I’m a Holiness, Pentecostal, Anabaptist. You won’t find that combination coming together very often anywhere, but I have found that all three streams work well within the Fresh Expressions movement. Some might assume that the Holiness/Pentecostal part makes sense with Fresh Expressions, but how can the Anabaptist part work? Afterall Fresh Expressions is a movement founded within the Church of England? How does Anabaptist belief and practice fit with that? Let’s remember that the Fresh Expressions movement took root in the fields of post-Christendom England just a few decades ago. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Relational connections, networks of friendships were organically forming for mission in places of hurt, brokenness, marginalization. And outbreaks of the Spirit were happening. People were finding Christ in fresh and new ways. The church was happening among people that would never “go to church.” To their credit, the Anglican church leaders asked how can we support these movements and cooperate with what God was doing. Thus started a movement, the Mission-Shaped Church movement, as one of the founding documents was titled. It led to the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK and spread to North America. The Anabaptist movements have their origins 500 years ago in Europe, in the fields of post Christendom as well. In this case though, the Anabaptists were openly rejecting the Christendom alignment of church, state and culture. But like present-day Fresh Expressions, they represented the movements of Jesus happening outside the sanctioned four walls of the church and it’s hierarchies. As such, the two movements both started with Christians gathering outside the sanctioned practice and programs of the established church. And so we might expect that there’s much to learn from each other. Allow me to explore a few places where some of these learnings can happen. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Post Christendom The medieval structures of the church, sponsored (and paid for) by the state, organized the church towards buildings, placing church authority in the offices of the priest/bishop, and coordinating the worship service and other programs of the church towards a uniform liturgy for all churches across the world. It was all part of Christendom. Anabaptists critiqued all of this, much of it for good reason. And this gave impetus for a reexamination of church outside the structures of the four walls of the Christendom church. In some ways, Fresh Expressions is doing today what Anabaptists have been doing for 500 years, the birthing of church expressions outside the walls and programming of institutional structure. Along with all this came an Anabaptist suspicion towards what had become the centralized leadership structures of the church and its proclivity towards hierarchy. Plagued with corruption, and abuse of power, Anabaptists left these medieval church hierarchies for more collaborative, organic forms of leadership. They sought to develop leadership “among” a people, not “over” a people. Five hundred years later, as we try to organize church outside the four walls of the church, what Fresh Expressions calls a ‘blended ecology,’ leadership will need to be organic in similar ways, doing the work of coalescing groups on the ground into the work of the Spirit. Anabaptists have some theology and history to offer Fresh Expressions in these tasks. But of course, it goes without saying, as with all movements, that over time institutions and bureaucracies get set in their ways. Five hundred years of Anabaptist history has shown how some of the best ideas on collaborative leadership, mutual and communal discernment, can go awry. Fresh Expressions has much to offer Anabaptists in this regard. Their work in training and developing new kinds of leaders can reinvigorate the Anabaptist work of developing leaders. Fresh Expressions can reinvigorate old histories, while Anabaptists can help in not repeating old mistakes. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Anabaptists bring wisdom. Fresh Expressions brings the ”fresh” eyes. Together, I believe, a dialogue can ignite both for the work of Christ’s kingdom. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Community and Discipleship Anabaptists see the church as more than a collection of individuals who gather to receive religious goods and service from the professionals. American churches have sometimes fallen into that trap. Fresh Expressions and Anabaptists alike resist that consumer approach to church. For Anabaptists, the community is central to the life of the believer. This Anabaptist focus wards off the consumerist tendencies of our culture. For Anabaptists, fellowship around a table at a potluck meal is almost sacramental. It is a special place to encounter Christ. The church is an alive organism of the Holy Spirit whereby we discern life together and the salvation made possible in Jesus Christ becomes real and lived together. Christianity is not a religion. Church is not a set of programs. It is a way of life given to us in Christ, lived out under His Lordship over a community, made possible by the Holy Spirit. Discipleship moves to the forefront for Anabaptists because Christians can no longer depend on the culture of Christendom to support Christian life. It must be the church community itself that generates culture and life sufficient to nurture our souls into faithfulness. And so the church as a community, alive with the gifts of the Spirit, eating meals at a table, discerning the teachings of Scripture, become a whole way of life that disciples believers