Bob Jackson
Church of England consultant, Ven. Bob Jackson, proposes an answer to his own question in a recent paper.
“Once upon a time we thought we knew what church was and how to measure it. Church happened when we gathered in a consecrated building for a public act of worship with a priest on a Sunday. [...]

As you know, pioneer training at Wycliffe College is still in its infancy, and the Fresh Expressions mantra—“we’re making this up as go along”—is as true here as anywhere.  This spring George Sumner is planning to bring a group together to discuss how we can improve the present program. Here are some of the models [...]

This week I was at a very unusual defence of a Doctor of Ministry thesis—on the pastoral care of inter-cultural marriages. The student, whose work I supervised, is a hero of mine: Pishoy Salama. Why was the defence unusual and why is he a hero?
Pishoy is a Coptic Orthodox priest who leads the multicultural congregation of [...]

photo Jill Homer
 
FXCA update january 2012
Happy New Year everyone!
The Fresh Expressions Canada (FXCA) Team, is a team of committed volunteers, who in addition to each following their chosen careers, also lend their significant gifts to our shared goal, “to encourage the development of fresh expressions of church alongside more traditional expressions, with the aim of [...]

Eighteen months ago, Wycliffe College introduced into its M.Div program a so-called “pioneer stream.” The advertising cited the writings of missiologist Lesslie Newbigin, and his call to the church in the West to rise to the challenge of a post-Christendom world, and then concluded:
The kind of leadership that was required for established, healthy churches in [...]

How do you do Bible study? I suspect that for most of us it’s actually quite superficial. When did we last have an experience that might be described as “going deep into Scripture” or “being immersed in a book of the Bible”?
This spring, May 1-7, there is an opportunity to encounter Scripture—which is to say [...]

There was a couple who were having serious issues in their marriage, mostly because of financial difficulties. After a stewardship sermon at church, they went home and had a huge discussion. They decided to sell their house and buy a smaller one. They did just that, and saved their marriage. In fact, their whole lives were changed.

That experience reminded me of how important preaching is, because what happens if people really believe what we are saying and begin to order their lives around it? Imagine if they do that with sermons about money.

“Northern Lights,” by Christer Mattson in Turku, Finland.

 
december 2012  update
Hello there!
December already. I am sitting down to write the last Fresh Expressions Canada update for 2011. There is a very light dusting of snow outside. Amazing! Where did those eleven months go? Some of you  will be reading this update for the first time especially [...]