jonnybaker

cms twenty: mission shaped church and fresh expressions

this is the sixth of a series of short reflections celebrating twenty years at cms

see also  1. gold | 2. emerging church | 3. blah | 4. new forms | 5. worship tricks 

what age do you become mature? we certainly celebrated our two lads birthdays at 18 in crazy style as that felt a moment of transition into adulthood. i had an email this week inviting me to something to celebrate fresh expressions of church becoming eighteen - wow! where did that time go?

looking back on my time at cms it was couple of years in that mission shaped church was published. here is my blog post when it landed on my doormat. this was a church of england and methodist report published in 2004 which was in response to the wave of new things bubbling up round the edges of the church. two members of cms were on the group that produced the report - chris neal and gill poole and i am proud that cms were involved in what was a seminal report really. it is very rare that a church report becomes a best seller but it caught the moment and maybe even a wave of the spirit! it said it was catching up with what was already happening through the likes of the emerging church. it coined a new term - fresh expressions of church - drawing on the declaration of assent where the church says it will proclaim the gospel afresh in every generation. there had been an earlier report called breaking new ground so this was a build on that actually. graham cray chaired it and there was a foreword by rowan williams in which he wisely described a mixed economy of church to suggest that the new and the old were all part of the church's household and he came up with a pretty radical definition of church which has not been bettered since in my view. you can dig it out to find the content but it was generous in what was welcomed into the mix. and it was brave - there would be a lot of work to do in the church of england around culture change if this was to have legs.

the report had a series of recommendations and the then archbishop rowan williams gathered together some people who got behind resourcing it as i think he realised he probably needed to bypass the central funding structures to act quickly. he was an absolute legend, an authority dissenter who was loved to bits by the movement that followed. it's so fun to read the blog post of that evening at lambeth palace which I was at telling the story of grace as an example of a fresh expression and the blog entry is titled bring on the angliCAN church . a fresh expressions team was appointed and they got to work speaking, develioping training, sharing stories and setting to work on policy such as creating a pathway for ordination , changing the regulations around church planting across parish boundaries and so on. the tenth anglican church planting conference that june 2004 sold out. cms were one of the sponsors. but reading my blog post on it you get a sense of the energy that was around. along with notes i took on rowan williams wisdom. it's also weird how small photos were then on blog posts - but i loved this one of steve collins, ben edson and adrian riley . other denominations joined in (urc, baptist, salvation army) and it was picked up internationally. for example i visited korea where it was translated and inspired new expressions. the relationship with emerging church was interesting - if you know the diffusion of innovation curve emerging church was in the early adopters but fresh expressions was more working with the early majority - at least that is my sense of it and stephen croft and i had a discussion at greenbelt one year to that effect i remember. and it really did diffuse to a significant degree over 18 years thus far.

in july 2019 it was 15 years on from the mission shaped church report and at general synod it was reported that this had been the single most effective thing the church had done to reach genuinely new people (at least for a long time). it was also futuring the church in its forms. a motion was adopted to encourage every parish to consider a contextual expression of church (contextual means that it is creatively related to the culture of the place it is in). others would know better than me how theior denoiminations hgave responded.

the diagram above i sketched at one of the later fresh expressions gatherings and jotted down what graham cray reflected on as the facets of its charism.

the weird thing is that it is at a funny moment right now. covid has been difficult for lots of things which is one factor. another i think was a change of archbishop so the funding changed perhaps rightly to things he was passionate about. but several people used language of it being embedded as if to say we've done that - which i think was pretty naive looking back. my own take is that the church has always needed a combination of its structural way of organising and a movement way of organising (the jargon for this is modal and sodal). if you just leave something like fresh expressions to the structural it will likely slide back into more internal agendas. you need those groups with particular focus and energey to help and continue to call the church to its edges. i also think that the nature of fresh expressions was broad church and ecumenical and it worked hard at that with book series in the sacramental tradition as well as the low church end. the more recent developments are located in a much narrower stream or at least that is how they are perceived. that inevitably means some people get on board but others simply won't. the church of england also stopped its central funding contribution to fresh expressions. it is now an independent charity. it's still doing good things but much smaller. i actually feel we're at a bit of a critical juncture to see what the way forward will be for the mission of the church in this regard. i am not saying we should turn the clock back, but in retrospect i think the church has not made the most of the huge opportunity that it was on the cusp of in july 2019 because it thought this was embedded enough. 

