News & Events
Mobilise 2012 Interview with Matt Hatch
At Mobilise 2012, Matt Hatch who leads the UKCP team was interviewed about Church Planting in the UK. Watch the video to hear what he had to say.
The Way, the Truth and the Life
When I was a student (long ago!), there was a craze for trying to cram as many people as possible into phone boxes and Minis.
Nowadays we play the same game on Sunday morning in the dedicated large room on the ground floor of our home on the south-west edge of central Paris!
It’s been three years since my wife Kerry and I came here with a clear commission and prophetic confirmation from God to start a new church called ‘le Chemin, la Vérité et la Vie’ (CVV) and God has blessed us mightily.
When the church plant started in October 2008, there was a core group of about 20-25 people. We saw slow but steady numerical growth for the first two and a half years and then, more recently, an acceleration. The number of people who would now regard CVV as their church is around 90-100 although thankfully they are never all present on the same day! We did manage to get just over 90 into the room at the last water baptism service!
Three quarters of the church are French and all meetings are conducted in French; the Brits and other internationals all make their best efforts and it works well.
Many in the church live right across the Paris region and some travel at least an hour to get to the Sunday meeting, with the average travel time at least 30 minutes. This is a challenge in seeking to build community, but we have a growing network of life groups across different parts of the city - currently five and probably at least two new ones early in 2012.
Knowing that God’s purpose is for us to grow, we have been looking for somewhere larger to meet since 2009. We have visited, telephoned and emailed hundreds of different places including cinemas, theatres, conference centres, other church buildings and private schools (it is not possible to hold church meetings in state schools in France). We have not yet found a suitable location which would be available permanently for Sunday meetings, so we have now begun a nomadic life of moving from one place to another on successive Sundays. However, in recent weeks a potential opportunity has come up for a permanent home in an ideal building in the very centre of the city - so this is currently our main prayer focus and would be a wonderful fulfilment of God’s prophetic promises and faithfulness.
Our leadership team from the start has been made up of myself and two men to whom God spoke in very different ways about joining CVV. For George (and Gill) Tee, for 10 years the leader of the Jubilee Church in Coventry, there was a heart conviction and many prophetic words for them to move to Paris in summer 2008. For Johan and Maryse Sode, who had been in Paris for the last 30 years, it was a longer process of prayer and conviction that they were being called to a new venture in a new church on the other side of town. For all of us, it has been a challenging time of change and personal growth which will no doubt continue as God leads us into the next phase.
We are now seeking to develop a wider leadership team as different giftings become apparent and we rejoice that God has sent us many talented musicians and young men well able to preach. 2012 is going to be an exciting time as we see the next stage of God’s plan unfold for Paris.
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Reproduced from Connect Magazine, Spring 2012.
Church Plants should Plant Churches
Should the local church be involved in planting churches? How quickly should a church planter think about planting out again? I want to argue that we need to plan and develop strategises for further plants in the early days of the initial church plant! Church planting must be in our DNA.
To those who are just starting out in pioneering a brand new church, it may feel irresponsible or even arrogant to plan for another church plant before you have achieved the goal of growing the first one. The reason this intentionality is so important is that you tend to get what you plan for. Those leaders who have a desire to send people and plant new churches but do not have a plan find that they don’t achieve their stated intention. This is because without a game plan other seemingly important things crowd their diaries and dominate the churches agenda.
At Christ Church Manchester, Tim Simmonds and I regularly find ourselves deep in conversation, often looking and conceptually planning the next CCM site or church plant. People who have recently joined the church spark our imagination and subsequent discussion can stimulate this. Or sometimes our dreams, more often daydreams, catalyses a conversation that gets the adrenalin pumping with an audacious and often unrealistic plan.
In this environment church planting can take on momentum that comes somewhere near the prophesy of planting 1000 churches John Kpikpi mentioned at the Stoneleigh Bible week 1999.
This article first appeared on Colin Baron’s blog.
