e-xpressions - July 2008

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on the edge

Norman Ivison has been hard at work on our new DVD and booklet on ordained pioneer ministry, called on the edge. It s due out on 1st September and will be ideal for anyone exploring this focus of ordained ministry in the Church of England or those involved in selection and training.

You can pre-order the resource on our website here: www.freshexpressions.org.uk/shop

festival input

At the end of August, Fresh Expressions will be present at both the Momentum and Greenbelt festivals. At the young people s conference, Momentum (21-25 August, Bath and West Showground ), we will be presenting seminars on Acts and Fresh Expressions, and launching the on the edge DVD.

At Greenbelt (Cheltenham Racecourse) on 25 August, along with CMS, we will be presenting an open debate about ordained pioneer ministry.

ordained pioneer ministry interview

Pete Askew, Ordained Pioneer Minster, tells of his path through training and into pioneer ministry. Read his story in the pioneer section of the website, www.freshexpressions.org.uk/pioneer .

Breaking the Mould of Mission

Pete Pillinger and I spent time recently with 400 others at the major RUN conference, Breaking the Mould of Mission. There was significant interest from Baptist and free churches in what the established denominations are doing and it was great to connect with similar developments in other streams of church life.

The highlight of the conference for me were the three address given by the US emerging church leader Brian Mclaren. The three talks on the kingdom of God , discipleship and ministry are well worth ordering from ICC. Find out more at www.run.org.uk

diocesan focus

Oxford Diocese ran a very large day attended by over 800 people on Living Faith in June. The conference featured stories about a church in Marlowe which is developing three different kinds of service on a Sunday morning (traditional, contemporary and emerging) and the Eternity Youth Congregation in Bracknell . You can access the soundfiles of these stories on the website and the other plenary addresses.

The Diocese has made its own DVD on the faith journey featuring an excellent example of a fresh expression: Jigsaw in Witney led by Penny Joyce. Watch the DVD online or order a copy (the Jigsaw segment is 15 mins in)

http://www.oxford.anglican.org/living-faith/

mission shaped ministry

msm is a one year part time course for individuals and teams to equip you in planting and sustaining fresh expressions of church. Over 500 people are currently enrolled.

There are details of 19 course centres now available on our website all recruiting for their next course. Many of them start in September. Click here to find out more and enrol:

www.freshexpressions.org.uk/missionshapedministry

international connections

Over the last year we ve been receiving an increasing number of enquiries and visits from churches around the world. We ve now appointed Bob Franklyn to be our international liaison person. Bob will be the first point of call for anyone enquiring from overseas. He s a New Zealander himself and is seconded to work one day a week with Fresh Expressions by the Congregational Federation.

You can email Bob direct on bob.franklyn@freshexpressions.org.uk

book of the month: After McDonaldisation, John Drane (DLT)

John Drane s earlier book, The McDonaldisation of the Church is one of the most significant books on the emerging church. After McDonaldisation is the sequel and brings the story of change up to the present day with stimulating and helpful chapters on culture, community, mission, ministry and theology. Like all John s work it is helpful, stimulating and makes you think. Highly commended.

good examples of support needed

If you have good ideas of how to support fresh expressions of church creatively and well then please log into Share and tell us about them. We are trying to build a body of good practice in this area as in every other www.sharetheguide.org.

podcast coming

Our long-term plans for a regular monthly podcast are coming together. Look out for the first one in September. Do contact us with you comments and responses, using podcast@freshexpressions.org.uk.

And finally

Please join us in praying for all who are being ordained in the Church of England and the Methodist Church this year especially for the recognised and unrecognised pioneers among them  and for newly commissioned Church Army Evangelists.

Please pray too for the Lambeth Conference that bishops from all over the world will be better equipped as leaders in mission.

Steven Croft

e-xpressions

Fresh Expressions

Registered Charity No 1080103

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