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People Try To Put Us Down

Click on the booklet to read the first section online.

It is appropriate that as Encounters on the Edge reaches the end of it's 10th year, and it's 40th issue, the latest issue – called People Try to Put Us Down – investigates fresh expressions of church among older people. This is to counter a common criticism of fresh expressions: that it is in danger of becoming shorthand for young and trendy. 

In the introduction, George Lings, director of Church Army's Research Unit, confesses: 'I write this booklet approaching the threshold of becoming 60. What a mix of feelings it is. It has to be partly a confession of ageism to admit that while there have been 39 previous Encounters on the Edge stories, only now does one get written about a whole third of the UK population, the over 50s.' 

The issue focuses on the story of St Giles, Northampton, remarkable in their recruitment of a full-time staff member for older people. Two vital questions are asked: 'How do you know whether a ministry is also church?' and 'What does fresh really mean?' It is also pointed out that there is a significant diversity between those aged 50 and 105 – is this fully appreciated? George helpfully concludes that fresh expressions are about 'seriously asking who we are trying to be church for and what their culture is'.