Phill Mellstrom, Worship Development Worker with the Church of Scotland, looks at new worshipping communities.

THE Church of Scotland had a goal for the formation of 100 new worshipping communities in Scotland by July 1 2030 – it turns out we have significantly more than that!

But, what exactly do we mean by New Worshipping Community?

The Mission Development Team’s project to contact all these New Worshipping Communities, is helping us understand more fully what is going on and the exciting ways in which people are gathering.

Working with the wide variety of people involved in leading these new communities, the Faith Action Plan staff team hope to further support the development of emerging communities encouraging their creativity and passion.

New communities often form around areas of common interest or activity, but the community that is emerging is not necessarily a New Worshipping Community. There is an intentional move towards becoming a worshipping community and it is important to listen to the people who are forming these communities, to understand this intention.

What we see within many of the New Worshipping Communities are various types of spiritual practice that give an opportunity to try church differently. This might be in the outdoors through something like Forest Church, or in cafés and venues that are unlike typical church. The language and practice may seem unfamiliar, but this can often reflect an authentic spirituality and search for God that we need to take note of and be open to learning from.

The Fresh Expressions movement – which we partner with in forming new ways of being church throughout Scotland – suggest a prayerful cycle of reflecting on what is happening in the world around you as you consider forming some kind of community to explore faith together. The journey begins with listening, then moves to loving and serving, building community, exploring discipleship, church taking shape, and then doing it again. All of this is done with ongoing listening and reflecting, and all in relationship with the wider church. In 2017 the Church of Scotland’s Resourcing Worship Team launched a similar process. The ‘Conversations in’ resources were designed to help us think about how we might grow together in our worship, prayer, and in our journeys of discipleship – through sharing our stories and learning from each other. The ‘Conversations in Worship’ resource helps groups, large and small, to share stories about their encounters with God. Communities are encouraged to explore how, by sharing our experiences of encounter with God in and through worship, we can set the groundwork for building communities that authentically share, pray, learn, and worship together.

“ What we see within many of the New Worshipping Communities are various types of spiritual practice that give an opportunity to try church differently.

Worship develops most naturally when we learn to talk about it with one another. Similarly, with the Conversations in ‘Prayer’ and in ‘Discipleship’, there is an invitation to consider the individual journeys and common experiences that are important and formative in shaping spiritual practice and helpful in living out faith in community with others.

There are many people in our communities who have vibrant spiritual lives. As we listen more and gain a deeper understanding of the different shapes and styles of faith expression and discipleship journeys, we can be better equipped to help and empower individuals and groups to come together and worship God in creative and engaging ways. ¤