Leanna was baptized as an infant in her grandparents’ church and hadn’t been back since. I met her 40 years later when a mutual friend suggested she visit the fresh expression I was leading. Though Leanna hadn’t been connected to church, she described herself as spiritual and had regular mystical experiences with God.
Our spiritual community had formed the year before when a series of potlucks led to weekly conversations about life and following Jesus. We decided to start meeting at a pub and, since one of our members was banned from Murphy’s, we landed at the Boone Saloon. Our community was mostly comprised of folks who were spiritual but not religious, and Leanna felt right at home.
Learn more about Fresh Expressions
Parts 2 and 3 of this article series are coming soon! Revisit this page for links to future content from Luke Edwards.
Many resources are available as you explore the possibility of launching your own fresh expression:
- Fresh Expressions’ social media and website: Fresh Expressions United Methodist
- Edwards' book: Becoming Church: A Trail Guide for Starting Fresh Expressions
- Inspiring stories: Fresh expressions respond to Hurricane Helene
A shift toward spiritual but not religious
According to the 2023 Cooperative Election Study, 36% of American adults are non-religious (Gen Z and Millennials are higher at 42%). However, being unaffiliated does not mean a person is not spiritual. Springtide Research found that 60% of unaffiliated Gen Z Americans identified as at least slightly spiritual. Barna found that 74% of Americans would like to grow spiritually. The spiritually open are all around you: your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers.
Traditional forms of religion are largely ineffective in connecting with spiritual but not religious people, but an emerging movement called Fresh Expressions offers an alternative. Fresh expressions are new forms of church for people who are not already connected to church. They are connecting with people like Leanna across the globe.
Leanna was not comfortable in Sunday morning worship—she didn’t resonate with what the pastor was teaching, the music was unfamiliar, and the Lord’s Prayer “sounded creepy” when everyone said it all at once. However, on Sunday evenings in our fresh expression at the Boone Saloon, Leanna was able to read Scripture with us, ask questions, push back on things that didn’t make sense, and experience spiritual community. After a year, she shared that she felt the God that she had been praying to was the same God she was learning about on Sunday nights. Another year later, she gave her life to Christ.
What is a fresh expression?
The Fresh Expressions movement took shape in the Church of England and the British Methodist Church in 2004 when the denominations noticed innovative forms of church emerging in places like cafes and parks, among groups like moms and skaters. This movement of the Holy Spirit formalized and became known as Fresh Expressions. Since then, it’s been embraced by dozens of denominations across the globe, including United Methodists.
So, what are fresh expressions?
- Fresh expressions are new forms of church designed for spiritually open people who are not already a part of church. Fresh expressions meet people where they are on their spiritual journey. They typically gather in small groups where people can ask questions, share their thoughts and experiences, and grow alongside others in intimate community.
- Fresh expressions meet outside of the church building. Gatherings typically occur in public spaces, homes, cafes or the outdoors. We follow the example of Jesus and go to the people with whom we’d like to connect.
- Fresh expressions often gather around shared interests, passions or life experiences. Community is formed around shared interests like kayaking, or shared passions like ecological justice, or shared life experiences like single parenthood. Out of these connections we look for opportunities to form social and spiritual community.
- Fresh expressions are lay-led and clergy supported. Typically, a team of 2-3 people from a church come together to listen to the community and form a gathering. Clergy offer support to the fresh expression leaders, whether that is coaching, prayer or administering the sacraments.
Growing by Multiplying
In the Western North Carolina Conference, we have over 200 fresh expressions that have emerged from our local churches. We have dinner churches that gather around a shared meal, a bilingual gathering of women who create art inspired by Scripture, a Christian community of folks who are incarcerated and those who have been recently released, spiritual communities that gather outdoors, and many others.
While we haven’t collected attendance data, it’s safe to say that most of these fresh expressions are connecting with at least 10 people (and some are connecting with many more). That’s over 2,000 people who have joined our spiritual family since 2017.
Fresh expressions aren’t big and flashy; they don’t fill stadiums. They’re simple, small and led by ordinary people. They’re extending The United Methodist Church beyond our walls, into places we wouldn’t have been able to reach, forming Christian community with our spiritually open neighbors. The Holy Spirit is at work, pushing church folks out of their comfort zones and inviting the spiritually open into Christian community!
Luke Edwards is the author of Becoming Church: A Trail Guide for Starting Fresh Expressions. He is a United Methodist Elder and the Associate Director of Church Development for the Western North Carolina Conference. His newsletter on listening as a spiritual practice is called The Listening Church.