Responses

With one more to come following a phone conversation I hope to have tomorrow, these are the responses to our 4 questions from 3 Fresh expressions practioners.

Does an Anglican fresh expression need to be celebrating the
Eucharist to be Anglican?

1. Yes eventually -but I would say it needs to be having communion and baptism to be a church. This does not mean a fresh expression has to be doing this from day one but eventually to be fully fledged churches it would need to be having the sacraments.
2. The authentic mark of any Christian Community is the celebration of the Eucharist, whether established or emergent. However, not necessarily all the time (although at ****** it is our primary reason for existing)
3. Yes. Absolutely. Well, if it is to be church, at any rate. If there is no sacramental ministry, one could argue that it is simply a group of Christians meeting to encourage each other - nothing wrong with that but it falls a little short of a fully orbed 'church'.

What are the challenges & opportunities faced when celebrating the
Eucharist within a fresh expression?

1. Making it accessible to people liturgically and in practice, making it inclusive while being aware that it can be done in a dishonouring way.Wesleys view of communion as an converting ordinance, Communion for children. It's worth looking at some chapters in Mission shaped questions and Mass Culture by Pete Ward and new fresh expressions in the sacramental tradition.
   
2. To be authentic to the community from which it springs and to be authentic to the tradition and continuity. The Mass is a unique missionary tool and a wonderful opportunity to explore a Gospel of inclusion and engagement
3. he Eucharist is stuffed full of evangelistic possibility. To ignore this is tragic. In a culture that is very competent at reading signs and symbols it is sheer stupidity for the church to miss the opportunity for evangelistic engagement and genuine transformation offered by encouraging people to be regularly engaged in a eucharist. if you want to grow your church celebrate the eucharist regularly (and creatively) The challenge is in the creativity and in genuinely including everyone in the prep.

How can clergy work 'legally' - what are the challenges?

1. passed on question
2. I don't give a stuff about legality: I celebrate the Mass with dignity, authenticity and validity. The restrictions of Common Worship are nonsense. FE Round Table 5 is currently exploring with the Liturgical Commission the possibilities of a much freer liturgy based upon shape and rubric rather than words. The toolkit that was intended in Common Worship has become a straightjacket and Order Three needs to allow much more creativity by specifying the essential elements (epiclesis, institution, anaphora) rather than the actual words used. This is why "A Service of the Word with Holy Communion" is an inadequate legal solution. The Liturgical Commission and the HOB are a bit Pharisaical on this really.
3. You need a bishop who holds in creative tension an understanding of the reality of the missional situation we face in the UK and who also has a high regard for Anglican sacramental ministry. Such bishops are rare but they do exist (we have one in ******) They give permission and remind us of the importance of what we are doing..

Are you being resourced with appropriate liturgies or the tools for
developing your own?

1. Not really at present but the liturgical commission are working on it
2. And why do you think someone else has to do it for you? For goodness sake, get out there and be creative! A Fresh Expression is not the pulling of a stock resouce from a shelf (Alpha course, anyone?), but an exercise in inculturation, in responding to the needs of your community and not the setting up of another boring cafe church - this is Fresh Expression without thinking. ******** springs from working with young people, who then sought to find spiritual expression in "that good stuff you do with the bread and the wine, Farv" where it meets the MTV generation. If you think that other people's resources make a Fresh Expression, then you need to go back to reading "Mission-shaped Church".
3. pioneers have to do their own digging. common worship and BCP are good starting places. its all about context. music, setting, etc etc. there are stacks of resources. you have to go and find them...