate repentance. It is the incarnation
  of the gospel, within a dominantly consumer
  society, that provides the Church of England with
  its major missionary challenge.
• Mission Shaped Church

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The model of Jesus life

• INCARNATION - The world to enter
• CROSS - The world to counter
• RESURRECTION - The world to anticipate

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Some ways forward
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Listening
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Alan Roxburghs Five Steps

• Awareness
• Understanding
• Evaluation
• Experimentation
• Commitment

The Missional Leader
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D X V X R gt PC
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FRAMEWORK FOR PREPARATION
- Getting Together - Exploring Possibilities -
Thinking Ahead - Organising Support -
Nurturing Community
G E T O N
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WHO IS THE MISSION FOR ?
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TWO TYPES OF SOCIAL CONTEXT

• Neighbourhood
• or
• Network

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TWO MISSION DYNAMICS

• Pioneer
• Moving in weakness
• Surveying the mission field and
• Looking for areas/networks where we have few or
  no church members

• Progression
• Moving to strength
• Surveying the mission field and
• Looking for areas/networks where we already have
  significant numbers from church

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WHO IS THE MISSION BY?
Plant Unit Size Individual (1 - 2) Small team (3
- 14) Larger group (15 -44) Small congregation
(over 45)
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WHO IS THE MISSION WITH?
Mission Partners
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WHAT SORT OF RESULTING COMMUNITY?
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http//davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/
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