Friday, March 11, 2011
defining fresh expressions: a local pastor speaks
I sat with a pastoral friend the other day. We were shooting the breeze – talking funerals and spiritual retreats – as pastoral folk do!
And he suddenly talked about a new initiative with families that was happening in the church. And he made what I think is on the best definitions of fresh expressions I’ve heard in a long time.
I think its about people being together, doing stuff around faith and
relationships and something emerging from that, rather than simply a
program.
Posted by steve at 08:59 PM
you had me until the last part where it’s “something emerging from that”
i think that the default position seems to be that relationships and being together is all ok if it leads to something emerging… that something being a church, or something that looks like one. the ulterior motive for all of this is that it leads to a program or a church type thing…
what if fresh expressions is (just) about bringing people together, doing stuff around faith and relationships? is that a fresh expression?
it’s me nit picking i know… i like the definition also…
Comment by darren — March 11, 2011 @ 11:40 pm
Darren,
as I read your comment I began to wonder = “people being together, doing stuff around faith and
relationships” – I wonder what would happen, I wonder if one of people was perhaps a kid from a solo family and they would find a few father figures, and I wonder if they would hear about a flood in Queensland and decide to go up and help, and I wonder if they’d hear about new refugees in the Adelaide Hills and decide to bake welcome cakes ie be local as well as national.
And so on.
I want to to hold onto the “something emerging from that” – not because I care about ulterior motives or programs or church type stuff, but because we live in a world that is tired and in pain and surely needs more hope, faith, love than it currently experiences.
So the stupid idealist in me says, please can we keep the phrase, please can we have something more than what we currently experience of church and Christianity
steve
Comment by steve — March 12, 2011 @ 9:15 am
sudden wondering – is there a difference when we use a framework of past, present, future.
what I mean is the word “emerging from” is quite different from “emerging to” – which is what I have actually done – wondering about a future emerging because of relationships and Jesus stories.
or is my idealism avoiding the hard questions about ulterior motivation?
steve
Comment by steve — March 12, 2011 @ 11:11 am