St. Thomas' Church Sheffield, England

And a believer, after all, is a lover; as a matter of fact, when it comes to enthusiasm, the most rapturous lover of all lovers is but a stripling compared with a believer.

— Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher

First Encounters

I was unprepared for my experience at St. Thomas', an Anglican church in Sheffield, England. Earlier that day I had perused their auditorium, a renovated warehouse that could hold barely one thousand people. And as a researcher and writer on church growth I knew that churches in Europe rarely grew over one thousand attendees, with even smaller gatherings in the Anglican Church and among younger generations. Therefore I was astounded when arriving late for Sunday evening worship I found crowds of young people extending out the door. I estimated there were over seventeen hundred attendees, almost all under the age of thirty. I wondered what was happening, as I began a four-day exploration into one of Europe's fastest growing postmodern churches.

"Our story is really the story of a missional church with a clustered structure,"explained former rector Mike Breen, who, sporting a plaid shirt, jeans, and closely cropped hair, looked nothing like my memory of an English rector. "By missional we mean a networked congregation where being 'sent' is stressed, rather than just sending others."He explained that writings by Darrell Guder and Eddie Gibbs had led them to see a missional church as "an organism or tribe, unified by a mission to reach unchurched friends with utmost flexibility."

Dashboard

Church: Saint Thomas' Church (mother church) and The Philadelphia Church (daughter church)

Leaders: Mike Breen (former rector), Mick Woodhead (current rector), Paul Maconochie (pastor of Philadelphia campus), Anne MacLaurin (assistant pastor)

Location: Sheffield, England

Affiliations: Anglican Church of England, Baptist Union of Great Britain

Size: 1700+

Audience: Non-Christians, postmoderns, multiple generations, and diverse social classes throughout and around Sheffield, England

Websites: sttoms.net; tribalgeneration.com

A Fusion of Rhythms

Shared Rhythms

The Rhythm of Place

St. Thomas mirrors many organic congregations, meeting in unusual locations as availability and adaptability require. Originally headquartered within the stately stone walls of St. Thomas' Anglican Church, the church's growth drove them to lease Sheffield's largest disco: the Roxy. Within three years had packed the Roxy, largely resembling an American mega-church. "We filled the Roxy but were really just like most mega-churches with brittleness and disconnection," recalled Paul Maconochie, a thirty-four-year-old former chemistry teacher and now one of the leaders tapped to replace Breen.

While one portion of the church grew in the downtown disco, mother church also grew, choosing to continue worship services in the stately confines of St. Tom's. The church now resembled many organic churches with two distinct campuses, allowing to provide diverse options in music, liturgy, and ministry.

The Rhythm of Worship

The two locations allowed experimentation in music as well as liturgy. St. Tom's, now referred to as the mother church, hosted Sunday worship services: a more traditional early service, followed by a modern service. The traditional service continued draw traditional Anglicans from the neighborhood, while the modern option drew city residents who wanted updated worship still retained traditional elements and atmospheres in keeping the stately halls of St. Tom's.

The worship celebrations at the Roxy nightclub followed more modern route. Today in a converted warehouse, this postmodern worship celebration embraces rhythmic music, testimonials from the crowd, prayer for salvation as well as personal needs, and worship that is led by listening than by liturgy. When I attended, I noticed a leader on platform holding a fist of archery arrows. He did not embarrassed, self-conscious, or even in the slightest concerned about an explanation. It was not until later his testimony did we learn that God had directed him purchase arrows from the window of a small sports shop Sheffield. Dutifully following what he perceived as leading, the leader encountered a distraught shopkeeper who responded joyfully to the encounter and was in attendance at the celebration. More testimonials the crowd followed, and while in many nonorganic churches, these testimonials might follow the format of praising God for some personal healing or need addressed; this missional congregation, almost all of the testimonials about connecting the good news to friends, relatives, appreciation for God's Word, his power, and his desire to the Sheffield community.

The Rhythm of Discipleship and the Word

From its beginning to this day, St. Thomas' retains much of its Anglican heritage in its theology, its discipleship expectations, its rites. And it parallels other organic churches by requiring passage into leadership that crosses several well-defined demarcations. The Order of Mission (which they abbreviate to TOM) is requisite and written strategy for those who wish to join the In TOM, attendees will find three levels of commitment.

The first stage of commitment is to become a "temporary," introductory period that broadly parallels the novitiate in monasteries. During this time the temporary gains experience participation in a lay-led ministry. This position is analogous to the new recruit in many nonorganic congregations; but the organic church, it is seen not as end, but as a point of departure.

The second stage involves becoming a "permanent," which by very name denotes a long-term commitment to the church and mission. These will be the committed church leaders, which in nonorganic congregations are often the 20 percent that seem to do percent of the work. However, at St. Tom's the expectation is permanents will be managers, expected to direct and oversee ministry conducted by temporaries.

Finally, associates are individuals or churches who share St. missional perspective. This is St. Tom's way of defining who are networked to it.

The church's missional perspective is clearly stated in TOM, in under the heading "Why Establish a Missionary Order?" declare: "We...