the good news is that all sorts of newness has bubbled up and multiplied. the church is most definitely looser round the edges. and cms and church army and other groups who were there before fresh expressions are still here and passionate about and involved in encouraging the mission of the church. we (cms) always seem to be perceived at the more radical end of things (which i don't mind) but actually we have been engaged front and centre in lots of ways. it has honestly been an absolute privilege to have been able to be part of that era and movement and i think cms was great in encouraging and helping resource it. we funded a couple of people on the fresh expressions team (bob and mary hopkins) for a good season as well as carving a furrow in the pioneer end of things (more about that later). fresh expressions is still going in a smaller format and we will carry on! i am so grateful to have been part of cms that has kept investing, kept at the table, kept drawing on lessons learned about contextual mission elsewhere, and shared stories internationally to help fuel this adventure of the imagination. ht to everyone involved. it has been a huge joint endeavour. 

cms twenty: blah...

this is the third of a series of short reflections celebrating twenty years at cms

see also  1. gold | 2. emerging church 

conversation as been at the heart of all the explorations and adventures in mission i have been part of. that conversation has been with all sorts of people round the world pondering the changes taking place and wondering what god is up to and how to join in. stimulating that conversation have been some amazing pioneers, practitioners, thinkers who have published articles, blogs, books. in many ways the movement co-incided with the ability to communicate via technology across the world. initially that was through email lists, then web sites, blogs, social media and so forth. back in 2003 we hosted an event called blah... which we described as follows:

liquid church on tap with pete ward

CMS presents the first in a series of open conversations reflecting on mission, worship, church and christianity in today's rapidly changing culture. the series kicks off with pete ward, discussing 'liquid church'. pete's recently published book is wonderfully provocative and argues for the need to 'liquefy' congregational life and ministry. in london this is the first major forum where those who have read the book can react and discuss it with pete and those who haven’t can find out what all the buzz is about.

thursday march 6 2003
6:30-8:30pm
drinks and refreshments provided
admission free

venue: CMS partnership house, 157 waterloo road

i love that the first one was pete as he has been such a great friend and had such significant impact on me through his thinking and writing. i think we did blah... simply because pete got in touch to say he had a book and could we do something. it went well so we did another. the second one was a book launch of alternative worship with me, doug gay and jenny brown. and it just kept going for several years with people passing through london. blah events also  started in other places like nottingham, sheffield, birmingham, oxford, manchester. in those days i got to go to lots of them and meet people, drink and chat. that was my job!

i don't want these reflections to simply be nostalgic. so i am trying to pick themes that have something about them that is of lasting value. the thing about blah... that was so valuable was it was a conversation - people sparking off ideas and sharing them. there was also wonderful thinking about mission and theology taking place and it was a delight to have people sharing from round the world as well as the uk guests chipped in from new zealand, australia, usa, france and so on as they passed through. i hope that everything now is still a conversation where we are curious, exploring, theologising, sharing practice and learning from it and one another. we still host an annual pioneer conversations day so in many ways blah... has never really stopped. 

cms twenty: gold!

this is the first of a series of short reflections celebrating twenty years at cms

the reason I came to cms was to steal the gold! at that point i was working in london with young people. in youth work i had found stories of cross cultural mission sparked my imagination (ht pete ward). i think it was the realisation that the gospel always seemed to make most sense to people when it was discovered and expressed in ways and forms that were as close as possible to their culture rather than foreign. there was then an at-homeness about it, about christ, about faith. that made perfect sense when going to another country or culture but it was very exciting to think the same might apply in our own context in britain with young people for whom the culture of church was often foreign. what would it look like to go with them on an adventure to develop new forms of faith and church that were inside their culture(s), where they felt at home? that was the stuff we were playing with at the time and had been for maybe a decade.

i had the same question and experimentation going on with my adult friends who were finding themselves at home in the emerging postmodern landscape but not relating to church forms well or at all really - church seemed to be tied to either victorian constructs or the 1970s (forgive my over simplification but you know what i mean). i was very taken with and part of the then alternative worship movement that was opening up inspiring new vistas drawing on this same thinking about gospel and (postmodern) culture.

when cms rang me up inviting me to talk to them about a job I followed it up because I thought these might be the people that had the gold - that nous about cross cultural imagination and mission practice which i was hungry to learn more about. i had finished an ma at kings with pete ward a couple of years earlier and this was all the sort of thing i was exploring. it actually took me a while to find the gold once i started at cms. it's not on display! you have to dig for it through talking with people, traveling, reading, sifting. but over time i found a lot of treasure. 

i still think that's the gold and am still discovering more of it. initially i think i was interested in the gold around the process and skills and imagination and theology of crossing a culture which still does interest me but over time i have realised that the real gold is when those on the inside of a culture begin to shape faith and theologise and articulate and nurture faith and so on for themselves freed from the foreign trappings which are so easily stumbling blocks - they do it from the inside as john taylor would have said. then the mutual exchange and learning across and between cultures is so valuable. 

