Fresh Expressions

Baigent designed a website to support this five year initiative (by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York) to enable the local development of fresh expressions of church life in every part of England by: 

• encouraging online communication about fresh expressions; 
• promoting the initiative;
• training and supporting participants.

The project’s first priority was to reach out to people, communicate the initiative and map what was already in place. It was essential the site reflect the character of the project – less traditional, more contemporary – so church imagery, symbolism and people are used in an inspirational style, alongside clear navigation.

The heart of the website, the Online Directory, is the first section within this navigation. Visitors can find Fresh Expressions by location, denomination and/or subject category. In addition to delivering information directly, the site also enables visitors to receive an email newsletter to find out about project developments. Visitors can also view training run by fresh expressions and other agencies and also download publications for use in training and discussion.

Users can also register a new fresh expression online. Content is approved by the Fresh Expressions team before being uploaded and information within the directory is linked with the team’s database, to allow analysis.

• 638 fresh expressions have been registered already and the initiative has achieved significant media coverage.
• There were 25,511 sessions on the site in July 2007 alone.
• The site has 4,079 email newsletter subscribers.
• Approximately 3,000 documents are downloaded each month.