The Fresh Expressions Podcast: Recent Episodes
Fresh Expressions US
Fresh Expressions believes any church can reach people who are not yet part of any church. This podcast unravels the complexities of today's local mission field and introduces resources from pastors, practitioners and historic movements adept at proclaiming the Good News inside and outside the inherited Church.
Churches are full of formal liturgies and unspoken traditions. But what kind of shared activities actually form a group of people into a band of missionaries?
In this week's episode, reconsider your church's regular practices by listening to David Fitch's talk Practices that Form People for Mission.
When it comes to participation in church, the stats about Millenials and Gen Z are startlingly low. What if part of the problem is the "expression" of church they have available to them? In this talk from Kris Beckert, you'll learn from her experience of forming Fresh Expressions of Church with and for Young Adults.
Fresh Expressions is a worldwide movement of everyday missionaries who want to see churches thrive in the places we live, eat, work and play by leveraging the creativity and endurance of the inherited church. To learn a simple five-phase process for starting a new expression of church go to freshexpressions.com/howtostart.
Kris is pastor of Table Life Church. She completed the M.Div. at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC and has served at churches in the Baptist, United Methodist, and Nazarene traditions. Prior to being called to ministry, she received an M.S. in environmental science from the University of Maryland, where she also worked in the field, researching coastal environments and enhancing science communication. Kris is an avid runner, cartoonist, and archer and enjoys cheering for her Carolina TarHeels and Philadelphia Phillies.
Season three is brought to you by FX Connect, an online community full of other church leaders passionate about reaching new people in new places. Access our entire library of practical and inspiring training materials and connect with other church leaders at fxconnectus.org.
Most people spend the majority of our weeks at work. What would it look like to form a church specifically for individuals within their workplace? And what if that workplace was Disney World?
Listen to this recent talk from Steven Barr who has dedicated decades to forming Cast Member Church, an expression of Church reaching the staff and crew at Disney World, and get a glimpse for how your church could reach people where they work.
Steven Barr and his wife, Lucia, have passionately led Cast Member Church from its inception. With 30 years of pastoral leadership in his rearview mirror, Steven is a recognized cultural futurist and creative communicator for churches and organizations worldwide. Steven is the author of such titles as KINGDOM INFLUENCE: Three Proven Keys to Revealing Jesus in a Skeptical and Suspicious World and A GUIDE TO A LIFE BEYOND IMAGINATION. He is currently working on two follow-up titles, to be released later this year. Steven and Lucia have two adult children and split their time living in Orlando, Florida and Paris, France.
Some churches like to say they welcome everyone, but the truth is that such a Christian community is complicated. In this insightful discussion with real-world practitioners Deb Hirsch and Luke Edwards, you'll hear about what it is like to build a community where committed Christians and those exploring their faith can thrive together.
Churches, with their official buildings, formal architecture, and highly developed language, are great for insiders. But in a world less familiar with Church, Christians must be masters of hospitality. In this talk, Alan Roxburgh helps explain what hospitality is, why it matters for to Christian leaders who are passionate about God's mission in the world.
J.D. Larson wanted to plant a church. So he raised support, gathered a team and launched. When COVID hit, they struggled to connect and decided to try something different. In this episode you’ll learn why one church planter chose DInner Church to reach his community.
J.D. Larson is a Mission Strategist and Coach with Fresh Expressions. He and his wife, ChristianAnn, co-pastor a Dinner Church called North City Church in Minneapolis. North City is currently working to open a second Dinner Church and has helped other churches nearby start their own Dinner Churches. J.D. previously served as an Executive Pastor at Mill City Church and graduated from Bethel Seminary with a M.Div. He and his wife have three kids and a cocker spaniel who all love the outdoors and good food.
Related Resources:
Dinner Church: Why Some Churches Thrive By Focusing on Food with Verlon Fosner & Isaac Olivarez | Season 1, Episode 8
Dinnerchurch.com
Denominations and church networks often have auspicious beginnings but struggle to maintain their momentum. In this episode, Dr. Christopher Backert discusses why some denominations are thriving and why that matters to all kinds of Christians.
Our guest is Dr. Christopher Backert. Dr. Backert is the National Director of Fresh Expressions US. Working with church and denominational leaders to develop new expressions of Christian community is the passion of Chris’s life. Chris holds a D.Min. in Missional Church Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with wife Rachel, daughter Elliana and son Jase.
Related Resources:
How Bad Can it Be? Hope for the Declining North American Church | Season 1, Episode 1
Things are changing faster than ever. Churches, like many organizations, struggle to know what to do. Occasionally, you find a church that seems to be able to take new challenges head on. In this episode, you’ll discover why some churches adapt, and how you can be more adaptive yourself.
