The Institute of Evangelism

Every Church an Evangelizing Community!

Sue Kalbfleisch

About Sue Kalbfleisch

Sue Kalbfleisch is FXCA's Messy Church Coordinator. Sue lives in Hamilton Ontario and is a retired teacher. She is now active in promoting fresh expressions of church in the Diocese of Niagara and was previously Fresh Expressions Canada Vision Day coordinator. Sue has also organized and led Youth and Sunday school programs and Youth retreats.

FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Meeting with Rachel Jordan at Church House on Great Smith Street, London

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

Church of England General Synod Room I Church House
Rachel and Andy in Church House

We met with Dr. Rachel Jordan, Associate National Mission & Evangelism Advisor (Church of England) who developed the Vision Day PowerPoint program materials and activities. An engaging and dynamic personality, Rachel will be in Toronto in February as keynote speaker for the Vital Church Planting conference.

Rachel is currently reviewing and updating the Vision Day program materials to make them more contextual and engaging. We had a lively discussion about some concerns from the Canadian Vision Day experiences and discussed how to improve the overall experience

PS: In addition to Fresh Expressions, another of Rachel’s passions is “Jaffa cakes” !

FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Meeting with Bob Franklyn, International Coordinator for Fresh Expressions

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

Photo: Sue and Bob in front of Methodist Central Hall, London
Photo: Sue and Bob in front of Methodist Central Hall, London

We met in the Wesley Café in the Methodist Central Hall where Bob gave us an update on what is happening with Fresh Expressions both in the UK and internationally. The FE ecumenical partnership of the Church of England and the Methodist church has expanded to include the United Reform Church (Presbyterians and others) and the Congregational Federation.\

He advised that the FE website will have a new look including international postings on the site (e.g., Canadian “Church On Tap” video). The new site will be up some time next week so check it out at www.freshexpressions.org.uk . In addition, a new FE Sacramental DVD will be available this fall.

FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Messy Church with founder Lucy Moore

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

Sue Kalbfleisch, Paul and Lucy Moore
Sue Kalbfleisch, Paul and Lucy Moore

Andy and I were warmly welcomed by Lucy Moore and her husband, the Rev’d Dr. Paul Moore (Vicar of St. Wilfrid’s Church) for lunch, great coffee, and a time to chat about Messy Church and Fresh Expressions.

Since the first Messy Church at St. Wilfrid’s, the number of Messy Churches registered on Lucy’s website includes over 100 found in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. According to Lucy’ first book, ‘Messy Church: Fresh Ideas for building a Christ-centred community’ (2006), “At its heart, Messy Church aims to create the opportunity for parents, caregivers and children to enjoy expressing their creativity, sit down together to eat a meal, experience worship, and have fun within a church context.”

As a generalization, Lucy explained that of the people who attend most Messy Churches about a third are already church members of their church, a third attend other churches, and a third have no other church home.

Worship space at St. Wilfred’s Church
Worship space at St. Wilfred’s Church

We are looking forward to attending a national UK Messy Church conference on September 14th and 15th so will report on that later! For more information about Messy Church (and a brief video from St. Wilfrid’s), please visit www.messychurch.org.uk

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FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Night Church at the Exeter Cathedral

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter
The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter
Mark Pavey (left) and Steve Jones (right) in the Diocese of Exeter Office garden.
Mark Pavey (left) and Steve Jones (right) in the Diocese of Exeter Office garden.

The Rev’d Canon Mark Rylands, the Canon Missioner for the Diocese of Exeter and Steve Jones, lay staff member with the Diocese of Exeter as well as the Methodist Circuit, founded Night Church, a Fresh Expression of church two years ago. Night Church meets in the Exeter Cathedral on Friday evenings and sees attendance of 100-200 on “low” days to 1000+ during their “go large” events. Attendees make choices of participating in a variety of groups such as prayer, meditation, discussionat each gathering. Music is various from ambient, to some instrumental to a band, and so on.

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The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter
The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter

Since Mark has been appointed Bishop of Shrewsbury, we met with Steve and Phil Pavey (doing a volunteer placement) to discuss Night Church and Fresh Expressions development in general.

For more information on Night Church, see www.nightchurch.org.uk

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FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Church Unplugged

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

Photo: Sue and Dave Male
Photo: Sue and Dave Male

Meeting with Rev’d Dave Male on Monday, September 7th at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Author of “Church Unplugged”, Dave is a tutor in Pioneer Mission Training (Ridley Hall & Westcott House, CambridgeUniversity) and Fresh Expressions Advisor for the Diocese of Ely.

We met to discuss Dave’s work with Pioneering Ministry and Fresh Expressions. For Dave it is important to establish an environment in which people with pioneering and innovative gifts can use their gifts – and then within a like-minded community Fresh Expressions can flourish. Participating in a Mission Shaped Intro course is a way to bring people together and Dave suggests it is best for a group of 2 or 3 from a church attend together.

Dave suggests meeting with entrepreneurial Christian businessmen as a way to brainstorm and create new ideas for ministry.

FX Pilgrimage Liveblog: Moot

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Sue and Andy Kalbfleisch travelled to the UK in September 2009 to explore fresh expressions of church, and are liveblogging their travels here.

Andy sharing a joke with Moot community member Elizabeth as Ian looks on.
Andy sharing a joke with Moot community member Elizabeth as Ian looks on.

The Moot community, led by Rev’d Ian Mobsby, is located in St. Mary Woolnoth Church, in the heart of London’s financial district. The group meets from 6:30 onward on Sunday evenings beginning with refreshments and then worship begins at 7:00. This area of London is a “ghost town” on Saturdays and Sundays with restaurants and shops being closed, so everyone travels in to Moot.

On Sunday evening there were about 25 worshipers at Moot including folk from the area as well as some German youth leaders and a priest from New Zealand.

Worship included an adapted Compline service with a time of meditation. Ian joined the participants andJon Oliver – a pioneer ministry student on a summer placement from Cambridge, led the service.

Moot is a safe place for people who have issues in their lives – it is non-judgmental, inclusive, welcoming, and engaging. Following closing prayer on Sunday, a young woman who had been in London for only a year expressed her thanks to the group for their care and support of her through a very difficult time in London.

About half the group went to the pub following the service to continue the conversation and to share community – and a beer of course!

Link: http://www.moot.uk.net

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