Bradford and the Aire Valley
Stewart and Gaynor Morris have been church planting in Bradford & the Aire Valley since mid 2010. Gaynor shared their ‘story so far’ in the latest Connect Magazine. We caught up with her again recently and asked for an update.
Having become a Christian at Leeds University in the late eighties, I reluctantly left Yorkshire and in the mid-nineties married Stewart, knowing his heart was fully committed to The King’s Church, High Wycombe. Only a divine intervention would shift his focus!
Whilst attending the Together on a Mission conference in 2007, Jeremy Simpkins was leading a brief prayer time for church planting in the M62 corridor. At this time Stewart had a vision of being lifted up and transported to an area of green hills and valleys’ coinciding with the Holy Spirit filling him with God’s compassion and love for the people in this place. Stewart could not ignore this call, and following meetings with Steve Tibbert and Jeremy, was invited to church plant in Bradford and the Aire Valley. The journey to move north took three years in all! We were keen to be passed well, like a baton, from one region to another. There were many highlights’ particularly the support of the leadership team at King’s Church, and how we were embraced by the Yorkshire Team.
Now in Bradford, the cost of what we have left behind propels us onward. High Wycombe had been Stewart’s family and spiritual home for nearly 30 years, and he had been part of a church that grew from a living room to a large auditorium, from 40 people to over 500. Reflecting on the move, Stewart commented, “Giving up full time leadership of 12 years, at a very fruitful juncture, and taking up part time employment outside the church, was actually not that difficult. Unsurprisingly, the greatest cost has been relational, due to deeply forged bonds over many years and recent friendships with those new to the faith.” Leaving was never going to be easy! On our last Sunday morning, we experienced such a surge of strong emotions for this supportive spiritual home.
Fear of the future was a real challenge during those bridging months.
Moving our 10-year-old daughter away from extensive church youth work, a Jesus-centred C of E school and great secondary school options felt costly. We sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the story of Abraham’s willingness to give up Isaac, and felt challenged to trust Natalie’s life into his care too.
So how about the first few months of being parachuted into a new city and life? As pioneers, we are celebrating the joy of the new adventure. The tough days are those where we feel isolated and unknown. On these days our minds are naturally drawn back to the familiar routines and the confidence of relationships back in High Wycombe. As the days have ticked on, establishing friendship at the school gate, seeing God’s provision of part time jobs for us serving the local communities, and the warm welcome from Gateway Church Leeds and Bradford Family Church have all helped steady the transition.
On a lighter note, home life has been full of food and visiting friends: we wonder what our neighbours think of our frequent visitors! Despite the occasional need to draw up the ramparts for vital recuperation, we are encouraged by the momentum in the church plant as others move from High Wycombe and as we gather more locally!
Six months has passed since this above section was written and it’s fascinating re-reading our reflections on the journey then. The article focuses much on the looking back, marking the initial stage of transition whereas, now & with these few months under our belt, our thoughts are rooted into the emerging life of a new church. We are loving the city & the area! With a home gathering having reached twenty adults this summer, we are currently extending our get-togethers’ to a local community hall in Bradford. Alpha was launched this autumn in a Saltaire café with about 15 guests including many students. We are praying as a team for doubling in numbers, salvation and a church plant launch in September 2012 – but ultimately for His leading.
If you’d like to know more about what is going on in Bradford & the Aire Valley, please contact Gaynor & Stew through their website.
Reflections on ‘Basecamp 2011’
Basecamp 2011 brought together 20 church planters, those who might plant a church or current leaders to a hotel in the midlands for two and a half days of teaching, worship, food, relaxation and calling on God for Him to speak.
Here is one mans reflections from a life-changing weekend:
“My wife and I met at our Newfrontiers church, were married last year and are involved in some church leadership.
However, we’re in our 20s, have our challenges and are acutely aware of our lack of experience in many areas.
We arrived at Basecamp 2011 having felt God speak to us about church planting into a particular hard-to-reach overseas location. However, we were holding onto this lightly, aware of its challenges and that God may have given us this calling for some years hence or used it to spark an interest in church planting which could lead us elsewhere.
