Updated 19th June 2023

As I journey around the Diocese to support churches and pioneers develop Fresh Expressions (FX) and other new Christian communities I’m finding many examples of churches creatively responding to local needs and trying new imaginative ways to engage with people beyond the church. One example that is both typical and has inspired me is the church St Peter and St Paul, Lingfield which has seen a significant bounce back in the past year or so.

I met the Vicar, the Revd Ian Whitely at his Eco Vicarage and spent the morning walking through the parish, meeting many people along the way; almost all of whom seem to know him well and was able to drop in on a fledgling Fresh Expression whilst we walked and talked. Ian took up his post as Vicar of Lingfield and Dormansland mid pandemic and, like his congregations, faced the challenge of getting to know and show loving service to neighbours and local residents amongst all the restrictions we faced during those times. Ian describes his approach as being pastorally proactive and spiritually active and having trained as a pioneer minister with CMS he was keen to get out and engage with the whole local community as much as possible.

Both, Lingfield and Dormansland, already had Messy Churches prior to the pandemic, but like many others these had to be suspended during the lockdown. Even though the churches did not have a vicar at that time, contact was maintained by the Messy Church team with local families and some outdoor activities still took place during Advent, at Christmas and Easter. When I contacted the team in August 2021, I found the church remained positive about the future and was clearly intent upon restarting Messy Church when the situation allowed. The initial challenge to get things started again was finding enough volunteers to help, so Ian’s wife Kathryn, advertised the need through local Facebook groups and built a new team with those who responded to the call.

This was the first small seed sown but more have followed. There is now a small Messy Vintage gathering for older people to gather for crafts, conversation and prayer run by a member of the congregation called Liz and an exciting new well-being initiative called Ecstatic Church run by a Vera, a new choir member. We called in briefly to see the first gathering of this FX that uses breathing exercises, stretching dance moves and contemplative Christian prayer practices. Vera simply started this as a result of conversations with friends who don’t do church and is adapting her approach along the way.

Ian is particularly excited about a new venture they are developing amongst local young people. Working in partnership with locals and the council to provide something for young people to do has taken a year or so of listening to needs. Over time there was a realisation that “we’re just going to have to do it ourselves”. The church provides an umbrella for a new youth group, covering safeguarding, insurance, charitable support, etc., and partners with key people in the local community and agencies. They’ve secured funding for activities which allow young people to pick up life skills through cooking, washing, ironing, mending bikes alongside usual youth group space and time to meet and play games. Ian is actively involved, being present at the group and explained how deep conversations about life and faith come up naturally. Something he discovered recently when making pizzas with the young people.

At this stage the pioneering amongst these young people is about presence, and as Ian describes it, loving service. I can see in this and the other mustard seeds of FX springing up that the church, is naturally evangelising through practices a former Bishop of Woolwich, Michael Marshall used to promote; “presence and provisionality”. There is real open and transparent intention for what is being started to have the potential to become Church; new congregations in their own right and a willingness for the church to move into other people’s space to do this.

In Lingfield and many other of our churches I’m seeing ever more natural pioneers start new things in response to what they sense God is calling them to and doing so whether they’ve previous experience or none at all. Mustard seeds like Messy Vintage, Ecstatic Church or the Youth Group are taking root and growing; it looks like springtime for the Church to me.

if you’d be interested in hearing more mustard seed stories of how any church like Lingfield or yours can go about starting something missional, new and fresh then why not join us for our Fresh Expressions Conference which we’re hosting at Christ Church, Blackfriars on Saturday 25th November? We will meet from 10am – 4pm and will be sharing many local stories of fresh expressions and pioneering. Why not come along, learn from others, share your story too and be part of shaping new stories that others need to hear? To book go to [email protected]