Testing Fresh Expressions

Identity and Transformation

John Walker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317045786
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Testing Fresh Expressions investigates whether fresh expressions of church really do what is claimed for them by the fresh expressions movement and, in particular, whether their unique approach helps to reverse trends of decline experienced by traditional churches. Part 1 examines those claims and untangles their sociological and theological assumptions. From a careful study of factors underlying attendance decline and growth, Part 2 argues that long-term decline can be resisted only if churches are better able to attract children, the non-churched or both. Part 3 tests the comparative ability of a group of growing parish churches and a group of fresh expressions to resist trends of decline and discovers some intriguing social dynamics common to both groups. Part 4 argues that fresh expressions do not fulfil the unique role often claimed for them but that they do have the capacity to help reinvigorate the whole church.

PART I
Fresh Hope?

Chapter 1
Changing Society

Why ‘Fresh Expressions of Church’?

When they are ordained, all Church of England clergy must assent to the ‘faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation’ (Archbishops’ Council 2000: xi). The phrase ‘Fresh Expressions of Church’ was coined with direct reference to this Declaration of Assent and came to prominence through the Church of England report Mission-shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context (Archbishops’ Council 2004). Acknowledging the increasing existence of a variety of new kinds of church alongside the existing parochial system, the report reviewed these ‘fresh expressions of church’ and argued that they should be systematically encouraged.

The argument for the need for fresh expressions is made, in the report and by other authors, from the context of chronic attendance decline in the Christian church in England, in which the primary cause is perceived to be the church’s failure to adapt to social, cultural and economic change. The innovative approaches of fresh expressions, it is maintained, means they are better positioned to engage effectively with contemporary culture than traditional churches, and are therefore more likely to be attractive both to those who have given up on more traditional forms of church and to those with no prior churchgoing experience. George Lings, a contributor to the report, argues that ‘fresh expressions of church are brought to birth in order to grow communities of Christian disciples among the majority of the population who do not find the inherited way authentic or helpful’ (Lings 2012: 177).

Mission-shaped Church and the Fresh Expressions Debate

Mission-shaped Church is neither an impartial report, nor rigorous with regard to detail. It gives unreserved approbation to innovative church planting; summarizes the development of fresh expressions of church sympathetically; recommends best practice, and argues strongly for legislative and strategic change to enable further developments. The underlying data about fresh expressions seem to be drawn primarily from a survey of English dioceses made by the working group that authored the report, yet neither the parameters nor the outcomes of the survey are specified and data are rarely used to evaluate the effectiveness of fresh expressions. To some extent, this may be because ‘the survey showed that organized record-keeping of church plants and fresh expressions of church is sketchy, with a few exceptions’ (Archbishops’ Council 2004: 24). Yet even the data available are rarely communicated fully or used critically.

It is also at times a contradictory report. There are numerous points at which a variety of different voices may be heard, most likely the result of multiple authorship. These multiple voices express diverse and sometimes contrary opinions, which give rise to various points of tension in both the theological justification for fresh expressions and the attempt to define their nature and purpose. Given all these limitations, Mission-shaped Church was of limited value in accurately determining the extent, type, location, longevity and sustainability of fresh expressions in England in 2004.

There is little doubt, however, that Mission-shaped Church was a visionary report. It has been extremely influential in provoking debate and, increasingly, in shaping policy within the Church of England. It has spawned numerous books about the nature of mission, especially as it relates to a parochial system (e.g. Croft 2008, 2006; Bayes et al. 2006; Bayes 2004). Some of these have reviewed and given advice about developing different kinds of fresh expression (e.g. Cray et al. 2010; Croft and Mobsby 2009; Cray 2006). Others have been evaluative or theologically critical (e.g. Davison and Milbank 2010; Nelstrop and Percy 2008; Hull 2006). Such has been the interest in implementing the report’s recommendations that, in 2005, the Fresh Expressions initiative was commissioned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York with the Methodist Council in order to promote fresh expressions.¹ Currently led by Bishop Graham Cray, who chaired the Mission-shaped Church working group, it involves a number of other denominational and missionary partners.² Despite being nearly eight years old, then, Mission-shaped Church continues to shape Anglican practice and influence missiology in the wider church. As Andrew Davison and Alison Milbank acknowledge, ‘the report is the defining document. It legitimates whatever has followed on in practice’ (2010: 228). A clear sign of its continued relevance was the publication of a second edition in 2009 in which the content was unchanged save an updated appendix of resources and a new preface by Cray that summarizes the extent of the report’s national and international influence during the previous five years.

