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Does all of this mean the Church has to abandon
what we are doing and all the traditions we love?
Not at all!

All the research suggests that, when done well,
the traditional forms of church are still helpful and
meaningful for up to 40 per cent of the population.

This is a wonderful mission field. We need to continue
to develop and grow the Church as it is.

There are many ways to do this:

  • through becoming a more welcoming and open community
  • through offering ways for all ages to learn about faith
  • through worship and preaching that have depth
    and relevance
  • through inviting people into life-changing discipleship
    and service


Research tells us that at least 60 per cent of the UK population finds it difficult to connect with the Church as it is in terms of our normal Sunday worship.

Many believe in God. Many are searching for spiritual meaning. They are not beyond God's love or the Christian gospel. However it is no longer enough for churches simply to say: 'Come to us and be church this way'. We need to go to where people are and sow the seed of the gospel in new ways.

We therefore need to develop a mixed economy church. Both-and means traditional churches alongside many different fresh expressions of church for a changing world, with all of them facing outwards to others.

In 2004 the Church of England produced a report called Mission-shaped Church: church planting and fresh expressions of church in a changing culture.

The report was unanimously commended by the General Synod in February 2004 and 15,000 copies were sold in the first year. The report has been widely discussed at national and diocesan level and is being put into practice by many dioceses.

The Methodist Church was represented on the Working Party that produced the report and in 2005 the Methodist Conference agreed a new set of priorities, which include:

  • developing confidence in evangelism and in the capacity to speak
    of God and faith in ways that make sense to all involved;
  • encouraging fresh ways of being church.

Later in 2004 the Archbishops, with the support of the Methodist Council, set up a new initiative, Fresh Expressions. The aim of Fresh Expressions is to resource mission through fresh expressions of church life in every place.

Fresh Expressions works in partnership with the churches at national level, in dioceses and districts and with a number of mission agencies including Church Army, Anglican Church Planting Initiatives, the Church Mission Society, New Way and the Church Pastoral Aid Society.