We prepared for Basecamp expecting to be way behind everyone else, but ready to be honest about this – ready to answer ‘We don’t know’ – and looking forward to it as a fantastic opportunity to seek God on His plan for our lives, connect further in to the Newfrontiers family and learn from great teachers and other would-be church planters further down the line than we were.
Looking back one week on, Basecamp 2011 was an emotional roller-coaster but one I’m glad I bought the ticket for, queued for, rode for everything it was worth, braved until the end and would thoroughly recommend to others.
God met us both powerfully, gave us much more clarity on what we could do if we rely on Him and built our faith immeasurably.
We gained so much from the teaching of Matt Hatch, Tony and Ann Thompson and Chris Mason, were joyously lifted by our worship together, received significant prophetic words and enjoyed praying for others.
We gained so much from teaching on the qualities and calling of a church planter, how church planting can be done and from hearing real-life stories.
Having little experience of church planting, this was all wonderfully new to us. I probably reached a mental saturation point for absorbing new information on Saturday but, nonetheless, was determined to keep listening, discussing and learning – and, when I couldn’t take everything in immediately, at least scribble it down for future pondering!
We also really valued simply chatting with leaders and other Basecampers.
Finding times when we could be ‘alone together’ as a couple was also crucial. We were hearing so many new things and so many new ideas were sparking of it was essential to take time out often to catch up with what each other was thinking.
By Saturday afternoon, we had, in our minds, headed off in very different directions and it was necessary, if painful, to talk through this together. Later, Tony was a great aid to this.
So, we finished the weekend much more confident of where we stood, bolder about what we could do and clearer about what we needed to do next.
If you’re considering church planting, I would strongly recommend considering Basecamp. Pray, talk to your elders, talk to those who know you best and be ready for an adventure of learning about and experiencing God!”
Basecamp 2011
Following the success of last years 'Basecamp Conference' in 2010 and the original in 2009, we held this years Newfrontiers Church Planting Conference in late October 2011.
Aimed at training those who felt God may be directing to lead a church plant, the conference was designed to put delegates face to face with other planters, coaches (those who oversee a plant) and leaders of the Newfrontiers UK team. It challenged, provoked, envisioned and hopefully lead delegates into what God is calling them to.
Watch this space for comments and thoughts from the conference.
These are exciting times!
Berlin Church Plant
Here is a newsletter from the recently started church plant in Berlin, giving some of the things they are thankful to God for (Including their first public service) and some of the things they need prayer for.
After a busy summer visiting Nigel’s mother in Spain and friends in England, we returned to Berlin to a very busy life juggling family, school and church life. The children had a great time in England but they were all OK coming home to Berlin. The day after we got back, we went to the amazing wedding of Anna Lena and Johannes, a wonderful couple who are hoping to come and join us. At present they are living in the UK, but it still felt like our first wedding in the church plant! May there be many more!
To summarise our most significant news, we have had a great family of six join us whom Nigel met through the school. We have known them for over a year and we are are thrilled that they have decided to join us.
Then, on 24th October we held our first public service in the Foyer of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the centre of the city. We still cannot believe that God has opened up this venue for us! This is the best known protestant church in Berlin, so we are not only easy to find but the venue also gives us a degree of credibility. This door opened through developing a friendship with a minister who leads the work with the poor in the building. Since then we have been able to donate 200 € worth of good quality sleeping bags to the Bahnhofsmission that provides shelter for the homeless during the harsh winter. We are so thrilled to have a heart to serve the poor built in and lived out in our DNA.
Our first service was hard work but so rewarding. Since we do not have a worship leader, the worship was led by a young Indian friend, Joshua, and four other guys he brought along. Not only did they lead us so graciously into the presence of God in a mixture of German and English, but their presence demonstrated our determination to be a church for all nations. Nigel preached with a substantial amount of humour on the grace and liberty of the gospel and there was lots of food and drink as well as laughter. Many guests commented on a warm and genuine sense of team-work that seemed to pervade the whole celebration. Not that numbers are everything, but we were obviously so encouraged that 60 people turned up to this first meeting. I think most of us were in faith for about 40 at the most. (By the way, it was also great to have Rich and Lally Tutt with us for the weekend from King’s Church Lewes. They have been a massive source of encouragement, also in our darker moments).