Tod Bolsinger, MDiv, PhD, the co-owner and principal of AE Sloan Leadership, Inc, an executive coaching and consulting firm that works with church, non-profit, and marketplace leaders in leading change. He is also the Executive Director of the De Pree Center Church Leadership Institute, a Senior Fellow of the De Pree Center for Leadership, Associate Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, was the founder of the Fuller Leadership Platform, and served as a Vice President of Fuller Seminary for six years. Prior to his educational career, he served as a pastor for 27 years. He is the author of five books, including the Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year in pastoral leadership, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, Leadership for a Time of Pandemic: Practicing Resilience and most recently, Tempered Resilience: How Leaders are Formed in the Crucible of Change.
He can be reached at bolsinger@aesloanleadership.com
Related Resources:
Tod Bolsinger: Spiritual Capacity for Leading Adaptive Change | Bonus Episode, Season 1
What if the Bible wasn’t just a bunch of interesting stories and good advice, but an account of God’s mission in the world? If God is on a mission, what does that say about the Church? In this episode we’ll get back to the basics, try to understand what God is up to and why Fresh Expressions of Church are a big part of the plan.
Graham Cray was the Principal of Ridley Hall theological college in Cambridge before being appointed Bishop of Maidstone in 2001. Graham left this ministry in 2008 when he was appointed Archbishop's Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions. He chaired the working group which produced Mission-shaped Church and has contributed to several other books regarding the future of the Church including Mission-shaped Youth, The Future of the Parish System and Making Sense of Generation Y.
What are the core competencies for a church on mission? What abilities must a leader develop to go from “pastor” to pioneering missionary? This episode will discuss the new muscles that churches and leaders need to develop to thrive in the future.
Sue Nilson Kibbey is the Director of the Bishop Bruce Ough Innovation Center at United Theological Seminary whose purpose is to resource leaders with creative, practical and effective tools for ministry in a new era. Sue’s Missional Church Initiative birthed a Breakthrough Prayer journey that has led churches and individuals to look up and out expecting and anticipating a move of God. https://www.innovateunited.com/ https://www.snkibbey.com/ https://www.amazon.com/OPEN-ROAD-Adventure-Breakthrough-Initiative/dp/1950899217
Shannon Kiser serves the Fresh Expressions Team as Director of Training. She serves as a pastor at Riverside Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia, a blended ecology congregation that worships in two languages.
While each stream of the church has something unique to offer, few have been forged with as much adversity as the Black Church in the U.S. This episode will take time to listen to leaders from the Black Church and learn what they are encountering as they minister in today’s pandemic scarred, Post-Christendom world.
Dr. Joy J. Moore An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Joy Jittaun Moore, Professor of Biblical Preaching, serves as Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Joy is an “Ecclesial Storyteller” seeking to encourage theologically framed, biblically attentive, and socially compelling interpretations of Christian Scripture in order to understand the critical issues influencing community formation in contemporary culture (all that means is she tells community-forming stories from the Bible as a follower of Christ!).
In its early days, many churches met around tables. This episode will introduce you to the rapidly growing Dinner Church movement and inspire you to encounter Jesus at the table.
Verlon serves on the Fresh Expressions team as director of the dinner church collective. He and his wife Melodee live in Seattle, WA where they lead community dinners, a network of dinner churches they planted out of an inherited congregation.
Isaac Olivarez and his wife Jaime founded Urban Outreach Denver in 2012 and believes God is calling the church back to the table where Jesus spent much of his time. https://www.lovedenver.org/
The pandemic is many things, but most powerfully, it is an “accelerator,” bringing barely known trends into the forefront of culture. This episode will look back at this event, and consider how has affected the shape of the local church.
Chris Morton is Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives with Fresh Expressions US. He’s been a youth minister, a tech and branding guru and was on the planting team of Austin Mustard Seed, a church community in Austin, Texas where he lives with his wife Laura and their son Micah.
Ryan Dunn is an ordained Deacon in the Methodist Church, Minister of online engagement for Rethink Church and a staff member of UM Communications tasked with creating content and building community with those who are not yet a part of the church. Ryan hosts a podcast, Pastoring in the Digital Parish, where guests coach and teach about building community in digital space.
Often, your most energetic and capable Christians find themselves dedicating their time and effort to maintaining the basic core programs of a church. However, there are capable leaders who have skills and dreams for serving God beyond a typical congregation. This episode will show you how to identify the pioneers in your church and empower them to join God’s mission in the contexts they are called to.
Luke Edwards is the Associate Director of church Development for the Western North Carolina Conference of the UMC and a trainer and mission strategist for FXUS. He was the founding pastor of King Street Church, a network of fresh expressions in Boone, NC. Participating in the local, regional, and national levels of the FX movement has given Luke a unique perspective into the future of the mainline church in a post Christian society. https://freshexpressions.com/product/becoming-church-a-trail-guide-for-starting-fresh-expressions
Tod Bolsinger is a recognized leader in the field of adaptive leadership in the church. He is a speaker, executive coach, former pastor, and author who serves as associate professor of leadership formation and senior fellow for the De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Seminary. He is the author of Canoeing the Mountains and Tempered Reslience.