Given this, and because the locus of my research has been a Church of England diocese, it seems important to examine the argument in Mission-shaped Church critically and in some detail. The development of the Fresh Expressions initiative signifies the presence of a wider dialogue, however, and not just with the Methodist Church. It has become a forum through which practitioners and theoreticians with diverse ecclesial backgrounds discuss matters of praxis, affording a rich, varied and sometimes controversial debate; a debate which has also been influenced by other authors and practitioners beyond the Fresh Expressions initiative and which has sometimes drawn theological critique. Therefore, as the argument from Mission-shaped Church unfolds, reference will also be made to some of the more influential contributions from other authors that may support, modify or sometimes contradict Mission-shaped Church.

Church Attendance Decline

A general decline in church attendance is assumed rather than demonstrated in Mission-shaped Church, yet this assumption is of central importance because the report’s social analysis attempts to describe why attendance at traditional churches is falling, and its mission strategy is predicated on adapting to the factors perceived to produce it.

The assumption that traditional churches are steadily losing members and failing to attract new ones is common among fresh expressions literature. Some authors do attempt to demonstrate such decline from data, but such references tend to be cursory rather than detailed. Michael Moynagh (2012, 2004, 2001), for example, refers very briefly the results of English church attendance surveys in 1979, 1989 and 1998 published by Christian Research in order to emphasize an increasingly dramatic general attendance decline that was particularly severe among young people. Stuart Murray (2004a, 2001) cites the same source to argue that, despite exceptions, the overall trend in England is chronic decline. Ian Mobsby also draws briefly on this source, along with UK government and Church of England statistics, to argue that, ‘the church is failing to connect with or appeal to the postmodern elements in our culture’ (2006: 34–5). However, a much clearer understanding of patterns of attendance decline than that available fresh expressions literature is necessary if a sharper analysis of the underlying trends is to be achieved.

Social Trends

Using selections from government statistics, Mission-shaped Church draws immediate conclusions about how social change between 1971 and 2000 has helped diminish Sunday churchgoing. The rise in owner-occupied property, hours worked, mobility, divorce, remarriage, singleness and physical activity all mean that home, family and leisure have become high priorities for Sundays. Collectively, these trends mean that people are living increasingly fragmented lives and need more time to sustain relationship networks. The suggestion is that such social change has produced Sunday attendance decline, though no attempt is made to demonstrate a causal relationship.

The report also interprets that tendency of many fresh expressions meet on a day other than Sunday, as a sign of a broad social consensus that Sunday is a still a special day, but set apart for leisure or family relationships rather than worship. Consequently, it argues, it is unreasonable to expect contemporary people to meet on Sundays even when they wish to participate in a faith community. Such adaptation of approach to a changing culture is at the heart not only of the argument in Mission-shaped Church, but also of fresh expressions theory generally, and is most often argued with regard to three socio-cultural phenomena: social networks, consumerism and the demise of Christendom.

A Network Society

The term ‘network’ is used within the fresh expressions literature with two distinct but related meanings. At times it is used to describe general social relationships, at times a type of fresh expression. A network church is organized to serve a particular network of relationships rather than a geographical community.

