New fresh expressions minister for Mersey Synod

On Saturday 19 May the Revd Trish Davies (pictured) was inducted as a full time special category (fresh expressions) minister in Mersey Synod.

Her time will be split equally between St David’s URC, Eastham, on the Wirral, and a wider Synod role; Trish sums up both as “taking the message of Jesus out of the building.”

The split appointment came out of the vision of the congregation of St David’s, who felt they needed to embrace change, and were keen to appoint a forward-looking fresh expressions minister to help them “rock the boat”; this boldness was contagious and led the Synod to devise this post that puts fresh expressions of church at its very heart.

With St David’s Trish will be looking at developing the church and congregation using fresh expressions thinking, and in the rest of her time she will be making similar Synod-wide efforts, encouraging churches to think about what fresh expressions might look like for them – and giving them the confidence to put their ideas into practice. Trish says: “I became a Christian in my early twenties – and I have to confess that church services seemed really weird to me. We easily forget just how strange church can seem to the unchurched … and I think that God has called me to this post to help bridge that gap, to get the message out there that God is relevant to people’s lives by bringing Him out of the four walls of a church building and into a place they are more familiar with.”

This role sees Trish’s return to full-time minster after a prolonged period of ill-heath; she says: “It’s a real privilege to be given this opportunity and I’m so looking forward to working with churches across the Synod – I can’t wait to get struck in, and, I hope, make a difference to congregations and communities across the region.”

www.freshexpressions.org.uk