Fresh Expressions
is an initiative of
The Church of England and The Methodist Church
Established : September 2004
- July 2009 edition of ‘expressions‘ magazine
The Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions, Bishop Graham Cray, has called for a positive view of discipleship, emphasising what Christians are for rather than simply what they are against.
In the latest edition of expressions, the initiative’s newspaper, Graham Cray says that ‘people who belong to new forms of church need a relevant discipleship that works where they are. It is not about learning a new pattern of behaviour from something which is alien to them.’ Graham Cray has spoken and written extensively about discipleship, recently publishing a book entitled ‘Disciples and Citizens: a vision for distinctive living‘.
Also in the new edition, American missiologist Brian McLaren, who addressed the 2008 Lambeth Conference, welcomes the increasingly international profile of Fresh Expressions. He says the UK initiative ‘represents a wise move in a faith community and is a ripple that will spread and inspire creativity in other churches around the world’.
The new senior Methodist on the Fresh Expressions team, Stephen Lindridge, has called for the wider church to embrace fresh expressions. Writing his first article for expressions, he adds that ‘much of the great growth seen has been a fantastic encouragement. This vision of what is possible under God should be nurtured into the wider bloodstream of the church.’ Stephen Lindridge, who helped start a fresh expression of church in Gateshead called ‘Mind the Gap’, begins his work with the national team in September.