church planting
I believe we must do all we can to strengthen and encourage local churches, while being realistic about changing patterns of life and open to new forms of church and church planting where these genuinely serve the mission of the gospel.
Fresh expressions of church and church planting are essential, but need to flow from the work of our parishes and chaplaincies.
There are more than 15 issues of concern that will dominate Synod during the next 5 years, s u c h a s Church-State Relations, Suffragan Bishop numbers with Diocese mergers, See Houses, Stronger Safeguarding, Supporting the Parish System (STP) with direct grants to the Parishes, Clergy Discipline Commission, Racial Justice, Living in Love and Faith – which I cannot support, Dispossessions on Pastoral Review grounds, Rural Issues, Being Church and Vocations, Church Planting and Growth, (I used to be a Church Army Director), Mission Action Plans and Evangelism building on my experience as a Director of St Martha’s College, Strategic Development Funding, including giving more to Cathedrals and giving evidence to the Mission and Pastoral Measure to retain its independent Appellate Role.
Mission and church planting: I have planted and developed churches in several countries and served as a missionary for many years, seeing both the opportunities and difficulties of Gospel ministry in changing contexts.
• Parish Ministry and Church-planting: If
Good data can help us understand those communities better, identify where ministry is bearing fruit and make wiser decisions about church planting and revitalisation.
Drawing on my considerable experience in church growth and church planting I would seek to encourage everything that enables more people to hear the gospel, come to faith in Christ and become committed disciples, especially children and young people.
ministry spanning church planting, parish mission, and intercultural discipleship across Nigeria, Italy and the UK.
Investment in the Future - prioritising children and young people, vocations, church planting and revitalisation.
I have also served as a Mission Enabler, overseeing church planting and the revitalisation of parishes in Newham.
Through parish ministry, church planting, and community engagement, I have witnessed both the immense richness of our diversity and the urgent need for stronger representation of Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and UK Minority Ethnic (UKME) communities at every level of our Church.
Mission & Church Growth: Drawing on practical church planting experience to advocate for evangelism, discipleship, and intercultural community outreach.
This has given me the privilege of seeing God’s work in tangible projects of varying kinds all over the world, from youth camps in the Ukraine to church planting in South America, from bible translation to orphanages in Africa.
ordained ministry and lay church planting.
Former Diocesan Church Planting Consultant (Leicester)
We need a new wave of church planting, especially on urban estates.
e Part of a church planting team in a previous church situation.
Church Planting
With experience of resource churches and church planting in East London, Harrow, and Cardiff, and now, as the Creative Growth Lead Bishop in the Diocese of London, I will ensure growing healthy churches remains a priority for Synod.
As someone with a background in Fresh Expressions, Church Planting and Pioneering, I would also strongly advocate for a Mixed Ecology approach to Mission.
I understand the pressures facing our clergy and PCCs, including falling numbers in some places, threat of closure for some, alongside ambitious church planting in others.
I seek to follow in the work of church planting saints such as Gregory, and I am inspired by our very own Bede and Cuthbert to work together in unity as we seek to build the church in this generation. For me, this involves helping churches that are facing the challenge of significant decline and closure; those who are missing the ‘good old days’, and those who are ready to grow, to find new and renewed ways to reach the people in their parishes.
Having current parochial and archidiaconal experience will be especially helpful as Synod revises the Mission and Pastoral Measure: new law about parish structures, church planting and property.
Pioneering & Church Planting
Having a heart for pioneering, my priority is reaching the unreached in our modern communities through creative church planting and innovative ministries.
I am currently the Dean of Church Planting at St Hild College where I train Anglican ordinands and Baptist ministers-in-training, and deliver other programmes that support the dioceses of the North and the Church of England nationally.
Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church
I am currently employed as a Lay Church-Planting Pioneer as part of the Resourcing Church project at Belgrave St Peter’s.
Church planting, variety in worship (including the traditional as well as the new) and new congregations can contribute, and local churches should be encouraged to find their own, locally relevant solutions.
I have become increasingly convinced that church planting and revitalisation need to be central to the future of the Church of England.
I bring experience of local church leadership, church planting, mission, leadership development and working across different parts of the Church.
In my ministry, I have been involved with serving students, running workplace evangelism in central London, including to the civil service in Westminster, church planting in a couple of contexts, and now semi-rural parish ministry on the edge of Hull.
Breadth of ministry: 20+ years of experience in lay + ordained pioneering and parish ministry, youth engagement, safeguarding, community organising, church planting, estates ministry and hospital chaplaincy.
Academic Research: During my curacy, I completed a Doctorate in church planting and the biblical vision for Christian unity—a topic near to my heart as we navigate division across our national Church.
I have contributed to the House of Bishops on a wide variety of topics, including clergy terms and conditions, young people, church planting, finance.
Working together across traditions My ministry has taken me through rural and urban parishes, schools, church planting networks, Catholic societies and national church structures.
I have always been part of Churches where people are regularly coming to faith and growing in faith and have a rich and fruitful experience of Church planting in different contexts.
I want Synod to support clergy and lay leaders well, steward resources wisely, and encourage church planting and revitalisation, particularly in deprived and under-resourced communities.
Church Planting
During that time I was much involved in interfaith work and church planting work in the city, as well the implementation of Bradford’s Strategic Development Fund process.
I welcome church planting and new worshipping communities alongside that commitment.
Lead Bishop for Church Planting in York Province Author of books on discipleship & leadership
I am Lead Bishop for Church Planting in the Province of York, working to see many ordinary parishes grow, especially through church planting and revitalisation.
A fresh emphasis on evangelism and church planting will assist.