In Depth:  church planting

Balham in London was once famously described by the late comedian Peter Sellers as the “gateway to the south” in a much-loved comedy parody of American travelogues.

Now decades later those words are proving prophetic as Christ Church Balham (CCB) seeks to reach out and plant a new church some six miles to its south. CCB is part of both the Co-Mission reformed church planting movement and the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE).

Emily Pollok

After moving around a lot over the past few years, most recently landing at a church in Nashville, Tennessee, Jonathan Worsley decided to come home last year.

Prompted by a longing for England and a conviction of the spiritual need in the UK, Worsley and his family joined with other Christians from Exeter and beyond to plant an FIEC church in the South West.

A church plant in the Merchant City area of Glasgow is embracing the historic motto of the city: “Lord let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of thy word and the praising of thy name.”

Neil Longwe and David Trimble share a vision of building a church that engages Glasgow’s culture, reaching out to those in search of spiritual renewal in this dynamic city. They are building a core team while worshipping with their “mother church”, Christ Church Glasgow. Given Glasgow’s drug crisis, they are exploring partnerships with mercy ministries to bring hope to those struggling with addiction.

Emily Pollok

You almost couldn’t get two more different places than the bustling metropolis of Moscow and what Ricky Wilhelm describes as the ‘sleepy seaside town’ of Penarth, Wales. Yet, married missionaries Ricky and Brandy have seen the gospel powerfully at work in both.

Ricky and Brandy grew up in Oklahoma and were married at age 19. Inspired by a visit to their campus from missionaries in Russia, the couple decided to enter the mission field and spent the next eight years of their life working with the Udmurt people in the Volga region of Russia. ‘Love for the people came quite slowly,’ Ricky explained. ‘It was hard … Americans are admired in many ways but not necessarily loved by other cultures.’

Dave Williams

More than 12 churches have either started since 2020 or are set to start in Britain’s second largest city, the ‘Birmingham Collective’ reports.

The group was set up in 2010 (then called 2020 Birmingham) and comprises leaders from the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), Newfrontiers and Acts 29. With many churches closing over the next few years, the group says it is only scratching the surface, while Birmingham’s population is growing rapidly.

Milla Ling-Davies

The London Seminary have hosted their annual Plant Conference – encouraging and equipping around 15 leaders from different networks in church planting.

The aim of the day – which took place as part of London Seminary’s wider ‘Plant’ course – was to help those wanting to begin vibrant new congregations to meet, think and discuss their plans. Three morning sessions were led by Dan Steel, principal of Yarnton Manor (pictured) and former pastor of Magdalen Road Church in Oxford, and Barry King, who runs the ‘Plant’ course. The afternoon finished with a Q&A session, giving attendees the chance to learn from more experienced church planters.

Planting new churches to reach people with the good news of Jesus has always been part of the culture of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) and one that AMiE recognises will need to take different forms to suit a changing landscape across England.

One such church that AMiE is hoping to plant is in Bracknell with Nick Algeo, an ordained minister with a licence from the Diocesan Bishop of AMiE to start a church. Nick is moving with his family to Bracknell in the summer of 2025, and is looking to start Sunday services soon after. Over the next few months, he hopes to raise financial support and gather the beginnings of a group to start the church. A daunting prospect, but one that he trusts and prays that God will provide the resources for.

The Northern Gospel Project is seeking to see 30 gospel churches planted in Greater Manchester by 2030, through training, funding, and providing care for church planters and their teams.

So far, we have trained 15 church planters through the Incubator training course, cared for seven church planters through Planters Collectives, and raised £63,000 to seed fund church plants across the city.

Milla Ling-Davies

This autumn, a group of around 100 adults and children came together to launch a new church on an estate in Tolworth, south west London.

Hope Church Tolworth is an initiative between members of Cornerstone Church, Kingston (who are a part of church-planting network Co-Mission) and others who have come from Emmanuel Church, Tolworth (who are Anglican). They met for the first time on Sunday 24 November in a local Primary School building, following months of gathering for prayer, picnics and meals. The pastor is Bart Erlebach, who was formerly the minister of Emmanuel, Tolworth.

Nicola Laver

A church plant on the Norfolk coast, a spiritually barren region with few churches, is now in its second year and looking for co-workers and more leaders.

Grace Church North Norfolk in East Runton began in Summer 2023 with six former members of Cromer Baptist Church. After almost 120 years, Cromer Baptist had been facing potential closure for several reasons, including an ageing membership. It relocated to a former Methodist building in East Runton in 2018.

Milla Ling-Davies

In a display of unity, three churches in Worcestershire have overcome stylistic and theological differences to form a new church plant, recognised by the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches).

Set to officially launch in January 2025, the formation of the new Grace Church Kidderminster occurred after two churches in the Wyre Forest each approached the lead pastor of nearby Woodgreen Church, Richard Lacey, for help. With small and aging congregations, both Kidderminster Evangelical Church (KEC) and Christ Church Wyre Forest, (CCWF) had recognised a need for external assistance – they contacted Lacey within weeks of each other.

Milla Ling-Davies

On Saturday 6 January 2024, Dan James had an encouraging answer to the prayer he’d been praying for 11 years: a church was planted on his council estate in South Leicester.

