"Mixed Economy" - new magazine from Fresh Expressions
FE press team send this news:
MIXED ECONOMY – new magazine published
Mixed Economy, a new magazine charting the development so far of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Fresh Expressions initiative, is published this month.
The magazine, packed with articles representing projects all over the country, features the involvement of Church Army, the Methodist Church and the Church of England.
It is to be distributed free of charge across the churches.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, writes an upbeat contribution for the first edition of Mixed Economy in which he suggests that Fresh Expressions has demanded questions of each church or community: ‘What is the kind of vitality, imaginative life, integrity and quality of worship that is appropriate in this specific circumstance, with these specific people?’
He adds:” The traditional parish pattern, worked out with flair and commitment, may be completely the right priority to work on in some situations; in others, the actual needs of the people around will suggest new possibilities. And this is probably most often the case when we’re talking about those who live in less traditionally focused communities, those who have never had any experience at all of Church life - and many, perhaps most, of the under-25s”.
Dr Williams also welcomes the expansion beyond traditional denominational boundaries and the challenges this raises: "It’s true, from one point of view that this takes us beyond a concern with denominational identity; and for some this is worrying. Is it really Anglican, or Methodist, or Baptist? What I hope is that, in the next phase of the work of Fresh Expressions, as it continues to enter more fully into the bloodstream of the churches, we start asking instead - of Fresh Expressions, but also of some of our inherited patterns - ‘Is it really Church?’
Other articles contributed include Howard Mellor (evangelism as parable), Steven Croft (milestones on the journey), Brother Damian SSF (mission and spirituality) and Ian Adams (international perspectives and developments).
Mixed Economy is edited by Rob Marshall, who is Media Advisor to Fresh Expressions.
Fresh Expressions, an initiative of the Church of England and Methodist Church, has resulted in hundreds of new church communities now existing side by side with more traditional church congregations.
Copies are available via the Fresh Expressions website (www.freshexpressions.org.uk) or via
mixedeconomy@freshexpressions.
