A Fresh Partnership

by Lance Finley, CGGC Executive Director

We’ve recently announced our new partnership with Fresh Expressions, a cross-denominational organization that works internationally to support and grow new missional methods of church. FX does this by working with local congregations to reimagine how church can be more missional and more contextual, and they’ve been doing it since 2004. In fact, a small number of CGGC churches have already been involved with Fresh Expressions. Because of the positive feedback, and their proven track record, we believe this partnership is our next step in providing powerful resources to help our local congregations reach more people for Jesus.

What is a Fresh Expression?

You might be asking, “What is a fresh expression?” It’s a fair question. A fresh expression is a way to reimagine how we reach people for Christ. To be clear, that doesn’t mean we have abandoned the traditional model of church, but it is an acknowledgement that the traditional model isn’t reaching everyone, and we want to reach everyone. In this way, a fresh expression is an extension of the church, but often outside of the church walls.

FX says that “fresh expressions are about getting creative in your church’s reach.” This creativity allows for many different “expressions” of church, but the requirement is that each new expression be missional, contextual, formational, and ecclesial. With each of these criteria, we can be confident that a fresh expression isn’t simply some trendy way for Christians to avoid coming to church, but instead it’s an authentic way to reach people for Christ.

How about some examples?

Dinner Church

A dinner church is a thoroughly scriptural model for church and is a classic example of a fresh expression. It could be described simply as: meal, music, message. It takes the idea of the Lord’s Supper literally. A dinner church meets for a meal, where believers and non-believers are invited to eat, build community together, and talk about God. A dinner church might meet at a church, but it doesn’t have to, and the idea is that eating together is one of the most powerful ways that humans engage each other and deepen relationships. Time and again, Jesus used meals as a way to connect with people, sometimes the very people who were out to kill him, and it was always a transformative experience for those involved.

Football Church

In an article on their website titled “Sunday Night Football Church: A Fresh Expression Reaching New People in Unexpected Ways,” Fresh Expressions tells the story of a group of guys from church who started a Sunday night football practice (actually it was in England so I guess we would call it soccer). Soon, the spouses of women who only attended church occasionally started coming, and then friends who weren’t even religious showed up too. The men found that as they carpooled over to the field, they had opportunity for deeply religious conversations, and the prayer they had before the games started provided a gentle introduction to a relationship with God. Eventually, a couple of the guys asked to be baptized. While it might just look like a group of guys playing a sport, the intentionality was to have Christ and faith at the center of the gathering, and because of that, football church reached people who never would have stepped in a church building.

FX reports that around 60% of people in the U.S. are not attending church in any meaningful way, and it doesn’t seem to matter what the worship style is or how the “content” is delivered. This is corroborated in recent studies by organizations like Pew Research. The people aren’t coming. So, if we want to invest in their lives and show them Jesus, we have to go, just like Jesus commanded. This means that Fresh Expressions shouldn’t be new or scary. Instead, the idea of creating highly contextual opportunities to help people meet Jesus outside of the church walls is a thoroughly first century idea, and one which we hope many of our churches will jump on.

That being said, this isn’t just a partnership in philosophy. CGGC churches tangibly gain from this partnership. Below you’ll find a list of ways that FX can directly benefit you and your church.

For Regions

Regional conferences can expect a 50% discount after expenses on all FX related training sponsored by a region. These include Vision Days, Pioneer Cohorts, Activate Cohorts, Dinner Church Training, Expresiones Divinas, and anything offered in our new Center for Remissioning (training around Contextual Intelligence, Incarnational Innovation, Congregational Disciple-Making, Breakthrough Prayer, and Digital Mission/Ministry).

For Churches

Our local congregations will receive a 25% discount on FX Training/Coaching, either offered through our National Platform (National or Regional Conferences or Online Summits), or if a church requests such training/ coaching locally.

For All

Anyone in the denomination is eligible to receive a 25% discount on Bulk Orders of FX Books when orders are made directly through our office. Also, anyone is eligible for a 25% discount on subscriptions to FX Online Learning & Resource Tool – FXConnect

Of course, the resources don’t stop there. Fresh Expressions has a wealth of information, blogs, how-tos, stories, videos, other resources freely available on their website, freshexpressions.com or on their YouTube channel.

To get 25% off through FX’s online store, use our promo code: CGGC25

This partnership is proof of the CGGC’s deep desire to help our churches grow and adapt to the current cultural climate in ways that are also deeply Biblical. As FX says on their own announcement, “This partnership represents a commitment to adapting and evolving church life to better reach people and share the gospel in today’s world.” We all recognize that the church has much work left to do, and many people who still need to hear about the risen Christ. So, join the CGGC and Fresh Expressions as we work together to maximize our collective potential for Kingdom impact.