In Search of ‘Fresh Expressions of Believing’ for a Mission-shaped Church

What is it about?

This article contributes to the literature of contemporary ecclesiology that understands 'church' principally in terms of 'mission'. Since the Church of England 'Mission Shaped Church' report of 2006, much thinking about church renewal has focussed on the need for all church activities to be intentionally related to mission. However, much of the literature around how this affects church life makes a strong distinction between structures, practices and outward expressions on the one hand, and the fundamentals of belief on the other. Put simply, while the expressions may change, the beliefs do not. This is why the article proposes a search for 'fresh expressions of believing'. It argues that it is a false dichotomy to claim that 'fresh expressions' of church life, structures and practices can be achieved in a way that excludes consideration of how belief itself may also change. The article proposes three types of contemporary missional engagement that will also imply changes in how Christian faith is believed: approaches that start from the quest for 'spirituality'; initiatives that engage with mission in terms of social and community action; and attempts radically to 'deconstruct' inherited ecclesial institutions.

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Why is it important?

The question of the relationship between 'fresh expressions of church', 'mission-shaped' approaches to church, and the nature and content of Christian belief is important because as new missional initiatives result in formerly unchurched people entering the ecclesial community through 'fresh expressions', what and how these people may be expected to believe will become a crucial question. Most traditional patterns of initiation have been on the basis of a process of induction into a complex of institutional and doctrinal givens, resting on the assumption that a form of institutional church acting as the guardian of orthodoxy will provide the clear framework for the convert's new identity. But the churches are now experimenting with approaches that deliberately set out to challenge and undermine some of those institutional givens, and aim to produce churches that look, feel and sound radically different from inherited models. Therefore they will be storing up problems for the future if questions about the scope for departures from orthodoxies are not addressed.

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