In 2013, primary school teacher Dan and his wife Jamie moved into Eyres Monsell council estate and their hearts were gripped by both its physical and spiritual needs – there was no gospel church there. ‘Convinced that God’s primary mission strategy is a healthy local church, we started praying for one to begin,’ Dan shared with en. Just over a decade on from those first prayers, after plans, bold initiatives and setbacks, 100 people gathered on the estate this January to commission Eyres Monsell Community Church and Dan as its pastor.

Dave Gobbett, Lead Pastor, Highfields Church Cardiff, writes: It is a great thrill to report the launch of a new gospel congregation in South Wales.

November 5th will be the date to remember as the first meeting of Penarth Evangelical Church (penarthchurch.org.uk), planted by Highfields Church, Cardiff. With a core team of around 30 led by three elders, between 70 and 80 people, young and old, mature believers and interested enquirers, are now gathering together each week, committed to Bible-believing, cross-preaching, soul-reaching, and community-creating life together.

Milla Ling-Davies

A new initiative called Cant i Gymru has the ambitious aim of seeing 100 healthy churches planted in Wales within the next decade.

Cant i Gymru (meaning ‘100 for Wales’ in English) is ‘a collective of gospel friends’ from across the world and Wales. According to their website, they are ‘believing God for a fresh wave of missional planting in Cymru’, and aim to do this by providing pastoral support, uniting in prayer, and equipping and sending out church planters.

The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is a growing diocese. From its very first days, church planting has been a key aspect of what AMiE has sought to do – hardly surprising given its name. In recent months, AMiE have launched their 10:20 Planting Plan in which they hope to plant ten new churches by 2025 and a further twenty by 2030.

New church plants may come in many different shapes and sizes and Grace Community Church in Bury is just one example of what an AMiE church plant could look like.

Three new churches are being planted this year in working-class communities in the West of Scotland.

The initiative is being led by the organisation 20schemes, which is committed to planting and revitalising churches in Scotland’s poorest areas, known locally as ‘schemes’.

A church plant has launched in the new community of Tornagrain, near Inverness.

Tornagrain Community Church is being led by Innes Macsween (see photo with his wife Anna and their two children), who is the Assistant Minister at Smithton Free Church in Inverness. He is supported by a launch team of around 25 adults and 12 children.

At least two new churches have been planted in Ireland in tandem with the recent ‘What’s the Story?’ (WTS) outreach initiative in Ireland.

Christ City Church in central Dublin (some members pictured) had been looking to plant a church in the more residential area in the south of the city to reach the people there.

Nicola Laver

From two to more than 120 people in nine years – a London church plant which began with a couple meeting individuals in the first year before launching as a living-room Bible study, is now planning to send its very first convert to start a new church in West London.

Malcolm Riley and his wife moved to London in 2013 with a desire to reach the next generation from the city centre. They came with literally nothing, having just left St Ebbe’s Oxford; with no staff team, no core group, no salary, no vicarage and no church building. ‘But we had two Bibles,’ said Malcolm.

Co-Mission says it is ‘thrilled’ about three new church plants that, ‘in God’s kindness’, have just launched in London.

Redeemer Queen’s Park in north-west London launched on Saturday 25 September at 4 p.m. in Salusbury (sic) Primary School. Over the last year, God has graciously assembled a core team of 25 adults with a few kids to boot. Amazingly, 65 adults and 13 kids turned up for their launch, and even more the second week! Most arrived through personal relationships with the core team. Others connected with Redeemer through flyering or social media. The church’s university outreach and its children’s work are big draws.

A new church in Chester is getting under way.

On Sunday 5 September, Trinity Church Chester held its first Sunday service, meeting in the Welsh Presbyterian Church building in Chester city centre. There was a congregation of 27, including two passers-by who caught the final five minutes of the sermon, and the service was taken by the Revd Deiniol Williams (see photo).

Thirty people have gathered to witness the constitution of Grace Church Walthamstow in North East London, and the induction of ’Wale Akinrogunde as the pastor.

Formerly known as Church Hill Baptist Church, the original church was founded in 1633 and stood as the oldest Reformed Baptist Church in London, but sadly closed down in 2014. It was agreed that efforts should be made to replant a church in the same building.

A pioneering Scottish church planting initiative is hoping to establish three new congregations.

Ben Hansen of 20Schemes writes: ‘Almost one third of Glasgow’s population resides within the top 10% of Scotland’s most deprived areas.

With the aim of planting 30 churches by 2023, a Church Planting Director has been announced by the Free Church of Scotland.

The Revd Neil MacMillan said: ‘Planting new churches is a vital part of our mission in secular Scotland. As we sustain and nourish existing congregations, the gospel also drives us outwards to new places and new people. The most important element of this challenge is prayer, so pray for a movement of God’s Spirit in our nation so that we can do all this and much more.’

Three evangelical church plants in differing networks have taken their first steps forward across the UK.

Grace Church Beckenham

Pastor of the new Grace Church Beckenham, Matt Dew-Jones, says people in this new congregation are passionate about both Beckenham itself, and God’s grace. ‘God is a giver (in so many ways), and ultimately at the cross. As we see a world marked by taking …we love that [God] gives forgiveness and the power to change.’ In statements on their website, the church is clear it wants to ‘become generous like Jesus. We want our lives, our time, energy and money to be used to serve Jesus and His world’ and they want to be a place where ‘people like me love people who are not like me in a committed church family’.

In 2014, Graham and Tineke Wintour moved to Balmedie, some eight miles north of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Balmedie is a seaside village, home to 2,500 people, and is well-known for the local golf course which is owned by US President Donald Trump.