Diocesan Facilitator for Fresh Expressions of Church
Sally Gaze is the Diocesan facilitator for Fresh Expressions of Church (quarter time). She has also been the Team Rector in the Tas Valley Team Ministry since 2002. Here she writes to introduce herself:
In 1991, after being "not recommended" for training for ordained ministry, I went on retreat to wrestle with God over what I should do with my life. At the retreat house, I happened upon a handbook written for Roman Catholic missionaries called "Earthing the Gospel". I couldn't put it down. It was about sharing the gospel in the language of people who we want to receive it, not just their spoken language but their cultural language too. It seemed to me that the church I had grown up with was a foreign culture to the worlds I had lived in at school, at university and work: In becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of his community, it seemed you had to take an enormous cultural leap into a world of medieval buildings and liturgical language, flower rotas and garden fetes. I just wanted everyone to know Jesus' love - including some of my friends who frankly found some aspects of church culture a real turn off. The idea of a church which expressed the gospel in their language was something that really appealed. What might this look like and feel like?
As Team Rector in the Tas Valley, I've been able to learn a lot more about living and sharing the gospel with many different people. I love our 6 village congregations, each with their own distinctive flavour. I also love the new cell church - "a fresh expression of church" which meets in small groups in people's homes. The small groups are called cells because they act a bit like cells in the human body, multiplying and changing to keep the larger body healthy. Within the cells particularly, we've been able to experiment with how we express our faith in ways which make sense in the language and culture of people who don't (yet) belong to church and we've seen people with no church background coming to faith. The cell church has grown to about 70 adult members and 25 under 16s - about half the adults and a quarter of the children also belong to one of our village congregations. For the others, the cell church is the only church where they've ever belonged.
It is a privilege to have some time to help people to develop Fresh Expressions of Church across the Diocese of Norwich. My hope and prayer is that, we will be able to found Christian communities which are good at sharing the love of Jesus with those who don't easily relate to existing churches. Maybe God has given you a heart for some people in your area or a network of friends who you long to know God's love but you can't see how this could happen without a new approach. If so, I'd love to listen to you, to pray with you and if you wish, help you to find partners and resources for the next step.
Contact Sally on 01508 470762 or e-mail sally.gaze@norwich.anglican.org
In 1991, after being "not recommended" for training for ordained ministry, I went on retreat to wrestle with God over what I should do with my life. At the retreat house, I happened upon a handbook written for Roman Catholic missionaries called "Earthing the Gospel". I couldn't put it down. It was about sharing the gospel in the language of people who we want to receive it, not just their spoken language but their cultural language too. It seemed to me that the church I had grown up with was a foreign culture to the worlds I had lived in at school, at university and work: In becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of his community, it seemed you had to take an enormous cultural leap into a world of medieval buildings and liturgical language, flower rotas and garden fetes. I just wanted everyone to know Jesus' love - including some of my friends who frankly found some aspects of church culture a real turn off. The idea of a church which expressed the gospel in their language was something that really appealed. What might this look like and feel like?
As Team Rector in the Tas Valley, I've been able to learn a lot more about living and sharing the gospel with many different people. I love our 6 village congregations, each with their own distinctive flavour. I also love the new cell church - "a fresh expression of church" which meets in small groups in people's homes. The small groups are called cells because they act a bit like cells in the human body, multiplying and changing to keep the larger body healthy. Within the cells particularly, we've been able to experiment with how we express our faith in ways which make sense in the language and culture of people who don't (yet) belong to church and we've seen people with no church background coming to faith. The cell church has grown to about 70 adult members and 25 under 16s - about half the adults and a quarter of the children also belong to one of our village congregations. For the others, the cell church is the only church where they've ever belonged.
It is a privilege to have some time to help people to develop Fresh Expressions of Church across the Diocese of Norwich. My hope and prayer is that, we will be able to found Christian communities which are good at sharing the love of Jesus with those who don't easily relate to existing churches. Maybe God has given you a heart for some people in your area or a network of friends who you long to know God's love but you can't see how this could happen without a new approach. If so, I'd love to listen to you, to pray with you and if you wish, help you to find partners and resources for the next step.
Contact Sally on 01508 470762 or e-mail sally.gaze@norwich.anglican.org
Published on: 14/11/2011
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