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Fresh expressions of church are missional, contextual, formational and ecclesial. In other words, they:

• Serve those outside the church;

• Listen to people and enter their context;

• Make discipleship a priority: journeying with people to Jesus;

• Form church - they are not bridges to an existing church, but an expression of church for others in the midst of their lives.

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Fresh expressions can be called missional communities, organic church, church plants, new monastic communities, congregations, gatherings, discipleship groups - almost anything! They come in many shapes and sizes, but always reflect their context.

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Fresh expressions are not better than the existing church. They complement it and come to birth alongside it. Existing churches may connect with people on their fringe, while many fresh expressions serve people well beyond the fringe. Both types of church can affirm and support each other - what’s known as the ‘mixed economy’ church.

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Example

Three Christian women in a village loved cooking. They invited teenagers to learn how to cook - and then eat what they’d made. As they ate together they talked about their lives, and when it seemed natural the women shared what their Christian faith meant to them.

The meals always started with grace. The teenagers were invited to add their own ‘thank you’, and later their ‘asking’ prayers. They wrote their prayers on a piece of paper, dropped them into a cooking bowl, passed round the bowl and drew out a prayer to read.

Increasingly, the teenagers chatted about Christianity and eventually Cook@church, a new Christian community, was born. Similar groups are now forming elsewhere.*

Cook @ Chapel

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*Taken from the Fresh Expressions UK website

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