it's very rare for me to take substantial notes in a talk but i found myself wanting to write down pretty much everything archbishop rowan williams said at the fresh expressions day yesterday. in case it's of interest to others here are my scribblings:

where does church begin? at pentecost? resurrection? in jesus' life and ministry? in his identification with the history of israel as god's people?… or back to creation? after all church is about what god wanted from before beginning of world (ephesians) – to be god's friends, god's invited. it's always going to be a bit difficult to identify where it begins and that's fine. and that's also fine with how we approach mission. we need to push away the notion of church as something that people sign up to in one way – discovering how complex peoples journeys are towards the heart of church, as it is related to journeying towards heart of god's purposes.

if we read gospels the church begins where jesus is with others. exactly how it then shapes up is quite a story but it begins with that encounter. we see a huge spectrum of encounters in the gospels: those that jump in feet first (peter), those that review their lives and start out on a path stumbling (matthew), those who start out frightened but reach out for a moment and touch jesus (woman with flow of blood), those who are interested and nervous who come to jesus by night and hear things that stick (nicodemus). which of those belong to the church? it could be confusing and that may be good that it is! we tend to assume that the feet first model is the authentic route but nicodemus for example does prove to be a follower. there's a spectrum of belonging with jesus. what holds them together is simply jesus – specifically jesus as suggesting, opening up newness. the landscape gets to look different when jesus is around. there's something rather basic and central in seeing things afresh, newness. we see that is the resurrection accounts – looking in the tomb becomes observing becomes seeing. the landscape reorganises as they 'see'.

fast forwarding to today and isn't mission about being people and communities around whom people see things differently – themselves and god? people see what they have never seen – possibilities. we need countless enterprises of local vision where people are enabled to see what they hadn't seen before. the pace, timescale on which people move is hugely varied. sometimes there is a rapid timescale in jesus' encounters, and sometimes a meandering long conversation. patience comes in – "i'll do my best to introduce you to jesus and see what happens. who knows what happens yet but we'll be there." this is difficult to explain to funding authorities who have tight and tidy timescales and outcomes. if we force the pace people feel invaded and manipulated and run. but sometimes we also miss the moment to ask the hard question. discernment is important.

leadership is about helping people see (not march in a straight line) – vision. of course helping people see presupposes we are alongside them and not in front – nudging, encouraging, suggesting, learning.

there is a question about sacramental life of church in lay communities? baptism and communion – one old understanding of them is that they are about being illuminated. we have seen the true light, our eyes have been opened. it makes me think that the sacraments are about celebrating those flashpoint moments when we see more than we expected – we get a glimpse of the landscape. in communion you see the rock split and the dead rising! how then do we approach these rhythms? and not stick with rigidity or pretend they are not big things? i have no glib solutions…

what kind of church do i imagine in the future?
it will be looking far less homogeneous in a couple of decades. its heart will be in small groups working at their relationships and their understanding – the cell – mutual formation of life and possibilities in the sort of group where people really trust one another. building personal face to face relationships – trust and friendships – is key across inherited and fresh expressions – informal mentoring, exchanges of experience with people who are different. at the other end of the spectrum – the big event, festival and celebration – has also grown in exciting ways. maybe these two poles are where the future lies? most of our communities are somewhere in-between which is ok but maybe clarity about those two ends will help. need to go on thinking quite hard about the small intentional and the large festival (interestingly this is why cathedrals have a part to play into the future). this i think is how i see the mixed economy working. context in which there is a flow of communication, good news, stories being shared – all held together by jesus and what he helps you see – the landscape transformed

[update: the talks from the day and the actual transcript of the talk are now uploaded here]