into the Kingdom. There can be no consumerism here. This changes the way we think about ecclesiology. Anabaptists focus on practices, that shape beliefs into behavior. The questions we ask shift. When is a community just an affinity group, when is it mission, when is it discipleship? What is the core practices of discipleship and community that ground us in Jesus? As Fresh Expressions builds communities and practices for building communities outside the church, the wisdom of Anabaptists is helpful. The Anabaptist focus on practices, not only beliefs or programs, is helpful. And yet, as Anabaptists seek to avoid their own communities from becoming insular, coercive or sectarian, they can learn communal formation for mission all over again at Fresh Expressions. Together, Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite both for the renewal of the kingdom in our neighborhoods. The Kingdom Versus creedal formulas, Anabaptists tend to focus on Jesus first, his whole life, his proclamation of the Kingdom of God coming in his presence. The gospel is the whole life of Jesus, his victory over sin, death and evil. And so salvation hardly makes sense apart from Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, the inauguration of the Kingdom, and the living in that Kingdom now in anticipation of its future. Salvation can never be only personal, it is intensely social. And salvation can never be only social, it is intensely personal andn transformation as I personally follow Jesus and make Him Lord of my life. It is this full gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its inextricable link to the Kingdom that takes us beyond the individualist formulas. The Christendom forces in our history will always tempt us to turn salvation in Jesus into a formula Anabaptists of all streams can learn and be invigorated from the. But we must resist and learn the ways of calling people into something deeper. This is the heart of Fresh Expressions, it seems to me. Anabaptists can help Fresh Expressions with this call to something deeper. But sometimes Anabaptists can also get caught into an echo chamber. Over time our language and skills of communication lose the ability to engage the world outside the church. Fresh Expressions is ever pressing into how we can communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom into broken places. Once again, I believe, that Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite a renewal of evangelism and witness to the kingdom in our neighborhoods. Courage for new adventures must take hold. We’re In New Territory Now In summary, if there’s one thing I have learned from both Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions, it’s that once we understand the social dynamics of the new post-Christendom cultures, our entire missiology and ecclesiology must shift. Old habits must die. Courage for new adventures must take hold. And God is calling us into these new fields of post-Christendom to do mission. And for this calling, I am so blessed to have partaken of both the Anabaptists streams and Fresh Expressions streams of theology and practice. I pray God brings these two great historical movements together more in the future to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God in Jesus name.
Ever since the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) took responsibility for stewarding the Fresh Expressions movement (which originated in Great Britain) in the United States in 2012, Baptists from various streams of this vibrant and diverse family have caught its vision and ideals. Globally, Baptists are among the largest denominational families within the Reformation/Protestant tradition of the Christian Church. The Baptist World Alliance, for example, represents 53 million people in 138 countries and territories, with 283 member bodies. This does not include most of the Southern Baptist Convention (with the exception of BGAV and Baptist General Convention of Texas) and independent Baptists, and so it is fair to say that there are some 65-70 million Baptists globally. Baptists in general share several core convictions and missional attitudes that harmonize beautifully with the vision and mission of the Fresh Expressions movement. Commitment to the Great Commission Johann Gerhard Oncken (1800-1884), one of the founders of the Baptist movement in Germany and the rest of the European continent in the nineteenth century, was fond of saying that every Baptist was called to act as a missionary. This commitment to evangelism has been a core conviction of Baptists across the world, as they seek to participate in fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). In the twenty-first century, many Baptists have found the perspective and offerings of Fresh Expressions to be an exciting and innovative way to live out their missionary call. In the state I reside in, two-thirds of our residents will not be attending a traditional church service on Sunday mornings. New forms of community life and witness are urgently needed to reach these neighbors, many of whom are spiritually hungry but have no spiritual home. The Fresh Expressions new church plant that I attend (now a mature congregation) started out seeking to reach first and second-generation Koreans and other Asians who lived in the Princeton, NJ area. Now, some 17 years later, the church has welcomed and discipled people from a variety of cultural and racial backgrounds and is a truly global family. Small in size yet bold in vision, the fellowship has started several Fresh Expressions ministries and new congregations, from our locality outwards to several countries.
