There are lots of resources available to help you start and grow Fresh Expressions of Church (fxC), some of which you can find below:
General fxC resources
Fresh Expressions has produced a series of short, three-minute guides to help you get started. Click on the links below to download:
What are Fresh Expressions of Church?
Five reasons to start a Fresh Expression of Church
How to start a Fresh Expression of Church
How to start making disciples
How to grow mature disciples
Reproducing your Fresh Expression of Church
How to measure fruitfulness
The free FX Godsend App to your phone or tablet helps you learn how to start and develop an fxC at your own pace from the Android store, Apple store or a web-based version. All these have resources for discussion with others as well.
Books
- Michael Moynagh’s book Being Church, Doing Life: Creating Gospel Community Where Life Happens is a useful resource. It includes a vast range of stories of fxCs to inspire, an accessible explanation of the Fresh Expressions journey and even some tools to help you review your progress.
- Dave Male has written an excellent book How to Pioneer (even if you haven’t a clue) to help people explore their calling in this exciting ministry. It is very readable (and quite thin, too!).
Young adult resources
In a gathering of many leaders who have some young adults in their congregation in January 2018, we shared two particular reports that are well worth reading.
The first is by Beth Keith: Authentic faith: Fresh Expressions of Church amongst young adults (.pdf 19.8mb)
The second is by the Church Army for the Archbishops’ Council on reaching and retaining young adults. Find the link to the Church Army report here.
Messy Church
Messy Church is well established in the Diocese of Southwark. If you are interested in starting one we can offer a package tailored to the needs of your church, which normally involves some or all of the following:
- a team meeting with the Messy Church adviser
- a pack of useful resources (Starting your Messy Church, Messy Church, a one-year subscription to the Get Messy! magazine, Messy Church Does Science)
- a follow-up session with the Messy Church adviser, usually six to 12 months after starting the Messy Church, to review progress and start discipleship thinking
- phone/e-mail consultations.
If you have an existing Messy Church then we look to provide ongoing support and training.
In certain cases it may be possible to apply for a grant (see details on our grants page).
If you would like more on Messy Church then we do have a page dedicated to it with contact details for Aike Kennett-Brown from the Children and Youth team.
The Church Army has produced an insightful report, Playfully Serious (.pdf 3.3mb), which discusses the impact of Messy Church.
And, of course, Messy Church has its own website with advice and resources
Missional communities
There are two key ways of seeing missional communities, either as emerging from the Church in a structured way or as a journey in small groups to see what might happen.
3DMovements has a structured approach to missional communities and has had a significant impact on many churches. Find out more about the movement’s work from the 3DMovements website.
This video of our 2017 introductory event to missional communities led by the Revd John McGinley, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Leicester: Missional Communities sessions.