celebrating twenty years at cms

i started work at cms on sept 1 twenty years ago! i can't quite believe it. it has been wonderful to work for cms over that time. the thinking and practice around mission has shaped my life more than i can say and i have made friends and worked with so many amazing and inspiring people who have also shaped my life so much. thank you to them  especially those who have worked with me on team or in collaboration in the wider environment and for putting up with me for so long! It has been an absolute blast.

i began as a national youth officer, then picked up leading on mission in the emerging culture, managed a team, started the pioneer training, became director of mission education and now lead on cms's work in britain.

i dug out this photo from september 2002 which amused me at least to see what i looked like back then. definitely a few more lines in the face and a few more grey hairs in the beard now and hopefully some more wisdom gleaned. sadly i lost that ear ring which my friend clare made for me. throughout september i am going to post twenty things to celebrate - memories, musings, things i have been involved in over that double decade. love to hear back from anyone on any of those in the comments or on social media or wherever.

my heart is full of gratitude.

pioneer practice now available as a download

we created pioneer practice to be a designed printed book, a coffee table book, full colour, lovely to hold and read and dip into kind of book, the kind of book you feel would not be out of place in the tate modern bookshop. so we resisted selling it as a digital book. but over a year on and we think it's time to make it available as a download. because the layout is so much the book it is available as a pdf (not as ebook or kindle). it looks fabulous on screen on an ipad or laptop with the luminosity of the screen. it is available from getsidetracked.co for £10. of course this is good news internationally - far easier than the cost and impact of posting round the world. enjoy!

unfinished agenda

the newbigin pioneering hub in birmingham celebrated it's launch on saturday. it was great to be there. cathy ross gave the annual newbigin lecture which she titled 'unfinished agenda' riffing on lesslie newbigin's autobigraphy of that title. the unfinished agenda is of mission. cathy suggested there were several areas you could pick to explore that are unfinished but chose to explore the issue of race and mission which she has been reading, reflecting and talking with others about. i am guessing it will be published or appear online somewhere. there were responses from sally mann, mike royal, jenny smith and paul weston. it was really challenging and i was left with lots to chew over!

the hub is a partnership between the urc, seedbeds and cms. it was great to meet several people from the urc and find out some more about their tradition of dissent which rather appeals to me. i found out about dissenting academies and promiscuous eucharists (perhaps more on them another time)! i jotted down a couple of quotes from adrian and jenny who work for the urc and spoke about the partnership. it's great the urc is so enthused about the hub. I really hope it will help nurture a hopeful network and ecosystem of new creative practice and open up some pathfinding dissent. i found it warming hearing someone in the structures saying pioneering is where it is at.

here's a photo of those of us who were involved in the day

update: the lecture can be watched here - unfinished agenda and read here

deja vu

just when you have cleared your house of books a second print run arrives and refills the lounge! seriously i am so chuffed to have had to do a second print run of pioneer practice - thank you so much everyone who has cheered me on and/or bought a copy. 

theories of culture

on june 9 i have been invited to host a conversation about culture in willesden (my locale) - theories of culture

but i didn't realise the event is online and apparently anyone can join. this is the blurb i sent:

The gospel always comes wearing cultural robes – so says the great missiologist David Bosch. Yet for most of us that is not easily visible because culture is ‘the way we do things round here’ – it’s our normal. So it can be a surprise when we cross a border or encounter others who don’t share the same values or way of doing things. That gets further complicated when our normal gets tied up with what we think of as the right way to do things or the right way to believe. We kind of know that other countries have different cultures and we think about cross-cultural communication or contextualisation then. But a big adventure the church has been on in the last 50 years is realising that questions of culture are right at the fore in our own neighbourhoods and parishes and not just in relation to other ethnicities and national identities. Youth ministry, pioneering, fresh expressions are all attempts to respond to the challenge of cultures in creative ways. Come and join in a conversation about culture in an undefended relaxed environment. It’s a very rich subject and one that holds a lot of clues for ministry and mission for us all regardless of context or parish.

register here

review of jvt quotes in ecclesial futures

thanks steve taylor for a review of jvt quotes (click where it says pdf) - the fact anyone thought to review such a thing is saying something! sadly the cards are sold out. it was a very limited run for a lockdown project. but i did put the images with quotes in a photo album here if you are interested. you are welcome to use them. he picks up on the gendered language - i was in two minds about that but chose to stick with john taylor's quotations rather than change them - he was writing in the 1960s.