On the back of our first service, we held our first Alpha session last Wednesday in our home. Once again, God amazed us as ten guests showed up, a wonderful mixture of young and mature, students, internationals, work colleagues, people who responded at our meeting last Saturday and people who found us on the internet. We had a great evening with lots of laughter and some people stayed till gone 11 pm. Alpha seems to work well in Germany (although it is not well-known) and we love the way for the second time we have as many guests as church plant members for we long to be a church where unbelievers outnumber our core membership.Today, as I write, I am delighted to say that one of our Alpha guests has just become a Christian! For our church plant a historic day.
In the months ahead leading up to Christmas we have planned a mixture of celebration meetings, prayer meetings and vision and values talks - plus Alpha of course. We also plan to hold a few larger parties in our home and one or two evenings where our youth and students can chill out together.
All of this hard work and excitement has most certainly focused us in our vision and prayers, so here are the prayer points for our current season:
1 - Thanksgiving to God that He really has opened doors and enabled us to begin to carve something out of nothing
2 - Protection over our team for good health and strength as the pressure increases and the winter kicks in
3 - Thanksgiving but also for protection over our public venue - that we will be able to use this venue throughout next year
4 - We urgently need a worship leader or even worship team. This is probably our most urgent need right now, so please pray but also spread the word around the churches.
5 - For wisdom to know how to pace ourselves into next year. We would love to hold more regular celebrations but we have to be wise due to the small size of our core team and Nigel’s full-time teaching job and family life.
6 - Clarity about the apostolic oversight of the church plant - a work in progress
7 - For a super healthy financial situation as we begin to explore the possibilty of Nigel going part-time next autumn
8 - For the youth work in the plant to grow
9 - For our increased contact with students, especially on the campus of the nearby Technische Universität
10 - For our core team to grow
11 - For people to get saved and more to be added
12 - For excellent and fruitful relationships with other church leaders across the city.
Thank you so much for standing with us. Feel free to encourage your friends to sign up for the prayer newsletter too and to become a fan of Newfrontiers Church Plant Berlin on Facebook and Twitter.
With love from sunny Berlin
Nigel, Clare, Toby, Abbie, Ben and Ewan, together with our wonderful church planting team.
Vancouver October 2011 Update
Rhys and Sara Scott from ChristChurch London are leading a church planting team to Vancouver, Canada. In this video, Rhys talks about the first few weeks of the plant and some of the things that he and the family are up to and would value prayer for.
Together@North 2011 - Church Planting Highlights
As part of the Together@North 2011 Conference held during the bank holiday weekend in August 2011, the North Team put together a short profile / information video highlighting a little of what's going on in the north in the Church Planting Arena.
It's exciting stuff. We thought you might like to see it.
Church Plant Profile - Real Life Church, Sutton Coldfield
Real Life Church is a new church plant in Sutton Coldfield. The Church is a growing group of men, women and children who have been changed by an encounter with Jesus and live that out in everyday life. As a church they love to meet God, hang out and have fun, study the Bible, serve the needy and see lives impacted by the power of Jesus.
Louisa Collington went to see them.
For more information click here.
Step by Step With God - Grace Church, Wolverhampton
Anthony and Gill Henson have been church planting for over 20 years. Aiding the growth of seven new churches, they have lived in many different locations across the UK doing God’s work. The couple recently entered a new season in Wolverhampton, where they are currently looking to build a community and establish a church. Anthony and Gill are excited about the future and believe church planting in The Black Country is a fantastic opportunity. Louisa Collington reports…
The Vancouver Story
Vancouver is Canada’s third largest city and home to a population of approximately 2.5 million living in and around the surrounding areas, with over half of the people who reside in Western Canada not speaking English as their first language. Vancouver has become an incredibly diverse cultural centre, which is one reason why Rhys and Sara Scott, with their children Eden and Taylor, are en route to this city to plant a church. They told us about their journey…
Rhys: We have just returned from Canada where we gathered with a number of other church leaders from the other Newfrontiers churches in Eastern Canada. The trip was enormously encouraging, and we are very grateful for these developing relationships. In order to get the Vancouver church-plant off the ground we will be partnering with the church in Fredericton (New Brunswick). It is very exciting to be joining in on something that God has been doing out there in Canada over many years as others have faithfully pioneered the way.
