Fresh Expressions Vision Day Recap
May 10, 2017
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Travis Collins[/caption]
On Saturday, May 6th, clergy and laity from across the conference gathered at First UMC in Salisbury for a Fresh Expressions Vision Day.
Travis Collins and Michael Beck led the event as trainers for Fresh Expressions US. Collins is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL and author of From the Steeple to the Street. Beck is the pastor of Wildwood UMC in the Florida Conference.
Participants heard from a number of persons doing Fresh Expressions type ministries in the Western North Carolina Conference as well, including Luke Edwards of King Street Church in Boone and Charles DiRico of Mouzon UMC who facilitates Yoga Church.
Edwards, who has been working alongside Fresh Expressions US for a few years, said, "Saturday's Vision Day was an incredible time of stirring our conference's missional imagination. Participants were introduced to the Fresh Expressions movement and model of planting new forms of church in our communities.”
Collins and Beck offered this definition of Fresh Expressions:
A Fresh Expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church
-It will come into being through the principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples. - It will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context.
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Michael Beck[/caption]
They also outlined the basics of what Fresh Expressions are:
- Fresh Expressions reach out to a changing, diverse culture, putting expressions of church closer to people.
- Connect people in First, Second, Third Spaces (primary places like home and office; secondary places like church and similar organizations; third places like coffee shops, pubs, bookstores, parks, etc.)
- Gather in Smaller Micro-Communities
- With people who are interested in pursuing meaning and purpose
- Not in competition with the existing church, but a complement to it.
- Gathering of large church clergy for conversations about anchoring (sponsoring) Fresh Expressions, missional initiatives, and intentional communities
Thursday, June 1, St. Luke’s UMC Hickory, 10:00 – 2:00 (complimentary lunch) Register with Candy Caron in the Conference Office.
- Annual Conference Fresh Expressions experiential learning opportunities sponsored by WNCC Vitality Team
Yoga Church – hosted by Mouzon UMC Location: Kern Center, Lakeside Porch, Friday June 23, 8:30-9:30 am Registration required (30 spots) www.acyogachurch.eventbrite.com
Kayak Church – hosted by River of Life Location: Kern Center Recreation Hut, Friday, June 23, 12:00-1:15 pm Registration required (30 spots) www.ackayakchurch.eventbrite.com
Pub Church – hosted by King Street Church Location: Boojum Taproom, Waynesville, Saturday, June 24, 6:00-7:00 pm Registration required (20 spots) www.acpubchurch.eventbrite.com
- Fresh Expressions Roundtables to follow-up Salisbury Vision Day; these regional conversations are open to folks interested in starting Fresh Expressions and will be hosted in two locations later this summer, dates and times to be announced. Charlotte: University City UMC High Point: Wesley Memorial UMC
- Fall Vision Day for the western part of WNCC (hosted by Blue Ridge District) Date and place to be announced
- Pioneer Learning Community for those who have attended a Vision Day, Roundtable, or are ready for a peer cohort over several months for Fresh Expressions leadership development To be formed early in 2018