New Worshipping Communities

Church can look different to what we might have traditionally known. New Worshipping Communities are exactly that – worshipping communities that are new!

As we learn to pay attention to what God is doing in the world and seek to join in, we might begin to recognise the opportunity to partner with local people in creating a new ‘contextual’ Christian community for people who wouldn’t normally join one.

Ordained Pioneer and Mission PhD researcher, Ian Mobsby, explains what we mean by ‘contextual’ in this helpful blog piece on the national Church of England website.

There is a huge variety of New Worshipping Communities – they can, and will, look different to one another in their form, but their root and core is the same. They will worship the Triune God revealed in Jesus and will have the same key characteristics as any other thriving and healthy Church, for example:

They have some sort of devotional element (for example it could feature prayer, reading or exploring Scripture, considering big questions about life and faith, conversations or opportunities that introduce or explore the Triune God, singing, Eucharist – any or all of those things).

They are centred on God.

They are intentional in helping form disciples. 

They are geared towards those not already part of ‘Church’.

Watch the video above from Diocesan Synod - February 2022, which highlights stories from around the diocese of what it means to be a Mixed Ecology church.