Description of Fresh Expressions
According to Graham Cray the movement involves the "planting of new congregations or churches which are different in ethos and style from the church which planted them; because they are designed to reach a different group of people than those already attending the original church". While 70% of the British population said they were Christian in the 2001 census less than 15% of the population say they attend church on a regular basis (TEARFund research 2007). In 2007 statistical returns from the Church of England revealed that several tens of thousands of people are involved in such groups attached to the Church of England, and by 2010 Fresh Expressions, though only part of the life of 6% of churches, were "the equivalent of a whole diocese in terms of attendance".
Fresh expressions of church have been created for, among others, skateboard and BMX culture in Essex, cafe culture in Kidsgrove, artists and creatives in London, university students in Southampton, surfers in Cornwall, Asian people in Birmingham, people living in the city centre of Manchester and children in Portsmouth.
In September 2005 the Church of England and the Methodist Church recognised this movement by setting up an organisation, 'Fresh Expressions' (capitalised), to monitor and encourage fresh expressions in those denominations. Fresh Expressions has a core team of 15 people and is led by Archbishop's missioner, the Rt Revd Graham Cray, former Bishop of Maidstone.
The development of the ecumenical Fresh Expressions initiative is based on the Mission-shaped Church report of the General Synod of the Church of England in 2004 (Church House Publishing ISBN 0-7151-4013-2). The Methodist side of the movement is recorded in Changing Church for a Changing World (Methodist Publishing House ISBN ). The United Reformed Church, the Congregational Federation and Ground Level Network are also formal partners.
Fresh Expressions (capitalised) is differentiated from fresh expressions (lowercase). The capitalised version refers to the initiative. In lowercase fresh expressions refers to a large number of new initiatives.
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