Mission Shaped Church

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Mission Shaped Church
An introduction to
The working group
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A Tale Of Two Reports
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What is Mission-shaped Church ?

• Its a collection of short stories showing whats
  already happening
• Not a plea to start experiments
• It offers understanding of existing creativity
• Stories help catch the imagination

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Catching up time

• The fresh expressions of church which
  Mission-shaped Church describes are evidence of
  considerable creative missionary energy within
  the Church of England.
• We did not so much write a report telling the
  Church of England what is needed to do, as tell
  it what it was already doing, and point out the
  potential.
• Bishop Graham Cray

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MSC is also

• a map of mission at home today

Who is out there ? What are pioneers learning
? What are the pitfalls? Who else can make the
journey ?
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MSC is also

• a key resource for trainers of future leaders in
  mission

Not how to / painting by numbers Rather
cultural analysis applied theology generic
methodology A search for good instincts
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Mission-shaped Church is also

• a round table for permission givers and pioneers

It seeks good relationships between permission
givers and pioneers. It teaches all expressions
of church need a belonging beyond themselves. It
asks for investment in this future and a culture
of permission giving

Bishop, you mean you want me to do this !
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Conclusions for Church and Mission

• The existing parochial system alone is no longer
  able to deliver its underlying missionary
  purpose
• We need a mixed economy no longer promoting one
  way of being church
• There are only expressions previous and fresh
• All churches need re-shaping in this light

Cf MSC p xi para 4
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Ground breaking insights - 1

• The existing parochial system alone is no longer
  able to deliver its underlying missionary purpose
• Not repudiation of the principle of trying to
  reach all
• Recognition that legal territory isnt the best
  way today
• Even Breaking New Ground 1994 began to see it
  

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A Vision of Territory Neighbourhood and Network
All these groups of people are our Anglican
responsibility
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From neighbourhood to network
Meet Melissa

• In which community do we grow church?

Surely not just where Melissa sleeps !
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Ground Breaking insights 2
We need mixed economy thinking
That quote We have to ask whether we are
capable of moving towards a mixed economy
church, recognising church where it appears and
having the willingness and the skill to work with
it
The Archbishop of Canterbury in the General
Synod, July 2003
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Something like this ?
Mixed Economy means being glad that
MSC p 35
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Mixed Economy is not
And Mis-shapen Churches

• A mixture of .
• Mission-shaped Churches

Mixed Economy means growing a mixture of
inherited and emerging expressions all of which
are becoming Mission-shaped
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Ground breaking insights - 3

• There are only expressions previous and fresh
• No expression of Church can exhaust the riches
  of Christ - Archbishop Rowan
• This means Anglican instincts for monopoly of
  practice are misguided

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3 Monopoly attitudes dont help

• Anglican arrogance
• Other Christians are Dissenters
• Parish makes everybody ours
• Common Worship is common to all
• We are accessible to all I wish !

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Society has changed so must we

• UK is becoming more diverse in many ways
• to be a Church for the nation is a call to
  embrace the diversities
• Most of the faces we face are cross cultural
  mission
• No one form of church will do
• Shift from monopoly to diversity

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Note the diverse Mission Fields
Regular attenders at least monthly(10)
Fringe- less than monthly(10)
Non Churched(40)
Open de-churched(20)
Closed de-churched(20)
MSC p 37-40
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There is a time bomb MSC p 40-41

___ Pop Attended lt15 yrs
Non-churched Approx 60
Most existing churches are not aware of this, nor
shaped to meet it 76 of converts come from
dechurched
De-churched Approx 30
____ Attended In 1998
Attending approx 10
Age
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A 4th insight for all

• All churches need re-shaping in this light
• Mission-shaped Church isnt just mission
  flavoured

The apostolic direction of the ChurchActs 1.8
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the end of the
earth
From the familiar through the disagreeable to
the unthinkable ?
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Mission-shaped not just flavoured
Mission-shaped means

• Changes of instinct
• From modify the existing to create the different
• From improve the existing to diversify
• From adding to 1 church, to multiplying churches
• See all inclusive congregation is an illusion
• Cross cultural mission is now normal
• From centring on worship, to starting with
  community
• The Fresh Expressions have shown us the process
  of discovering church for new contexts

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Dying to the pre-planned living to the reactive
Finding out what God is doing and joining in
Discernment in context MSC p 21 - avoid
cloning church p 24, - plan or discern p 80
only creative planting will do p 105f key
questions to ask
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The going of Come
From the 4th century in the west, the surrounding
culture brought people to the door of the Church.
What brought them ? Baptisms / Weddings /
Funerals Questions of life / Pastoral
Crises Our church we dont go to Coming back to
values or past known Church

• The mission task was
• Respond well to their requests
• Take them, from the door to the altar

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The coming - of Going
?
With the ending of Christendom, and onset of
secularisation, the culture no longer brings
people to the door of the Church.

• Few churches
• have experience of this profoundly different
  shape to mission
• know how to travel out from Church in go or
  apostolic mode
• can envisage how to be fresh imaginings of
  church - at the end of the journey

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Recommendations p 145 ff

• 2 Strategy at diocesan deanery level
• To reflect network, deanery and ecumenical
  choices
• 3 Episcopal leadership in mission
• Bishops staff member to encourage, support and
  integrate
• The 4 principles for practice be adopted in
  dioceses Bishop as Broker, complementary
  churches, permeable boundaries and open process
• 10 Training - for all
• - include cross-cultural, Planting and Fresh
  Expressions
• 11 Selection training of pioneers needed
• 12f Deployment of pioneers pathways 14 to be
  nurtured
• 16f Disproportionate Resources to the existing
  strategy needed to amend this.

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Reception since January 2004

• At General Synod Feb 2004
• report welcomed as a contribution about a
  mixed economy church and commended for study
• Amendment, that parish be seen as responsibility
  not as ownership, passed
• MPA council to take forward recommendations and
  report back to Gen Synod, including relaxing
  restrictions re parish boundaries and making
  responses to network culture
• Guidelines re maturity from Breaking New Ground
  reaffirmed and to be adopted and used by Dioceses
• Commissioners report, to put monies to FXC from
  reduced support to Bishops and Cathedrals, kicked
  into touch
• MSC goes to 6th reprinting 17,000 copies sold
  by Sept 2006
• Welcomed widely in Australia and New Zealand, and
  in other denominations in UK