Sara: We had a truly wonderful time connecting with this group of leaders. It was as though God had been working in them just as much as he had been working in us, in preparation for joining our hearts. As we prayed together, prophesying over one another, there was a tremendous sense of God’s presence and purpose, knitting out hearts together for all that God has in store for the nation of Canada.
How are the preparations coming along for the move?
Rhys: Preparations are going very well. Our major focus so far has been developing a church-planting team, which will be a community at the heart of the church-plant. We want to develop a team that has open and honest relationships, spurring one another on in love, provoking one another to godliness and to being all that we can be in God. Out of this we’re trusting God for a church that will impact the city.
Initially, we are praying for a team of 25 or so, and thus far we have about 23 people who have expressed a commitment to come with us, which is hugely encouraging! Some of our team even felt God speak to them about Vancouver six years ago, so to some degree we feel like we’ve come to the party quite late!
What have you learnt from church planting in London?
Rhys: I think we’ve learnt that we need God, and that God really does answer prayer! We’ve seen some incredible answers to prayer here in London so we go with a real sense of expectation that what we’ve seen in London, God can do again, in Vancouver.
Sara: We’ve learnt that one of the significant keys to planting church is the importance of building a strongly relational team, which is something that we are trusting God for grace to do. We’ve also learnt huge lessons in terms of walking by faith – and are fully aware that there will be many more such lessons awaiting us in Canada: from houses to venues we’ve seen God provide miraculously in London, so we know He can and will do it again!
What have been the biggest hurdles?
Rhys: As Sara has just mentioned, planting a church in an international city is an extremely expensive enterprise. The financing of housing, of church venues and the initial start-up are just some of the many financial challenges we know we will face. Then there will be the challenges of building a multi-cultural church, of exactly where we start, and of getting the team in place in Vancouver.
Sara: One of the biggest hurdles has been getting a visa. As we grappled with that early on in the process, God led us to a Christian solicitor based in Vancouver, who specialises in immigration. This contact has become very significant and has opened up a way for us to partner with the Newfrontiers’ church in Fredericton.
What are you excited about for the future?
Rhys: I’m hugely excited about seeing a church that is multicultural. Vancouver itself is the most cosmopolitan city in Northern America. We were so struck by the Asian community and the fact that Vancouver is such an obvious base from which to plant into the Far East. We’re believing God for an “East meets West” church. We are excited about building a church that has a grace foundation, that is on a mission and that understands what it means to be part of an apostolic movement.
We’re also excited about a church that reaches the poor. Sex and drug trafficking are rife in the city, so we’re hoping that ultimately we can make a difference in some of these more difficult areas of the community and culture. We’re so conscious that Jesus had a heart for the poor and calls us to share His heart. We want to see a church that learns how to respond to this aspect of life in a city.
Sara: We are very excited about this new adventure and feel so privileged that God would have called us to partner with Him in it. It’s always great to be on the faith-edge with God, where you simply have no alternative but to trust him. The opportunity to be pioneering is wonderful and to be taking our children with us on that journey this time round now that they are old enough to be participants is all the more exciting for us.
To find out more about the church plant into Vancouver visit trinitycentral.org
Coaching Training 2011
Those who write about church planting commonly state that the leader of a Church Plant is one of the most important elements of a new church plant.
They provide the faith, vision and skills required to start a new church from scratch. Church planting is a difficult endeavor and requires leaders with determination and perseverance to see the plant mature into a church. The leaders will need high levels of support. They need the support of our whole movement. They need the support of the Ephesians 4 ministries of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, ensuring that the right foundations are laid. They need to be listened to, be taken seriously, and allowed to make mistakes they can learn from. Someone needs to shepherd the shepherds and provide consistent friendship, support, counsel, prayer and help.
