fresh expressions
I have preached and lead services for many years, been involved with a fresh expressions development which has seen the growth of a third congregation at the church and encouraged many more families with children as well as the more marginalised.
I carry a desire to help develop a spiritual programme for the Church of England, new liturgies, fresh expressions of prayer, and space for the prophetic movement to flourish within our Anglican tradition.
Fresh expressions of church and church planting are essential, but need to flow from the work of our parishes and chaplaincies.
I welcome the church’s recent initiatives such as pioneer ministry and fresh expressions and am encouraged by evidence of a ‘quiet revival’ in the church.
During that time I became closely involved in Fresh Expressions and the Diocesan Church Pioneers Fellowship.
He brings experience in growing vibrant local congregations, pioneering fresh expressions and caring deeply for both the community and the church he serves - locally and more widely.
I value the rich combination of ministry in Word and Spirit, planting fresh expressions and revitalising parish life where needed through the local church.
I fully support efforts to better resource any local churches (both traditional parish churches and “Fresh Expressions”) that are trailblazing effective ways of being church and doing mission today.
New worshipping communities, chaplaincies, church plants and fresh expressions all have an important part to play in our common life.
I have run training on fresh expressions and mission for Lay Readers and Spiritual Directors as well as providing workshops and being a keynote speaker nationally on creative liturgy and alternative worship.
I welcome fresh expressions, church plants and new initiatives, but these should strengthen rather than displace the parish church.
As someone with a background in Fresh Expressions, Church Planting and Pioneering, I would also strongly advocate for a Mixed Ecology approach to Mission.
Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church
I have launched Fresh Expressions:
I will keep mission at the centre of Synod's decisions, support fresh expressions and parish renewal, and encourage ecumenical and civic partnerships that help communities flourish.
I have seen mission flourish when parish churches, chaplaincies, fresh expressions and new worshipping communities work together.
Mission, evangelism and fresh expressions of church become the main priorities for the next few years, particularly exploring how we might prevent parishes from closing through church growth.
I would love to see the voice of younger generations and fresh expressions grow louder in General Synod.
New church communities and fresh expressions, while also protecting and strengthening the work of the parish church.
I believe I could offer experience of cross-cultural mission, fresh expressions, education, emerging generations and lay ministry, experience of leading a large church alongside a rural church to the other voices that will be elected.
I have had the privilege of worshipping in a wide variety of contexts within the Church of England: as an intern in a deprived urban part of Newcastle upon Tyne; suburban West London at St Paul’s in Ealing; The Point, Burgess Hill, a Fresh Expressions church reaching unchurched families in Sussex; and currently, at Chanctonbury, a multi-generational community across rural villages.
The local church and parish, serving its local community and context, cannot be anything other than the heart of the church as we evolve into the future; additional forms of church - whether chaplaincy, fresh expressions, etc - will inform, nourish, grow from and into, and enrich what our parishes are offering.
However, I also see the incredible work being done by fresh expressions and new worshipping communities, and would seek way for the familiar and the innovative to flourish together, for the enrichment of the whole people of God.
I believe we need both traditional Parish and fresh expressions of church.
I have been in ordained ministry for over a decade all in Southwark in the Croydon and Kingston Episcopal areas, serving in large and small churches including Fresh Expressions and Estates ministry.
They want the Church to be a community of ‘missionary disciples’, to be ‘younger and more diverse’ and to operate on a ‘mixed ecology’ basis, comprising parishes, chaplaincies, digital and fresh expressions– as we adapt to new ways of being and doing Church to reach out to our neighbours and communities with the Good News of the Kingdom at this time of anxiety, confusion and loneliness.
While the Church of England has reached many via the Fresh Expressions project, national evangelistic strategies must consider substantial support for traditional parish choirs.
Recent years have seen: Advances in safeguarding training and practice, and recognition of serious past failings A refreshed desire to see more children and young people in our churches leading to freedom to experiment with new liturgies and fresh expressions of church Increased lay involvement in ministry, both voluntary and professional Since the COVID crisis many parishes have real and ongoing experience of the ‘Quiet Revival’ leading to significant and encouraging church growth Following debate in General Synod, a recent (2026), and welcome, increase in clergy stipends and pensions, and ongoing discussion about clergy retirement provision