When we started Fresh Expressions in North America over a decade ago, people often commented, “this is an Anglican thing.” After a year or two of mostly Baptist churches and denominations showing interest, some said, “This is for Baptists.” Then it was Presbyterians. Later, it was Methodists. Over the last 11+ years, there have been portions of the church who thought Fresh Expressions wasn’t for their part of the church. But as we continued to share this vision with each of those detractors, it only helped me realize that Fresh Expressions is really for the whole church.
When we started Fresh Expressions in North America over a decade ago, people often commented, “this is an Anglican thing.” After a year or two of mostly Baptist churches and denominations showing interest, some said, “This is for Baptists.” Then it was Presbyterians. Later, it was Methodists. Over the last 11+ years, there have been portions of the church who thought Fresh Expressions wasn’t for their part of the church. But as we continued to share this vision with each of those detractors, it only helped me realize that Fresh Expressions is really for the whole church.
The Reformed Tradition
Azusa Street: A Fresh Anointing and Fresh Expression of Church
Ancient Roots
Our tour guide was always telling us to “look below the surface.” Good words for ministry, for emotions, and for life! But this was a bit different. We were in Israel. There was a lot of neat stuff to “look up” to during such a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about. But our tour guide knew better. Our group was visiting Capernaum as one of the sites on our tour. Much of the town that had been Jesus’ mission-center two thousand years ago has archeological ruins that you can see in squared off areas as you walk along paved walkways. St. Peter’s Church, built in 1990, is sort of at the center of the entire site; it’s an interesting modern building that currently “hovers” like a spaceship over the site that is allegedly the house of the Apostle Peter. But our guide took us past these views and the crowds that jostled to see them. He led us to an area that we could peer underneath the church structure to see what looked like the outlines of walls and spaces that had been rooms long ago. “Always look below,” he said, as he took his laser pointer and scanned first an upper layer of limestone and then a lower layer of black rocks, outlining two previous church structures that had existed before the current one, as well as quite possibly the original house of Peter. “The new always has the foundation of the old,” he said. “At the heart of what is built and seems new is always something that has been there all along. You just have to rediscover it. You just have to see it again.” The Mission of Christ and the Wesleys While Fresh Expressions of Church may seem new and different to some people, at their core they really lie at the foundation and heart of the original mission of Christ and the Wesleyan movement. Initially started by the Wesley brothers as a reforming discipling and evangelistic movement within the Church of England, Wesleyanism went on to sweep across North America. Today, it is carried on by various denominations who share its distinctives of prevenient grace, sanctification, free will, personal and social holiness, and mobilization for mission and service in the world. These and other features correspond with the values of the Fresh Expressions movement.