Fresh Expressions: A Vine of Many Branches

Part One - New Missional Ecumenism

Here’s a spoiler alert…. Fresh Expressions are not all that fresh.

The first Fresh Expression was cultivated by Jesus of Nazareth sometime around 30 CE.

It was a community of the disinherited, living under Roman subjugation. A people seemingly forgotten by the religious systems of their day, “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9: 36).    

In this scenario, Jesus orients his disciples toward the fields, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9: 37-38).

Jesus’s own ministry was not confined to the places considered set apart exclusively for sacred purposes like the Temple or the synagogues. Most of his ministry took place out in the open spaces. The greatest sermon ever preached, the “sermon on the mount,” took place on a hillside, not a sanctuary.

Jesus didn’t choose his disciples from among the religious elites, or the social influencers. He chose everyday people. Living ordinary lives. And the church arose in ordinary places.

From then until now there has been a stream of Christianity that flows primarily outside the centers of religious and political power. The early church was a movement from the fields, and this has been a repeating pattern across history.  

Throughout the past two millennia groups of people become fascinated with the way of the apostles articulated in the Scriptures and seek to live that way out in their own time. The unifying theme of this trend could be described as incarnational mission—reclaiming the apostolic way of being church from within the rhythms, places, and cultures of the emerging context.

In the ecclesial cycles of stabilization, institutionalization, and professionalization, this activity appears to be a “fresh” or innovative approach. Thus, Fresh Expressions appears to be a unique movement whose seedlings began to break the surface of the post-Christendom soils of the United Kingdom at the dawning of the twenty-first century.

In actuality this movement is connected to a vine of many branches that stretches back across two thousand years of church history.

Today is release day for An Ecumenical Field Guide to Fresh Expressions. In one way it is the second edition of an earlier book focused on Methodism, in another way it is the culmination of my life’s work as both a current fresh expressions practitioner in my local community and as a teacher, trainer, and coach. For over a decade I have helped groups across the ecumenical spectrum cultivate new Christian communities from sea to shining sea.

Yes, Fresh Expressions is perhaps the most Methodist thing in the world today, in fact, more Methodist than many of the denominations who live under that banner. However, Fresh Expressions is a movement that spans the entire theological spectrum. It is deeply ecumenical in nature.  

Arguably one of the most significant developments of Christianity in the nineteenth century was the Ecumenical Movement.

The word ecumenical emerged in the sixteenth century meaning “representing the entire (Christian) world.” As an English ecclesiastical word, it was drawn from Latin oecumenicus “general or universal,” from Greek oikoumenikos “from the whole world.”

In 1810, English missionary, Baptist minister, and cultural anthropologist, William Carey, suggested the convening of an international council which would bring together diverse traditions to collaborate around mission. This catalyzed a series of small conferences who gathered for this purpose.

100 years later, Carey’s prophetic vision came to pass as the first World Missionary Conference gathered in Edinburg, Scotland in 1910. Its significance was in bringing together official representatives from multiple mission societies and denominations to focus on reaching non-Christian peoples. This conference became the forerunner to the modern ecumenical movement. A movement that seeks to take Jesus’s words seriously, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

In a world historical moment that is defined by increasing polarization, is there a shared purpose that can bring followers of Jesus together in unity? In a situation where once again “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” are terms like mission and evangelism to be discarded entirely? Or is there a way to repent of the past atrocities committed under those banners, and recover the primitive meanings and practices of Jesus and his followers?

Is there a way to be a trauma-informed, compassion-centered, church? A church that conceives mission as the practice of being good guests, who enter the world of our other in a posture of vulnerability and mutuality. Where evangelism is an embodied message of wholistic healing for all people and all life. A people who go about mission not only in the name of Jesus, but in the way of Jesus.

Might a commitment to reaching new people, in new places, and in new ways, again be a unifying force that allows for the celebration of our diverse theological perspectives? Can a new missional ecumenism form around who and what we are for, overpowering what we are against?

Every Christian tradition that became structuralized as denominations (and non-denominations) shares values and synergies with Fresh Expressions.

For churches to thrive today we need to be adaptive, and this involves anchoring radical change in our core values. This book attempts to help a diversity of church branches connected to a single vine discover the Fresh Expressions principles at the heart of our own stories.

In the Fresh Expressions movement new faith communities begin with what we call “double-listening.” This refers to tuning our ears to both God and context. We immerse ourselves in the community, forming relationships, listening, learning, and loving. Always discovering God is there before we arrive. Rather than bringing God with us or starting new things and asking God to bless our efforts, we begin by discerning what God is doing and join into God’s activity.

We prioritize “belonging before believing.” Meaning, we create safe communities where we can each be known and loved, regardless of what our religious convictions may or may not be. Believing comes along at the pace of grace for each person, or maybe not at all. Amid an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, this approach is absolutely essential.

We share our faith as a community of equals in the context of these relationships. We do so as we co-create a common language together, building deep relationships slowly over time.

Jesus is the true vine… we are the branches (John 15:5). Across two millennia, Christians, have cultivated little healing communities in every nook and cranny of daily life. Fresh Expressions is the latest rediscovery of those ancient connections. It is a movement refreshing the apostolic ways for new contexts.

In this series, I’ll give snapshots from the book and provide a basic what, why, who, and how for the Fresh Expressions movement. I hope these resources will be helpful for your team as we prayerfully abide in Jesus, as Jesus abides in us. May we all recall his commission afresh… “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (John 15:16).