Children and Fresh Expressions
‘Many people in this group have a belief in God; many are interested in spiritual things and in Christian spirituality. But the gap between where they are now and church is too wide to be easily crossed.’
This quotation is from the Fresh Expressions website and refers to… well, to which group of people, do you think? In many parts of the country could it not be to children? Not just children who never set foot in church, but children who come to church every week with their families? As we have discussed elsewhere on our website and in Barnabas books, our understanding is that most children have 'a belief in God' and all are deeply and innately 'spiritual'. And don't many churches assume that 'the gap between where they are now and church is too wide to be crossed' and therefore pack them off to Sunday School, Junior Church, Whizzo Kidzz or whatever we choose to call their time out from 'proper' church?
Fresh Expressions is a major initiative from the Church of England and the Methodist Church, spearheaded by the archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Methodist Council. It began in 2004, following the Mission-shaped Church report, and aims to encourage many different fresh expressions of church to carry the gospel to every part of society. At the time of writing, I've just been on the Fresh Expressions stand at the Christian Resources Exhibition, explaining what it is to vaguely interested passers-by and have honed the explanation down to something like this sound bite: 'It's about encouraging churches to be church for people who don't go to church—taking God out to them in their context instead of expecting them to come in to traditional church which probably doesn't suit them.'
Actually, the group of people referred to in the quotation with which I started this article are these:
‘According to the best available research, approximately 60% of the British population are probably beyond the reach of the churches. This proportion is much higher in urban areas and among the under forties. It is increasing year by year.’ It goes on:
‘Many people in this group have a belief in God; many are interested in spiritual things and in Christian spirituality. But the gap between where they are now and church is too wide to be easily crossed.
The challenge for the churches in evangelism in the next decade is therefore to develop a
both-and strategy:
Both to continue our mission of sharing faith to this 40% of the population who have some church background and connection
And to develop new ways of sharing faith with the 60% of the population who are beyond the reach of the churches. This part of the strategy means developing fresh expressions of church life in a range of different ways.’
So Fresh Expressions needs Christians who are prepared to be on the fringe, or even to step completely outside the comfort zone of 'traditional church'. Pioneers who don't say, 'Let's keep those people out of “proper church” until they're ready to come in, until they conform to our behaviour, beliefs, appearance, reading skills, likes and dislikes.' (Where have children heard that before?) Instead they say, 'Let's find a way of worshipping and learning together that you can engage with.' This might mean changing attitudes on the inside of church; it might mean starting something completely different outside church: it will be very local and come from a great deal of listening. Fresh Expressions isn't about ditching the traditional: it means a mixed economy of both the traditional and the new.
Placing yourself inside another culture… working on the edge… being Christ for those who don't know him yet… discipling people with no knowledge of the Christian faith… experimenting all the time with new ways of communicating, worshipping, experiencing God and his Word… doesn't this describe the best sort of church-based children's work already? For many of us involved in children's work, our mindset is very much that of Fresh Expressions—if you work with children, you are probably seeking to be church to those for whom traditional church isn't scratching where it itches. You are already thinking outside the box: keeping faithful to the central truths of the faith but expressing them in a way that is appropriate to those you are working with.
That's not to say that what many of us do on a Sunday morning can be defined as a Fresh Expression in itself: few of us would say that we are actually being church in our half hour in the church hall (though some would, with much justification!) But here's the official, evolving definition of Fresh Expressions:
‘What defines a fresh expression of church?
A fresh expression of church is intended as a community or congregation which is already (or has the potential to grow into) a church in its own right. It is not intended to be a halfway house or stepping stone for someone joining a Sunday morning congregation.’
Now, I wouldn't want my four to twevle children on a Sunday morning who leave the congregation after the reading at warp speed with whoops of joy to think that they are a church in their own right. The Sect of SS. Juice and Biscuit, perhaps. We are part of the bigger body of Christ, just learning in a slightly different way during part of the service. (OK, in a radically different way.) Officially, a fresh expression is much more than what we are doing in Junior Church. But the fact remains that as we children's leaders remain flexible and creative in our approach, putting children at the centre rather than expecting children to conform to an inherited and incomprehensible form of church, and always thinking of the best ways to help those particular children meet God, we are modelling the qualities needed of pioneer ministers in Fresh Expressions. Be encouraged!
Do you like number-crunching? (I emphatically don't—this paragraph has involved much painful sweating over a calculator, so I hope you appreciate it.) If you go to the Directory on the Fresh Expressions website, you'll find 117 entries under Children's Fresh Expressions. Now, add to this the 33 that are listed under Fresh Expressions for under-5s and their families which aren't also listed under Children's Fresh Expressions. And another 24 not listed under Children's out of the 47 that are listed under Multiple and midweek Congregations which claim to have children present. And there are probably some hidden in those listed under the other categories, including Seeker Church, Traditional Church Plant, Traditional Forms of Church inspiring new interest, and Youth Congregations, but we won't count them due to general fatigue and bewilderment on my part. So that makes at least 174 examples of fresh expressions that involve children. Given that there are 619 fresh expressions listed altogether, that means that at least 28%—nearly a third—of the registered fresh expressions involve children, which is A Lot.
All in all, the Anglican and Methodist Churches, whose initiative Fresh Expressions is, can take heart from something that we have known and celebrated for years: children's leaders are pioneers, often unheard, misunderstood and unappreciated by many at the supposed heart of church life, but boldly going where no church has gone before. Perhaps, as the Church follows where God leads into this movement of fresh expressions of church, it is also time for the Church to listen to its children and its children's leaders and take their experience and wisdom seriously. In the ways we expect people to learn, for example, children's work is streets ahead of 'traditional church' in its thinking about holistic learning, learning with intellect, senses and emotions.
People on the edge, as children's leaders have always been, have a mongrel wisdom that the Church badly needs. As the Church moves forward in mission, how is it going to listen to them?
Want to find out more?
- Take a look at www.freshexpressions.org.uk, especially the Directory, and be inspired by all the exciting things churches are doing with children.
- Talk to your minister or leader who probably knows lots about it already.
- Register your fresh expression of children's work on the Directory to encourage other people.
- Watch the two Fresh Expressions DVDs (available from your Diocesan Resource Centre or to buy from the website) full of great stories and (in the second one) discussion starters. Our own Messy Church features on the first one.
- Contact Fresh Expressions to find out about organising a Vision Day for churches in your area.
- Check out training in Fresh Expressions: either a six-week course as described on the website or a shorter one—some are listed on the website under the training heading. You'll also find many related sessions on www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk under the training tab, or look at the information about Messy Church.