Discover how your church can learn adaptive leadership from Tod Bolsinger at freshexpressions.com/aclc.
In a day of statistical decline in church participation, what if we imagined marriages as little churches and households as living demonstrations of the way that God’s love is reoriented around Jesus? In Bringing Church Home, you’re invited into a kind of radical kinship rooted in family-community love. In his first book, author Gannon Sims shows how our homes can become hubs for mission pointing toward our true home where we—no matter our previous experiences of family or home or love—can find kinship in God.
Learn more about “Bringing Church Home” at https://freshexpressions.com/product/bringing-church-home
Local congregations, with their own personality, gatherings, programming and leadership are probably what people think of when they hear “church.” But cultural shifts and the pandemic lifestyle changes are making it harder and harder for these traditional congregations to thrive. This episode will provide real life examples of congregations thriving today.
Michael Adam Beck is the director of Re-Missioning for FXUS and Cultivator of FX for the Florida Conference of the UMC Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood and St. Marks UMC with his wife Jill, where they have a network of 13 FX. Michael holds a DMin in Semiotics and Future Studies from Portland Seminary and is the Director of the FX House of Studies at United Theological Seminary. His book Deep Roots, Wild Branches is a must read for pioneers and practitioners of FX and his latest book Painting with Ashes is a story of redemption and resurrection in the most powerful way possible. https://michaeladambeck.com/
Matt Lake is Pastor of First United Methodist Church, a blended ecology of church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and Portland Seminary.
When you hear the word “church” you are likely imagining something that is very particular to your time and culture. But the church is 2,000 years old, and has many different expressions. This episode will introduce you to a variety of expressions of Church throughout the centuries.
Elaine Heath is an ordained in the United Methodist Church, who has served as a professor for eleven years at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, and as Dean and Professor of Missional and Pastoral Theology at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. After retiring from Duke she led Neighborhood Seminary, a non-profit which she co-founded to provide theological, practical, and spiritual formation for lay people to know how to help their neighborhoods flourish by participating with what God is doing in their neighborhoods. She currently lives with her spouse at Spring Forest, a multicultural intentional community in rural North Carolina, where along with 7 friends they tend a forest and small farm that support immigrants who experience food insecurity, hold day retreats for small groups and individuals, and host a decentralized mission church, The Church at Spring Forest. She serves as Abbess for their residential community, and Theologian in Residence for their church.
https://www.elaineaheath.org/
https://www.springforest.org/
Fresh expressions of church are transforming lives of people who would never come to church on a Sunday. In this episode, you’ll hear the stories of individuals who encountered Jesus through a fresh expression, and Christians whose faith expanded by starting a new kind of faith community.
The church in Europe has been declining for decades. But at the same time, a hopeful new movement that inspires everyday Christians to start their own faith communities. In this episode, you’ll discover what kind of church flourishes in today’s world.
Dave Male is presently Director of Evangelism and Discipleship for the Church of England based in Church House, Westminster. He leads a large team which aims to equip every worshipper in the Church of England to be able to articulate their faith and live it out in the whole of their lives as well as developing many new fresh expressions of church across the whole of England and releasing 1000 new evangelists. Dave spent ten years starting and leading the Net Church in Huddersfield which was one of the first fresh expressions of church in the UK. His latest book ‘How to Pioneer, even if you haven’t a clue’ has been made recently into a course which helps small groups of people to begin new communities.
Sabine Sramek is a sociologist by training and has served on the German Fresh Expressions Team since 2014 where she directs the internship program and outreach to young adults. She and her husband Ingo are the proud parents of Johanna. They live in Tübingen, near Stuttgart (South Germany). She enjoys reading, horse riding, and traveling. Her favorite books include Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels and almost anything by N.T. Wright.
You can hear more from Dave Male by registering for the 2022 Fresh Expressions Gathering at http://freshexpressionsus.org/remission.
For years, experts have warned about the decline of the Church in North America, and that was before the pandemic! This episode will help you have a greater understanding of what it means for the North American church to be in decline, and why there’s still hope.
You can register for the 2022 Fresh Expressions Gathering at http://freshexpressionsus.org/remission.
Our guest is Dr. Christopher Backert. Dr. Backert is the National Director of Fresh Expressions US. Working with church and denominational leaders to develop new expressions of Christian community is the passion of Chris’s life. Chris holds a D.Min. in Missional Church Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with wife Rachel, daughter Elliana and son Jase.
Fresh Expressions believes any church can reach people who are not yet part of any church. This podcast unravels the complexities of today's local mission field and introduces resources from pastors, practitioners and historic movements adept at proclaiming the Good News inside and outside the inherited Church.
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