Mission-shaped Church argues that people now tend to relate through social networks rather than geographical communities and often implies that, though locality and place may still have significance for some, it is only as one layer of networking. However, the report also acknowledges that the relationship of networks to geographical parishes is complex. Local communities, it argues, are no longer merely local. They include neighbourhoods, to be sure, but these intersect both with other neighbourhoods and with a plethora of networks at local, regional, national and global levels. Mission must also therefore consist of a more complex strategy and response than the geographical parish. It is for this reason that fresh expressions seek to be shaped by people’s lifestyles rather than their location, and the challenge for parishes is to work with them in a creative partnership in ‘a mixed economy of neighbourhood and network’ (Archbishops’ Council 2009: 8). Only together can they reflect the lordship of the incarnate Christ in all the dimensions of contemporary society.

Nevertheless, there does seem to be a subtle but distinct tension between those in the working party who perceive that social relationships now function solely through networks, even in local areas, and those who think that they still function in a traditional manner in local communities as well as through networks. The former imply that even geographically based churches really function as network churches and observe that fresh expressions increasingly do so merely as a more conscious (and therefore more effective) strategy. The latter think that area-based churches have a distinct and legitimate place alongside network churches both in a mixed economy of inherited and fresh expressions, and as alternative types of local fresh expression. The Fresh Expressions initiative clearly adopts the latter view and remains committed to the idea of both networks and neighbourhood and the Church of England, unsurprisingly, accepts and encourages them on this basis, seeing them as complementary approaches to parish based mission.³

For Martyn Percy, however, even those who affirm a mixed economy imply that traditional churches are failing. He argues that if ‘staying fresh’ requires that ‘cultural relevance … is elevated as the primary mode of engaging with contemporary society’ then the implication is that this is ‘something that “ordinary” churches can no longer accomplish’ (Percy 2010: 66).

Indeed, some believe that social transformation necessitates change in the way all churches function. Pete Ward (2002) draws upon Zygmunt Bauman’s idea of liquid modernity to argue that in contemporary, fluid, rapidly changing society individuals can no longer build a sense of self and significance either from a common identity defined by locality, which he typifies as premodern, or from a common identity defined by a shared subculture, which he typifies as modern. Instead, in a postmodern world of uncertainty, fragmentation and constant change, individuals must make their own fragile way through an increasing range of alternatives with little assistance or sense of clear purpose. Community is therefore an illusory aspiration and experienced as a temporary respite and shelter sought for in events that offer a temporary diversion from the fluidity and dissonance of fleeting and impermanent identities and meanings. Therefore, Ward argues, parishes have no real, socially functional, existence because the relationships that once made it a local community have altered substantially. Parish churches no longer reflect a social reality beyond themselves and so ‘solid church’ has compensated for this lack by mutating in one of three ways: as heritage site, as refuge or as nostalgic community (Ward 2002: 26). Such adaptation helps these churches meet the needs of those who are willing to fit into their pattern as a lifestyle choice, and is an indication that ‘solid modernity is still with us and has its place even if it is surrounded by its own melted contents’ (Ward 2002: 29). However, these mutations have merely created self-limiting, solid networks, an imitative illusion of the genuine communities of the past.

The failure of parishes to depart from such solidity in order to connect with the liquid quest of the postmodern conscious has seriously limited their capacity to undertake mission in a liquid postmodern culture. Liquid church is crucial, therefore, if the Christian gospel is to be fully and seriously expressed within contemporary culture. Furthermore, Ward argues that contextual mission in a network society will necessitate a shift from and emphasis upon gathering to that of communication. ‘The body of Christ will be re-envisioned as a series of dynamic relational contacts’ (Ward 2002: 48).

Almost a decade ago, Moynagh (2004) made a similar observation, noting that traditional churches, while criticizing the emerging church for embracing the fragmentation of contemporary society, have themselves been shaped by a limited subcultural social range. Emerging church, he argued, is merely more intentional and strategic about adapting to a wider range of social networks. Therefore, while traditional churches may well continue to have relevance for those who choose them or whose identity is defined largely by geographical communities, emerging church will take more seriously those whose lives are lived primarily with reference to social networks, even those networks based on neighbourhoods smaller than parish units.

