I confess.  I stay up late at night blogging.  Actually, I read blogs (short for “web logs” – personal pages on the Internet that offer the writer’s daily or occasional thoughts and invite conversation), and the ones to which I return most often tend to be the ones that chronicle the “emerging church” scene in the United Kingdom.  (For a quick refresher on this subject, turn to the Sept./Oct. and Nov./Dec. issues of Light and Life, and – if you are a real pack-rat – the September Gospel Trumpet.  Or go to the online participatory encyclopedia, “Wikipedia,” to look for “emerging church.”) 

In the US, the “emerging church” movement is largely (although by no means only) a conversation among people coming from a “Vineyard/Baptist/independent evangelical” perspective (as observed – correctly, I think -- by Londoner Jonny Baker, in jonnybaker.blogs.com), and its critics are also largely from that same sector. In the UK, however, the formation of congregations geared to contemporary culture and a missional mindset often operates within the established church structure, that is, the Anglican Church, which now operates in close partnership with the Methodist Church (John Wesley would be pleased). These new congregations often receive institutional support and recognition as “Fresh Expressions of Church.”  The Fresh Expressions website (http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/) defines its task as follows:

According to the best available research, approximately 60% of the British population are probably beyond the reach of the churches. This proportion is much higher in urban areas and among the under forties. It is increasing year by year. Many people in this group have a belief in God; many are interested in spiritual things and in Christian spirituality. But the gap between where they are now and church is too wide to be easily crossed.  The challenge for the churches in evangelism in the next decade is therefore to develop a both-and strategy:  Both to continue our mission of sharing faith to this 40% of the population who have some church background and connection and to develop new ways of sharing faith with the 60% of the population who are beyond the reach of the churches. This part of the strategy means developing fresh expressions of church life in a range of different ways.

In short, according to Archbishop Rowan Williams, “The church of the future will be a mixed economy. There will be traditional churches sharing faith with those on the edge and fresh expressions of church reaching out to those who know little or nothing of Christian faith.”

This approach strikes me as potentially very relevant to smaller churches in this country as well.  Can small churches individually express a “mixed economy,” both honoring traditional ways of worship and “being church” and also being the spiritual home of those just beginning to explore Christian faith?  This is a difficult balancing act, indeed, but would be, perhaps, the fullest expression of what it means to be disciples making disciples.

So it was with great interest that I went in search of a Fresh Expression community in London called Moot that I knew from its well-written, entertaining (and occasionally zany) blog.  (Moot also has the great advantage of being near the Westminster Tube stop, making it easy for someone new to London to find.)  Its “priest-missioner” is Ian Mobsby (although Ian is not one for official titles).  The Sunday night service that I attended at Moot was designed by Andrew, a long-time member of Moot (four years is long in this very new world of Fresh Expressions); several participants contribute a worship service two or three times a year.  In addition to familiar worship elements such as prayer and Scripture, the service included extensive use of various video communication methods, silence, and discussion (my subgroup talked about “how do we learn about God?”). In addition, on Tuesday I returned to the book study, again led by a (different) member of the community.  I was impressed at the passion to know God and to commit seriously to the key practices of Christian life that I found among those at Moot.  On both occasions, there was ample opportunity afterward for fellowship and continued lively discussion. (If you have a computer, you can see some pictures of the service and read the outline of the book study on http://www.moot.uk.net/blog/mootblog.htm)

Moot and Ian encounter many of the same difficulties found in similar new attempts here.  Money and numbers are always issues.  Relating to the host church, to the hierarchy, and to the neighborhood all go through the expected ups and downs.  But Moot has been going long enough, it seems to me, to offer some valuable guidance.  Here are my preliminary observations and thoughts: church size is a vitally important factor in confronting cultural barriers (hint: small is better); encouraging participation can be, itself, a way of discipleship; and ancient approaches (including communities modeled on some features of monastic life) retain powerful appeal today. 

If you can, do a little reading and exploring on these subjects yourself (try not to stay up too late, though).  You are bound to be encouraged at the vitality of our faith in an astonishing range of cultural settings.