The number of people even within the Co-Mission Senior Staff who thought that God would provide the full complement for our first cohort of Antioch Planters could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.
But remarkably and very wonderfully God has not only sent 14 men who have joined the Co-Mission pioneering church planting initiative, the Antioch Plan, applicants have even had to be turned away. This experience has been both a rebuke and a thrill because of God’s goodness.
The 14 men were commissioned in June at the recent Co-Mission Bible Festival, Revive. It was a session of great excitement. Hundreds heard the evangelistic heartbeat of these men as they described their reasons for wanting to join the scheme and their hopes for their intended plants.
Notable features
As the leadership of the scheme have reflected on those God has added to the team, three notable features have become evident.
The first is the diversity of the planters. There’s a wide spread of age including young men in their twenties, family men and one man heading towards retirement. There’s a spread of ethnic and social background. And planters have come with both Anglican and Free Church affiliation.
The second notable feature is the variety of contexts into which they hope to be located. All of the church plants will be launched in London. But the range of proposed locations expresses Co-Mission’s intention to reach the many cultures in the capital city. The planters are hoping to reach Bangladeshis in East London, Koreans in West London, the South American immigrant community spread all over the London boroughs, families in the suburbs as well as young professionals in Central London and the working-class estates in North-East London and Croydon.
Already trained and experienced
Thirdly, the quality of the applicants. The overwhelming majority of the planters come with prior theological training and extensive ministry experience. The Antioch Church Planting Training Scheme has had to be radically altered in order to reflect the calibre of candidates that the Lord has sent.
Together with the hundreds who were present to commission these Antioch Planters at Revive please prayerfully support these bold new initiative for the gospel as they work alongside many other evangelicals in preaching the gospel of Christ crucified.