Moynagh saw emerging churches tailoring their approach to specific age groups, interests, activities, needs or neighbourhoods in order to create a sense of identity and belonging amongst people of similar outlook so that a newcomer would immediately sense that ‘they are my kind of person’ (Moynagh 2001: 43). More recently, however, Moynagh (2012) also recognizes the tendency of networks to exclude some as much as they embrace others and argues that the challenge to new contextual churches will be to attempt to compensate for the fragmentary effect of networks on localities. He sees them achieving this by continuing to be focused on specific social networks but then to form networks with other focused churches both locally and regionally. Moynagh (2012) acknowledges, too, the abiding value of existing denominations as they sustain connections between local churches and the universal church, both theologically and institutionally. It is within the mixed economy that he now sees the still vitally important new contextual churches to be situated.

A Consumer Society

‘Western culture is not only a network society, but it is also a consumer culture’ (Archbishops’ Council 2009: 9). The analysis in Mission-shaped Church is brief but nuanced. Rather than seeing themselves primarily as producers, as did past generations, contemporary people define their identity by what they consume. Choice is paramount, and not only goods but healthcare, education, work, association and religion ‘must fit me exactly’ (Archbishops’ Council 2009: 9).

Given that fresh expressions are to express the specific culture of those for whom they are intended, the missionary challenge is for the church to be accessibly embodied within our consumer society while challenging the values of consumerism as an ideology, which the report sees as an idolatry dominating Western capitalist societies, and which creates a self-indulgent society in which the poor cannot function.

While recognizing that fresh expressions must in some way be shaped by the consumer expectations, then, the report is uncomfortable with the self-centredness integral to consumerism, and stresses the need for repentance and to be counter-cultural with regard to the call to Christian discipleship. It argues that planting fresh expressions cross-culturally involves the common quest to live authentically together as Christ’s disciples within a specific culture and that this quest has nothing to do with the self-centredness of consumerism.

The Search for Meaning

Moynagh (2012, 2004, 2001) is altogether more optimistic about opportunities afforded by a consumer society. He offers a very simple précis of the effect of first Fordian and then post-Fordian economics. Mass production drove down prices and increased choice. Traditional social ties were eroded as people worked to produce consumer goods and earn the money to buy alternative lifestyles. Churches were perceived to maintain traditional social values and were increasingly seen to be at odds with a lifestyle and ethic of choice. In the 1980s, businesses began exchanging choice for personalization by careful research and by combining economies of scale with a sharper customer focus, devolving sections of organizations to provide focused roles within social networks. Production shifted from mass standardization in order to provide affordable but limited range to the standardization of choice, in which consumers expect organizations to tailor their products to individual requirements. For customers, niche branding becomes the new tradition that they can trust, and that signifies the social network with which they identify.

Consumerism, then, has shaped expectations that what each individual invests time, effort and money in ‘must fit me exactly’ (Moynagh 2001: 32). By contrast, Moynagh argues, the church offers a standardized product to which people are expected to conform. It neither meets consumer expectations nor represents the specific brands or networks that would signify the presence of like-minded people. Unable to compete in a consumer world, it is perceived as a failed brand that has no connection to the particularities of the preferences of the majority.

In order to fit peoples’ expectations of customization, churches must therefore move away from offering the standardized products of the past and respond to individual preferences. Emerging church comprises initiatives that tailor their approach to specific social networks, age groups, interests, needs or neighbourhoods and build trust in their ‘brand’. In this way, they create a sense of identity and belonging amongst people of similar outlook, so that a newcomer immediately...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Still Fresh?
• Part I: Fresh Hope?
• Part II: Existing Evidence
• Part III: New Research
• Part IV: Implications
• References
• Index