ecclesial futures is now online and available free which is great to see

new pioneer hub in birmingham

i am really delighted we (cms) have a new pioneer hub in birmingham - the newbigin pioneering hub that will be starting the cms certificate in mission this september. it will be hosted by ash and anj barker and is a partnership with the united reformed church, cms and seedbeds. there is a taster day this saturday (short notice) do have a look at the prospectusget in touch if you are interested and do pass on to anyone in the area who may be interested. it's open to anyone to join.

who do you think you are?

it was so wonderful last week to get to spend a few days in scotland with pioneer practice tour packing in 5 gigs in 4 days along with gav mart. we were hosted by steve aisthorpe who had helped pull together the itinerary. he even had a van so it was like a proper tour bus :)

each location was different but my biggest takeaway really was that in each location the start point seemed to be us being told that there's not really a lot of pioneer practice going on, but by the end of the session when we had invited stories to be shared it was clear that all sorts of things are happening and bubbling up around the edges. it feels a good time (at least from the outside) in that networks are forming, there is a pioneer scotland facebook group, and so many good people involved across the board in encouraging, networking, training across denominations and streams. and crucially imaginative practice. scotland you have enough in your hand.

we bumped in to various scottish phrases along the way - it reminded me of kate fox's watching the english book where she explores phrases to get at englishness. i wish i'd written them all down. but one that stayed with me was 'who do you think you are?' - which was some peoples way of saying it is a hard culture to stick your head above the parapet. and yet when we did a poll on pioneer practice the top answer in every location was it's about seeing and imagining. so those gathered really seemed to embody something different, or at least their answer to that question was 'a possibility people' (for those old enough to remember that is a nod to a late late service rant which of course was a scottish liturgy).

thank you for having us! this is a rare moment when we had a minute to catch our breath on montrose beach - thanks to gav for the pic

no gigs this week, but back into the fray the week after with newcastle and bristol - yes i know not exactly good planning on my part! 

love it when a plan comes together - gather angelsey june 2-5

gather wilderness on anglesey is from june 2-5. i was in cumbria last week and a couple of people there who know anglesey for holidays said this gathering is cheaper than you could find anything to just stay on angelsey on that peak weekend. i must admit i can't wait. it's a gorgeous location, beaches nearby, a light programme with plenty of space to collide with others and hang out. this latest flyer has a bit more info on it. there are around 100 coming so far which will be perfect but there's plenty of room for some more. it's the double bank holiday weekend. it's open to anyone - i say that because someone i spoke to assumed you need to be in a cms network - not so. if you want to hang out and be with creative pioneering types come along. all we need now is the sun to shine!

this year's conversations day - a new sort of hybrid

every year at cms we host a conversations day. we pick a theme relevant to pioneering mission and practice and invite a bundle of contributors to explore it through workshops, talks, conversation and art. the very first one was on the pioneer gift out of which we published the book of the same name and every year since we have either published a book or edition of anvil. last year's was the wonderful and crazy gather online festival in which we explored pioneer practice.  it's been a great space for colliding with other pioneers or those interested in pioneering and having a chance to reflect together and dig deep into something.

this year has escalated into being hosted simultaneously in penrith and in oxford on tuesday april 5 so you can attend either one in person. the places are inevitably a bit more limited than previous years due to social distancing requirements in venues so book early if you are craving that on site experience. but there is also an online option and in that you will be able to choose any of the sessions from either the north or south versions! so it's new kind of hybrid which should be fun. and for those of you in more remote locations it makes it accessible.

the theme is exploring issues related to flourishing in pioneering mission and sustainability. see the link below where that is expanded on and there is a list of contributors.

register for oxford, penrith or online here

for those of you in the cms pioneer starfish network (i.e. you have done some training with us in oxford or in a hub) make sure you select the reduced starfish ticket. and if you are a current student select the free online ticket option.

london pioneer gathering march 3

there is a london pioneer gathering on march 3. i am loving getting out and about a bit now and reconnecting with people so looking forward to it. it's also a chance to hear tina hodgett reflect on the pioneer spectrum which she is one of the creators of. she will be in conversation with ric thorpe and i am assuming there will be some reflection on how planting and pioneering fit into the wider ecosystem. you do not have to be anglican or in london diocese to come by the way! hope to see you there if you are in or around london. it's free - please register so we know how many to expect

the go to guy...

