Sheffield Centre team produce start-up guide for churches on Fresh Expressions

Church Army's team members George Lings and Claire Dalpra have teamed up with Steven Croft of Fresh Expressions to produce the booklet Starting a fresh expression - a short, practical and readable guide to help Christians stepping out in faith to start a new form of church to meet the needs of our changing culture.

Commenting on the guide, which went straight to number two in The Church Times top ten religious books list, Sheffield Centre Director George Lings says; "This booklet puts research into the hands of local leaders. The Sheffield Centre has observed a way to start church which is truly shaped by a mission process and we have learnt lessons that overturn some of the inherited ideas on what church is. I am delighted that through this booklet we can share some of the wisdom people are learning about what being church is."

The thirteen page guide is aimed at those thinking about starting up a fresh expression of church and is designed to be read and discussed with others or used as part of a training event or Church Council meeting. It is also written to accompany the DVD expressions which was launched last month by Church House Publishing and featured Church Army evangelist Ben Edson and Mandy Wright and their projects Sanctus 1 in Manchester and Sunday 4.6 in Devon. The guide is clearly and simply laid out with six key chapters and suggested points for discussion.

Copies of Starting a fresh expression are available from Church House Publishing for £5 for a pack of 5 at www.chpublishing.co.uk or by calling 020 7898 1451.

Supplementary material and a downloadable Powerpoint presentation on starting a fresh expression can be found on the fresh expressions web site http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/starting