To maximise the potential for our churches to grow across Greater Manchester, the Diocese is keen to encourage creative thinking about Fresh Expressions of church.
A Fresh Expressions of church is new Christian congregation that has a different ethos and style to the church that planted it. This is because it is designed to reach a different group of people than those already attending the original church.
There is no single model to copy but a wide variety of approaches for a wide variety of contexts. The emphasis is on planting something appropriate to its context, rather than cloning something which works elsewhere. Fresh Expressions of church works alongside the parish church. They are not in competition with it, but complementary.
In Greater Manchester we have a number of examples of Fresh Expressions of Church, such as Sanctus1 and Sports Village Church. Both are examples of churches that have been established to reach a different people group.