ROOTS OF OUR MOVEMENT
A Global movement of Churches following the Spirit
For over 20 years, Fresh Expressions has helped established churches reach new people with new kinds of Christian communities.
WHERE IT BEGAN
The Fresh Expressions movement first took shape in the United Kingdom through a partnership between the Anglican and Methodist Church.
Together, they nurtured and began to make space for something they sensed God was doing: new forms of church were emerging on the mission edges of everyday life. They were emerging in skate parks and community centers. They were coming to life in the midst of club culture and around bread baking. A new imagination for church began to grow.
In 2004, the Mission Shaped Church Report was released as the Church in the UK grappled with increasing secularization, cultural diversity, and rapid cultural change.
This report tackled the changing context and its implications for the church, lifting up these new, organically-forming communities as an opportunity to “proclaim the faith afresh to each generation,” as encouraged in the Anglican Declaration of Ascent. The Mission Shaped Church report called them “fresh expressions,” and their popularity exploded across many denominations.
Meanwhile, in North America, denominational leaders were taking note of a movement that both honored the inherited church while making room for new expressions of church. Was it possible for congregations in the North American setting to be mission-shaped for a changing context too?
LOOKING FORWARD
Starting something new.
ouR cONNECTION TO THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Fresh Expressions in the United States is not a separate or competing idea. We are an official partner of the international Fresh Expressions movement, carrying forward the same vision, values, and practices in a new context.
We remain deeply connected to our global roots—learning, listening, and growing alongside leaders around the world.
This connection matters.
It ensures that what we’re doing is not just innovative—but grounded, tested, and part of something much bigger than ourselves.
How It Took Root in the United States
In the U.S., this movement found early and significant support through the
Baptist General Association of Virginia. Their investment helped create the space for Fresh Expressions to take root, grow, and begin equipping leaders across the United States, and now North America. And continues its generous support of this mission.
But from the onset, this was never meant to belong to one denomination. It was a gift to the wider church. There was a place for any denomination—and non-denomination—to take part in innovative mission experimentation. Fresh Expressions has never been about a narrow ecclesiology. It’s about a shared mission.
Meet the Leadership
Practitioners, thinkers, and normal church leaders inform our movement.
Partner with Us
Denominations, networks, seminaries,
and congregations have expanded the movement.