LAST month, I reported on our latest church attendance trends from the Statistics for Mission forms for 2010 from 91 per cent of our parishes. Since then the data has been sent to Research and Statistics department at Church House and eventually a summary will be published alongside that for 42 other dioceses, including the Diocese of Europe. The weekly numbers are collected for October with Church House making estimates for the parishes failing to complete forms. The data sent to Church House was for 431 parishes and for the first time included information on Fresh Expressions. There can be problems when data is collected for the first time: everything is new, definitions have to be properly understood, perhaps recording systems are not in place, and the form is different and therefore unfamiliar.
Bearing all that in mind let'slook at Fresh Expressions in this diocese as reported for October last year as 43 parishes included Fresh Expressions data in their returns. This represents exactly 10 per cent of forms collected and, if most of this activity is fairly regular,say at least monthly, then this proportion will be representative of this new aspect of our ministry in our communities. So what is Fresh Expressions? The notes for guidance supplied to parishes included the note: A fresh expression is any venture that works mainly with non-churchgoers and aims to become a church. A fresh expression is:
- Missional – it works mainlywith non-churchgoers
- Contextual – it seeks to fit thecontext
- Formational – it aims to formdisciples
- Ecclesial – it intends tobecome a church.
To find out whether a venture is a fresh expression, respondents were encouraged to visit the websites www.freshexpression.org.uk and www.sharetheguide.org which were full of stories to help gain an understanding. If in doubt as to whether an activity or service counted respondents were asked not to include it on the form. Elsewhere, the notes said that worship activities include any activity in which worship is the prime purpose and predominant feature. Activities with only some worship element, such as parachurch group meetings, house groups, mother and toddlers groups and Alpha courses, would not fall into this category if a supplement to Sunday worship. However, they should be included if they are, in effect,church for that group of people (and therefore a fresh expression as defined above). As already noted, until thereis a good understanding of what is or is not a fresh expression, there will be questions about the data collected. Nonetheless what picture does this first batch of data give? The most common activity appears to be Messy Church reported by 16 of the 43 parishes. Most Messy Church activity is during the week, not on Sundays. There were 12 parishes reporting Mums and Toddlers or Pre-School or After School activities under a variety of catchy titles. Six parishes reported activity in retirement or care homes and two in a pub or restaurant. Finally there were two activities which have already been widely reported: Walthamstow St Luke's presence at a farmer's market, and New Thundersley St George's Legacy youth outreach project.
Revd Charlie Kosla (01245294419) is the adviser on Fresh Expressions of Church and will be pleased to help parishes explore possibilities. A 'fresh expression' is mainly for non churchgoers and fits its context in a new way. See next month's issue for news of Fresh Expressions from Charlie, Chelmsford's Mission and Parish Development Adviser.