Seeing Afresh

David Mccarthy

Description

As the Church of Scotland approaches its sixth year as a partner in Fresh Expressions, SEEING AFRESH tells the story of eight very different church communities that have emerged and asks what can be learned from them and how their examples can inspire other churches to engage more imaginatively in mission.

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 15 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780715209790
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in 2019 by
SAINT ANDREW PRESS
121 George Street
Edinburgh eh 2 4 yn
Copyright © David McCarthy 2019
ISBN 978 0 7152 0977 6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent.
The right of David McCarthy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
It is the publisher’s policy to only use papers that are natural and recyclable and that have been manufactured from timber grown in renewable, properly managed forests. All of the manufacturing processes of the papers are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
Typeset by Manila Typesetting Company
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd

Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Rachel Jordan-Wolf
Foreword by Phil Potter
Introduction
Part 1
1 Fresh Expressions of Church: Setting the Scene
Part 2
Introduction
2 What Have We Learnt About God?
3 What Have We Learnt About Ourselves?
4 What Have We Learnt About Our Community?
Part 3
Introduction
5 Sharing a Vision
With contributions from Tommy MacNeil, Michael Harvey, Helen Brough, David Logue and Siân Ashby
6 Getting Started
With contributions from Lesley Hamilton-Messer, Norman Smith and Angus Mathieson
7 Discipleship
8 Parish Life
With contributions from Andrea Boyes, Liz Crumlish, Peter Neilson and Albert Bogle
Part 4
9 What Next?
Appendices
Appendix 1: The Eight Fresh Expressions of Church, Which Were Interviewed
Appendix 2: Contributors
Appendix 3: About The Church of Scotland
Some Resources to Help You Continue Exploring
Bibliography
Note on Bible Translations
Index of Bible References
Index of Names and Subjects

To Margaret, who so naturally lives out what I, too often, just think about.

Acknowledgements
‘You wanted advice, you said. I never give advice. Never. But, I might just say this. Always search for truth.’ 1
So said the Doctor in one of his early adventures, and in my life many people have pointed me in the same direction and helped me along the way. The putting together of this book has been no exception and so I would like to say ‘thank you’ to many people, but can only mention a few . . .
To the churches and teams of which I’ve been a part and in particular to Lesley, who with vision, wisdom and grace leads the Church Without Walls team; thank you for your encouragement, insightfulness and sense of humour.
To the church communities who agreed to be interviewed and to the individuals who contributed articles; you have experienced much and have much to share. Thank you for allowing us to glimpse your stories.
To Guy and Ken, who read parts of the first draft, and to Margaret who worked through the early drafts with me; thank you for your perceptiveness, questions and enthusiasm. A particular thank you to Claire, who has been incredible: with clarity, acumen, empathy and an eagle eye for detail she has been involved in every stage.
To Saint Andrew Press, thank you for seeing the potential in this project and to Christine, thank you for guiding us through the process.
Margaret, to whom this book is dedicated, thank you for your love and support and finally, the Doctor’s advice was to search for truth; thank you to the Truth who has found us.
Note
1 Terry Nation, ‘The Daleks’ (broadcast BBC, 21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964). Quoted in Scott, Cavan and Wright, Mark, Wit, Wisdom and Timey-Wimey Stuff (London: BBC Books, 2014), p. 310.

Foreword
by Rachel Jordan-Wolf
This book is a pleasure to read, David writes creatively so that he almost paints the story of Fresh Expressions in Scotland. It is a celebration of all that God has done breathing new life into his Church. It is a joy for me to read as I have visited Scotland several times to encourage this burgeoning movement. Here in these pages is a vivid description of just some of the fruit of what has been sown by so many.
David starts his book with an excellent description and basic introduction of fresh expressions, building a foundation for this movement and looking at some of the big questions behind it. He discusses the nature of church, reflects on the importance of listening to the context, and explains how fresh expressions are created, not just alongside those currently outside church, but with them. He reminds us of the importance of prayer and hospitality, and weaves throughout Chapter 1 an emphasis on relationship, God’s intrinsic nature in the trinity, His invitation to us, through Jesus, to be in relationship with him and others – the foundation of church.
David brilliantly goes on to focus on our motivation behind fresh expressions – love of the other. The same drive in God – love of the other – that he gives to us. He highlights the head-on clash between love of the other and our current individualistic culture that has penetrated our churches. This is a timely calling to every Christian to see clearly the radical counter-cultural call of God to love others, which is the basis for any community following Jesus, and to examine ourselves to see how much the prevailing privatised individualistic nature of our current culture has impacted on us and our churches. His examination of how the privatisation of culture has led to the privatisation and ‘personalisation’ of faith, which has resulted in our inability to do mission and to talk about Jesus and simply share him with others, is a clear warning to the whole church. He shows how in fresh expressions Christians are rediscovering passion for others and community that breaks down privatised faith and creates passionate Christians who bear the image of Jesus and share him with others. He celebrates the pioneers, a gift to the whole church, to refresh us in our mission.
Another important point that I found particularly helpful in our current context is how David draws out both the importance of creating a community with people not for them, and yet how this co-building community doesn’t mean that discernment for direction and setting the culture is shared equally. He uses Jesus as an example of incarnation bringing hope and challenge to the human context – Jesus clearly challenges the culture of the day and sets a clear new direction for his new community of hope.
The wonderful stories that illustrate this book are imaginative, but frequently celebrate the brave yet simple: simple steps of faith by normal pioneers in their own contexts to reach others, using messy church, cafes, alpha; inspiration that helps many to see that reaching out is possible for the many not just the few. This is not to diminish the incredible achievement of each of these, but rather to highlight that this is possible in so many more contexts.
David goes on to help with practical subjects in Part 3, looking at releasing vision, facing fear, recognising the tension between vision and reality, and importantly focusing on leadership. What sort of leaders we need for the missionary task and how in Scotland their ‘going for growth’ team has worked to model the principles of listening and hospitality in the way they have developed fresh expressions and leaders. He himself models community in opening the book up so that other key leaders in the FX movement in Scotland can share their wisdom in these areas. As these writers join their voices to the chorus the inescapable theme of the book emerges again – the centrality of relationship in mission.
David then leads us to the crucial debate of the day: discipleship. He talks of discipleship that is relational, communal and based in the everyday, where we are all apprentices. He stresses the mutuality of discipleship in fresh expressions, for leaders and all new community members alike, all following one master – Jesus. He discusses the need to be clearly Christian as we form new communities so that we have integrity, and how it is a constant tension to choose what to affirm and what to challenge as the new community forms in the new place. I particularly like the final thought which is a call to prayer as we walk in the complexity of the new mission field in which we find ourselves.
In Chapter 8 David is joined by other voices as we are led into the depth of learning that the team has gained from some fresh expressions. Primarily that deepening discipleship and nurturing faith has led to culture change, new life and growth. This chapter also grapples with the realities of parish life, confusion from different visions of how the new will impact the old, the weariness of many in church leadership, the frequent lack of capacity for leaders to begin the new while maintaining the old which leads to the importance of prayer. It looks at how a core learning community worked to overcome the obstacles and enable the birth of fresh expressions in the parish context. It should also be mentioned that the book examines the visionary Sanctuary First, a worshipping community that meets online. In all these examples it is impossible to escape the interdependence of discipleship and mission