The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was the keynote speaker at a national event in Lincoln focusing on the long-term development of fresh expressions of church. Dr Williams was joined by Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain. If you would to hear/view the talks please go to or to see two practitioners go to Elaine Lindridge and Chris Russell
I went along for the day. It was good to catch up with fellow practitioners and hear some great stories of what God is up to.
There were some great quotes;
“Fresh Expressions are not about a new market product….they are not about signing people up for membership” Rowan Williams
“For all we know we might still be in the early church” Rowan Williams
“The word ”’church’ was a verb before it was a noun”
“Methodist ecclesiology is missional” Martyn Atkins.
“My hope and dream for fresh expressions is that the exotic will become indigenous” Martyn Atkins
“….the rainy days are here…” Martyn Atkins
“The Holy Spirit always has an address – a post code.”
In the end I personally found it to be a frustrating day. We have been asking some questions around being church for a while now at the Bridge. Today served as reminder that we have some of the big pictures, but we lack a lot of the detail.
A time for for patience and quiet waiting?