Fresh Mission: New Anglican Expressions of Church Conference - Registration Form

22 Apr 2010

Fresh Mission: New Anglican Expressions of Church Conference

See the bottom of this page to download Bishop Graham Cray's notes. Please note, some files are quite large!

The terms ‘sweet as’ and ‘sick’ are unlikely to be the kinds of fresh expressions that visiting UK Bishop Graham Cray will be talking about during his visit to Christchurch in early July, but new forms and expressions of Church certainly will be.

“Bishop Cray is a must-hear leader if we want our churches to grow,” says John Day, our diocese’s Archdeacon for Mission. “Graham is leading the Anglican Church in the UK in mission: in ways of evangelism, social action and engaging ordinary people in the good news of Christ. I'm anticipating he will re-focus our sights on what it means to engage in mission and answer the question of ‘How can my church be good news for my local and wider community?’”

The 63-year-old bishop has the role of Archbishops’ Missioner, and is the team leader of Fresh Expressions: a cross-denominational body that promotes contemporary ways to share the gospel. He wrote the landmark Church report Mission-shaped Church in 2004, which describes some of the “fresh expressions of Church” that were springing up in Britain at that time.

Cray, a highly regarded communicator, will be sharing his insights at a two-day conference in July held at Lincoln University, from Thursday 8th till Friday 9th, a combined Anglican effort with the Nelson diocese. At Fresh Missions: New Anglican Expressions of Church, Bishop Cray will give two presentations on the theology of mission and the Church ‘then and now.’ "Bishop Cray will take us back to the heart of the Biblical story: God reaching out in the mission of sacrificial love to creation, to our communities, families and to you and me,” says John. A range of workshops will also be held over the two days, exploring topics such as church planting, nurturing youth and young adults, social justice, rural evangelism, Messy Church and New Anglicanism. There is also the intriguingly entitled Sunday Worship: The Shop Window.

Meals are included in the cost of $120, Accommodation at the university and a Friday-night meal after the seminar are available at additional cost, and a children's and youth programme is being planned for a small fee.
If the Bishop was hoping to get off lightly on his Christchurch visit he’s certainly in for a surprise. On Saturday the 10th Cray will also be the keynote speaker at a 1-day seminar hosted by St Christopher’s Church in Avonhead. This seminar, which is ecumenical and open to attendees nationwide, is called Fresh Expressions: Theology & Practice. It costs $30 and will run from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Participants will need to bring their own lunch.

Cray himself coined the term ‘fresh expression’. The organisation Fresh Expressions, which he leads, defines the term as: "a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church.” It goes on to explain that fresh expressions “will come into being through principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples” and “will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context.”

Cray’s passion for new approaches to church comes from his ecclesiological experience of a fast changing culture. In a recent interview with Reform Magazine he explained his thinking. "We do not live in Christendom anymore. The old ways of being church are not reaching a greater and greater percentage of the population. The ways that we have used to reach out to people are less and less effective. At least 40 per cent of the adults in Britain and a much higher proportion of children and young people have never had any contact with a church in their life. We have to meet a culture that has practically no working knowledge of the Christian faith and what God has done in Jesus Christ. These people are not going to come to us.” he said.
John Day says Cray’s message fits well with our strategic plan Growing Forward. “He will help us explore what it really means to be the Church - inviting, forming, sending, and serving.”

Download Bishop Graham Cray's presentation notes below. Note - some of the files are quite large.