When Fresh Expressions in North America began more than a decade ago, people often tried to claim it for their own tribe. “This is an Anglican thing,” some said. A few years later, when Baptist churches and denominations began to join in, others concluded, “It’s for Baptists.” As the movement continued to grow, we began to hear, “Is this a Methodist thing?” Over the years, it’s become clear: Fresh Expressions isn’t owned by any one tradition—it’s enriched by all of them. Each ecclesial stream carries a treasure—something deeply rooted in its history, theology, and charism—that connects beautifully with the heartbeat of the Fresh Expressions movement. Fresh Expressions is not a new denominational brand, nor a replacement for existing congregations. It’s a movement of the Spirit calling the church back to its missionary identity—to join Jesus in the places we live, work, learn, and play. In every stream, from high church liturgy to grassroots revival, we find echoes of that same calling: the desire to be a church for the sake of others. Anglican Roots and the Gift of Mission-Shaped Church The earliest Fresh Expressions took shape in the Church of England, where leaders began noticing new forms of Christian community emerging on the edges, and began to not only make room for but encourage the church to move beyond her walls and plant the gospel in new soil. Anglicans remind us that mission is not an add-on to the church’s life; it is the church’s life. Their deep sense of sacrament and structure grounds the movement in continuity with the historic faith while sending it into the neighborhoods and networks of our day. The Baptist Gift of Evangelistic Passion Baptists quickly resonated with Fresh Expressions because of their long tradition of evangelism, discipleship, and congregational initiative. In many ways, Baptists embody the pioneering heart of the movement—equipping ordinary people to share the good news and start new communities where people are. Their gift reminds the wider church that every believer is a missionary and that the gospel travels best along relational lines of trust and care. Wesleyan Fire and the Holiness of Love From the Wesleyan and Methodist stream comes a fire that still burns for renewal. John Wesley’s early movement met people in fields, prisons, and workplaces—long before the term “missional church” existed. Fresh Expressions echoes that same impulse: to go where people are, practice a holiness that looks like love in action, and cultivate communities steeped in the grace of God that Wesley preached is already at work in the world before we are aware. The Wesleyan treasure is a faith both warm-hearted and socially engaged—a reminder that evangelism and justice belong together. Presbyterian Thoughtfulness and Connectional Strength Presbyterians bring a rich heritage of theological reflection and connectional leadership. Their gift lies in helping Fresh Expressions find both depth and sustainability. Through discernment, shared governance, and a commitment to equipping leaders, Presbyterians help the movement stay rooted while empowering innovation at every level. They remind us that imagination flourishes best within accountable, prayerful community. The Lutheran Treasure of Grace and Vocation Lutherans offer the gift of a grace-filled gospel and a deep theology of vocation. They remind us that the whole of life—our work, relationships, and communities—can be holy ground for ministry. In the Fresh Expressions movement, that conviction takes visible form: church can happen wherever God’s people live out their faith in ordinary places. Lutherans help us remember that our identity and mission flow not from our performance, but from God’s unmerited grace. The Catholic Gift of Sacrament and Incarnational Presence The Catholic tradition contributes a rich sense of sacrament—that God’s presence saturates the world and can be encountered in bread, wine, water, and neighbor. Catholic communities have long modeled incarnational mission through schools, hospitals, and neighborhood parishes. Fresh Expressions builds on that legacy, sending the church into the public square to embody Christ’s love in tangible, everyday ways. The Orthodox Treasure of Mystery and Transformation From the Orthodox stream comes a treasure of mystery, beauty, and transformation. In a world hungry for depth, the Orthodox vision of worship as participation in God’s divine life reminds the movement that mission begins in awe and ends in love. Their practices of prayer, fasting, and hospitality offer rhythms that sustain missional communities over the long haul. The Evangelical Gift of Passionate Witness Evangelical and Free Church traditions contribute a deep love for Scripture and a passion for sharing the good news of Jesus. Their emphasis on relational evangelism and personal transformation resonates deeply with the Fresh Expressions vision. They remind the whole church that new communities are born when ordinary people share faith naturally in the flow of life. Charismatic and Pentecostal Energy The Charismatic and Pentecostal streams bring a vital awareness of the Spirit’s power and presence. Their treasure is a living expectancy—that God is still speaking, healing, and sending the church into the world today. Fresh Expressions draws energy from that openness to the Spirit, recognizing that mission is not just a strategy but a movement of God’s grace breaking into everyday life. The Anabaptist Witness of Everyday Discipleship The Anabaptist tradition contributes the gift of community and simplicity. Their long-held vision of the church as a countercultural people—embodying peace, justice, and radical discipleship—resonates deeply with the Fresh Expressions vision. They remind us that the gospel is not only proclaimed but lived out in small, shared, everyday acts of love. The Restorationist Desire for Unity and Simplicity Restorationist and Holiness movements bring a longing for simplicity and unity—to be the church that reflects the heart of Jesus rather than the boundaries of denominations. Their treasure lies in a humble return to the essentials: Scripture, discipleship, and community. Fresh Expressions echoes that vision, calling all streams of the church to join together in God’s mission with open hands and open hearts. A Shared Mission, A Richer Church Each of these treasures—sacrament and structure, evangelism and discipleship, renewal and justice, grace and vocation, mystery and transformation, Spirit and simplicity—adds depth to the mosaic of Fresh Expressions. Together, they reveal that this movement isn’t a departure from our traditions but a rediscovery of their truest gifts. As we continue to explore the “ecclesially flexible” nature of Fresh Expressions, we hope every denomination, network, and congregation will see themselves in this movement. The Spirit is stirring across traditions, calling us not to abandon our histories but to live them more fully—for the sake of those who have yet to experience the love of Christ. Over the next season, we will be highlighting leaders from some of these traditions as they reflect upon the ways their distinct tradition aligns with the heart and the vision of Fresh Expressions. We hope this series encourages you to look more closely at the Fresh Expressions approach to mission and discover how it can help you live out your history and calling in your local context and congregation. And we trust that when the treasures of each stream flow together, the whole church becomes more activated, more creative, and more faithful in joining God’s mission in the world.
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
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.