In our family of Churches, each new Church Plant has someone who coaches them - someone who is ‘shepherding leaders to glorify God’*.
It’s vital that our coaches receive good quality input and training to improve their skills and the quality of support we can give our Church Plants. We’ll be holding 3 training days to train every coach in the UK during May 2011 - they will be in London, Leeds and Cardiff.
If you’re a coach, a church planter, or someone who knows a coach - why not encourage them to invest in themselves - contact me by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to find out more.
* Scott Thomas & Tom Wood, Gospel Coach, Acts 29 Network, 2010, front cover.
CCM:Church Planting Blog
At the back end of last year, ChristChurch Manchester started a new blog to equip and resource church planters. Led by Colin Baron, a prolific Newfrontiers Church planter, ChristChurch have always been keen to develop new ways to train and support Church planting and it's planters.
They have promised a whole load, but have started with some interesting videos from an existing Church planted 7 years ago and a new one just off the ground. This site looks to be a great resource for the church planter and those interested in planting in the future. Why not check it out for yourself. http://www.ccm.org.uk/church_planting/
CCM Church Planting from Christ Church Manchester on Vimeo.
Get a taste for church planting through Mobilise Worldwide
Mobilise Worldwide carries the vision of church planting and passion for evangelism through teams of students and twenties being sent out across the globe from the UK. This Easter teams are gathering for 2 days of mission training in Amsterdam before being sent out to church planting teams in The Hague and St Petersburg to support them in their evangelism, outreach and by getting involved in their local communities.
Past team members have found serving and learning on short term teams an incredible opportunity to test a call, and experience a real day to day taste of what it is like being involved in a church planting team; intentionally seeking to build and strengthen relationships, establish ground for the kingdom whilst having a lot of fun enjoying and learning from a new culture and environment. Mobilise Worldwide teams can be a great opportunity to step out in faith and see what God is doing around the world.
Previous teams have often commented on how their steps towards testing a call have ended in surprising results! Naomi Bedford, 22, student joined the first ever Mobilise Worldwide team to Malmo, Sweden in 2009 and just two years later is now part of The Hague church planting team in Holland. She described her time on mission as an adventure of faith as the team stepped out in prophetic evangelism, experienced being led by God to pray for individuals, shared their faith and saw physical healing on the streets.
The Hague’s Redeemer International church, planted in 2010 is due to launch March 2011, giving the Mobilise Worldwide team heading there a chance to share alongside the church in the excitement and have a chance to experience initial public stages of a plant. The team to Hope Church, St Petersburg will be spending time on the main university campus inviting students to events, serving at a local orphanage and hospital with lots of prophetic evangelism thrown into the mix!
Whether it’s to test a call to church planting in the UK or overseas, gain some experience and insight into what that’s like or simply to step out in a faith adventure; Mobilise Worldwide teams offer a chance to ask questions, face new challenges and encounter God outside of your usual ‘comfortable’ environment…find out more at http://mobiliseuk.org/worldwide.
http://www.redeemerchurch.nl/
http://www.hopechurchstpetersburg.com/
To give you a further taste of what’s involved, here’s a video from the St Petersburg team from last year…
Redeem Cities Report Back (inc video of talks)
When I stepped onto the stage at St Annes Cathedral in Belfast city centre at 9:30am on November the 16th, I looked out over a crowd of 500 people. A crowd that had gathered from all across the world, from as far away as Sweden and Turkey, from many different denominations, all together in one place, to hear about God's mandate to see cities, towns and nations redeemed.
Stuart Townend and his band led us in sung worship and Mark Driscoll spoke to us with a prophetic sharpness about seeing radically missional churches planted across Ireland and beyond. Tim Chester challenged us to live lives of gospel intentionality and to realise the power and potential of missional communities and small groups. Day two saw David Stroud speak about the importance of the kingdom and the presence of God in seeing cities redeemed.
