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fresh expressions of church

church and the rest of life. They seek to be responsive to post modern

culture, being in touch with preferences for ambiguity and antiquity. They

engage with post modern instincts in the preferences for a multi media

approach. The preferences are to work in a way which is diffuse not

focused, created locally rather than remotely, operates contextually

rather than institutionally, makes use of the symbolic and the subversive

rather than didactic, and is open ended in style. This represents one of

the most thoughtful attempts to relate worship and culture. Thus they

have a profoundly mission based instinct operating behind their worship,

though at the same time numbers of groups are distinctly uncomfortable

with any aggressive or blatant evangelism, as too modernist, directive

and narrow.

1

The alternative worship (alt.worship) stream, because it is significantly

populated by people departing from existing church, contains a strong

desire to be different and is among the most vocal in its repudiation of

existing church. The firmness of this posture means it is less clear about 

its own self identity beyond what it is not, and so far its communities do 

not seem to have demonstrated long term stability. It is a cause of major

celebration when an alt.worship community lasts ten years.

Alt.worship groups can be criticized for lack of any ongoing engagement

with mission   either social involvement or evangelism. However, because

they tend to act more as a safety net for those falling out of existing

church, they genuinely find it difficult to act as a fishing net for those still

outside church. People in recovery from an institution are not the most

obvious apologists to invite others to join. As the movement endures there

are some signs that this imbalance is being addressed.

A story: Grace in Ealing, London

2

Grace began in 1993 when a small group decided to put on

some services that would be different from the usual at their

church. The major motivation was an increasing frustration

with a church culture that played music that would never be

listened to at home, used language that wouldn't be used

anywhere else, and a diet that had become over familiar and

often irrelevant. Church had become something that was

`done to us'. The intention was to seek to worship God in ways

and forms that used the cultural resources of the 1990s   the

native language of those participating.

One aspect of the Christian tradition that Grace has

rediscovered is contemplation. The overall feel of most

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