i was delighted to hear harvey kwiyani sharing his story on the comb bbc world service podcast and being described as 

the go to guy for african church leaders looking to reach out to communities around them

i have been friends with harvey for several years now and learned loads from him. it's a delight to have him leading the african diaspora route through the ma at cms. we are half way through the first year and it couldn't have gone better really. one of the issues he discusses is that in terms of revitalising the church in post christian britain, africans bring a wonderful gift of faith. but the challenge is that very often the churches they grow replicate the culture of the leaders so become largely nigerian or ghanaian say. it is then harder for others to join and feel at home and can be hard to engage well in the community. there is such a great connection with pioneer training because pioneers are asking a similar question. they are on their own adventure of the imagination to see how faith can connect with all sorts of people and communities where they are without those people having to cross the threshold of church which can seem very strange or foreign. 

the pioneer training at cms is wonderful and we are so privileged to get such creative people who join us. if you are interested in the diaspora ma or the pioneer training we do we have an open day coming up on february 28 - actually that's a misnomer it is an hour and a half online! love to see you there.

 

change - last in the pioneer practice webinar series this thursday

on thursday it is the final in my pioneer practice webinar series. i remember last year the series i did took over my january and this year's been no different but it's been fun and so many people have turned out! i have three guests - ed walker, betsy blatchley and tina hodgett. we'll be exploring change both in terms of how you create change in the world but also how you navigate systems or the powers that be which seem resistant to change. i'll be interviewing the guests and doing some exercises - one of the exercises will be trickster's wheel of ruses that i have created for a photo group i'm in but it's so good i want to try it out on the guests! 

it's not too late to register and if you do you'll get sent links to the first three webinars to watch. hope to see you there. 

i apologise that i have not managed to get my act together for any other blog entries since starting the webinars but i'll get back on it including an exciting announcement.

build - webinar 3 this thursday

this thursday is the third in the webinar series on pioneer practice. the answer above is from a survey i did asking what tools help you in pioneering. build is this week's theme. i have three guests - one to talk about building a congregation, one a social enterpise based out of a church and one a business for good. they are idina dunmore, meg fry and steve baker. do join - you can register here. i keep getting asked if people can see previous weeks - the answer is yes you will get sent links to those if you are registered.

see - week 2 of pioneer practice this thurs evening

thank you so much everyone who came along to last week's webinar and especially the guests. the chat was buzzing! in the poll of which of 5 things best described those present in relation to pioneering the top answer was 'seeing and imagining new possibilities'. so i am delighted to say that 'see' is the theme of week two where we will be exploring how you see possibilities, come up with ideas and use imagination. i have four guests this week related to three projects. susannah baker and khadeja, sue steer, and anna hembury. come and hear their inspiring stories of practice. i am looking forward to it.

if you missed week 1 you are still really welcome. register here and you will be sent the webinar info the day before. and you will get sent a link to week 1 so you can catch up should you wish to though no pressure to do so. hope to see you there. the series is a partnership between church mission society and heartedge.

be you - pioneer practice webinar week 1 this thursday

i am really looking forward to the pioneer practice webinar series. week 1 is exploring the idea of be you (and as it's the first an intro to pioneering and how you might get started). i have three guests joining me. it will be informal, chat show style. it's free to join - register here and if you do register you'll get links to any weeks you miss. 

the series will follow the four themes i explore in the book pioneer practice - be you, see, build, change. it's a partnership between cms and heartedge.

towards a pioneering diocese

in pioneer practice one of the themes i explore is change. for those who see new possibilities and make new paths to make what they see happen (i call them pioneers) they almost invariably find themselves navigating change in a wider system or organisation. this is as true of pioneers in the church as it is elsewhere. in research i did with pioneers which is in the book the top answer given as to what is most likely to derail pioneering was the powers that be. and yet in my experience very little training is given on systems and culture change and how to navigate those powers. we do some in leadership at cms but i think we could do more. there is actually quite a bit written in this area around organisations which are somewhat different and there are definitely insights to be gleaned though not everything translates - this piece in anvil is excellent by way of example. i have been reading quite a lot in this area recently as it seems to me that not just pioneers but a lot of leadership now at least in the church space requires this ability to navigate change, adaptability, resourcefulness, flexibility, imagination, awareness of systems and culture change and so on. and yet leaders are largely trained to lead worship, teach, do pastoral care and so forth. 

all that is to say i was delighted to read a blog post by tina hodgett on enabling culture change in a diocese in the church of england towards a pioneering culture. her blog has a series of 16 suggestions and the gold is further developed in the attached paper which you can download at the bottom of the article. whether dioceses have the appetite for this i am less sure but i hope some might! anyway it's definitely worth a read and trying to provoke a conversation about if you are involved in a diocese. tina worked in diocesan structures in bath and wells diocese so it comes from her own experience and learned wisdom.