The Redeem:Cities conference was a remarkable two days. As I stepped off the stage at 4:30pm on November 17th I had a very real sense that God is stirring something again in the hearts of his people. It feels like there is a momentum building here and across Ireland to see new expressions of the church built.
On Saturday 21st May we will be hosting a Redeem:Cities day conference with Terry Virgo in Belfast. Details and booking to be released end of Jan 2011.
Connect with us
w. http://www.redeemercentral.com
e: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
t: @redeemercentral
t: @redeemcities
Exploring a Call to Church Planting
God has encouraged us to ask Him for a thousand churches in the UK and we have an interim goal of 400 churches. We believe God is calling numbers of people to lead church plants. Base Camp helps us identify those whom God is calling as well as supporting and equipping them in their church planting endeavours. How God calls people to church planting varies.
If you are wondering if this is something you may be called to now or in the future I would strongly encourage you to apply to Base Camp as a way of testing the calling.
“We attended Base Camp in October 2009 as part of exploring whether God had called us to plant a church. There was a great mix of inspirational and practical teaching over the weekend and we were able to talk to experienced church planters as well as those who were about to plant. This helped to ‘debunk’ the mysteries and myths about planting churches.
As part of the process, we had a thorough interview and were subsequently asked by our regional leaders to lead an existing church rather than plant a new one, which we believe is right for us, so we are moving to Yeovil this autumn! Base Camp definitely helped to decipher where God was leading us. We may plant in the future, but if not, we can send others to plant. One way or another, we can play a part in planting churches!”
(Andy and Sue Baimbridge are currently based at Gateway Church, Poole).
Church Planting: It’s who we are
God instructed Adam to fill the earth, promised Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through him, and Jesus commanded his followers to go into all the nations preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
As followers of Christ, these promises are our inheritance. And as I take hold of these imperatives I am convinced that they will only be fulfilled as we plant healthy local churches right across the UK and in so doing equip the saints to be salt and light in every community!
I am aware that this is a huge mission and I thank God that we are not alone in this - many other believers across the UK are hearing the same call.
God has spoken to us prophetically about fulfilling this call to start churches in stages:
Firstly, to climb the ‘hill’ of 400 churches and then to move to conquer the ‘mountain’ of a thousand churches. This is not to be our final destination as we continually explore the Himalayas of God’s purposes in the UK – only God knows what Everest we will scale in this generation!
Looking back to propel us forward
Sometimes it’s good to stop and see where you’ve come from:
Almost 20 years ago Ann and I moved to Eastbourne to serve one of only two Newfrontiers church plants in the whole of the UK! As the 20th Century drew to a close we were propelled North where one region in the North East was planting two new churches – one in York (with Steve and Ruth Hurd) and one in Teesside which we came to lead.
Now a decade later…and Jubilee Church, Teesside has grown to over 300 and has successfully planted new churches in Hartlepool and Hull. Ann and I have just moved to Manchester to help the re–launch a church, while Steve and Ruth are moving to plant a new church in Huddersfield!
In fact our North UK team is now actively working with 16 new plants – it’s amazing the acceleration God has enabled in a few years.
I honestly believe that God has placed church planting in our spiritual genes – it’s who we are and it’s what we are called to do.
Planting churches in Northern Ireland
One our most strategic churches is in Belfast; the capital of Northern Ireland. With 65 per cent of the population under 35, this is the youngest and fastest growing population in Europe – but also has some of its most deprived and divided communities.
Redeemer Central was birthed over a year ago when four people started to meet in David and Trish Capener’s living room. It now gathers up to 60 on a Sunday!
David Capener reports; ‘it has been so exciting to watch as God has gathered people from different walks of life to join together in community and on mission to this great city. We have seen God do remarkable things amongst us – people have connected again with Jesus, experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, found new purpose in life and become better disciples and disciple makers. Our church planting vision is to see multiple expressions of “Redeemer” right across the city and new churches established in each of the major cities and towns of Northern Ireland’
Part of this vision is to regularly gather with other church leaders from across the nation for worship, prayer and teaching. We have experienced a hunger for new expressions of church right across the land.
Our next major event is the church planting conference Redeem:Cities with speakers including David Stroud (ChristChurch London) and Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill, Seattle).
So why not come and join us in Belfast and experience the exciting journey that we are on!
Hello from The Hague!
Earlier this year, Chris and Karin Taylor took their two sons to start a new life in The Hague, with the vision of planting and growing an exciting church in the political capital of The Netherlands. Seven months on, Redeemer International Church is now meeting regularly with over 45 people from different nations attending.
Do watch this inspiring video…
Global Zone: Planting into European Cities
Tony Thompson shares about plans to plant new churches in major European cities, including Berlin, Madrid, Porto & The Hague.
The Global Zone was one of the highlights of this year’s Together on a Mission conference.
It was a great opportunity to hear about what God is doing around the world, and to get a glimpse into the life of a church planter. This included interviews about church planting in the UK and overseas, and short term mission.
In this video Tony Thompson shares about church plants in Western Europe, including an interview with Nigel Dutton, who is planting a church in Berlin, Germany.
Tony also introduces Chris Taylor, who has recently moved to The Hague, Holland, Andrew Shore, who is planting a church in Porto, Portugal and Kevin Bartlett, who is about to move to Madrid, Spain.
Global Zone: UK Church Planting Update
David Stroud shares about church planting in the UK.
The Global Zone was one of the highlights of this year’s Together on a Mission conference.
It was a great opportunity to hear about what God is doing around the world, and to get a glimpse into the life of a church planter. This included interviews about church planting in the UK and overseas, and short term mission.
In this video Andy Martin interviews David Stroud about what’s happening in terms of church planting in the UK.
(Originally filmed at Together on a Mission, July 2010)
Global Zone: What is Base Camp?
The Global Zone was one of the highlights of this year's Together on a Mission conference.
It was a great opportunity to hear about what God is doing around the world, and to get a glimpse into the life of a church planter. This included interviews about church planting in the UK and overseas, and short term mission.
In this video Andy Martin interviews Matt Hatch about his experience of church planting & some of the story behind the planting of Mosiac Church, Leeds. Matt then shares about the vision behind the Base Camp training weekend for those who are thinking about planting a church in the next three to five years.
Want to plant a church?
We have a vision to see hundreds of churches planted in this nation and leadership will be critical if we are to reach this goal. We are committed to raising up new church leaders who are passionate about winning others to Christ and growing vibrant, disciple making, multiplying churches.
If you feel a call to be involved in the leadership of a church plant, then we invite you to consider attending our Basecamp Conference (28-30th October 2011). This conference is primarily for those people who feel called to lead a church plant in the next three years.
Next Steps?
If you are part of a Newfrontiers Church:
1. Speak to your Eldership team and seek their advice and
recommendation.
2. Register online for Basecamp 2011.
3. Complete a telephone interview.
If you are not part of a Newfrontiers Church:
1. Where appropriate, speak to your current church leaders about
the potential of you church planting with Newfrontiers.
2. Visit and connect with the leaders from your
local NewFrontiers Church.
3. Foster a relationship with those leaders and the wider
Newfrontiers team they are working with. Seek their
advice and recommendation.
4. Register online for Basecamp 2011.
5. Complete a telephone interview.
Join a church planting team
Be part of a great adventure!
If we are to see a thousand churches in this nation, we also need many willing people to move to new places, find jobs and get stuck in. If you think God might be calling you to join one of the church plants that are already starting up, take a look at our Church Plant A-Z at the top of the page to see where we’re currently planting.
If you’re interested in our work in countries outside of the UK, then please look at our international churches page.
We encourage you to explore the site and to pray for our church plants as they take the gospel to those who don’t yet know Jesus.
Can’t see what you’re looking for? Please email us if you have a location in mind.
Get in touch with us
We want to hear from you!
Want more information about church planting with Newfrontiers?
Interested in moving to a new location?
Want to get in touch with someone on the ground?
Whatever your question, if you’d like to get in touch with us then please email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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