Life Anglican Church is gearing up to begin its latest church plant in Marsden Park.

The greenfield suburb, named after colonial Church of England chaplain the Rev Samuel Marsden, has been earmarked as a growth suburb for the past decade and has recently seen a large spike in development – both in housing as well as small- and large-scale businesses.

At the 2011 Census, the suburb was home to just over 1000 people. By 2031, this is projected to have increased to about 50,000 people.

“It’s a short- and long-term planting process really, because we’re going to see some fairly intense growth in Marsden Park in the short term, but also growth that will continue for decades,” says the rector of Life Anglican Church the Rev Geoff Bates.

“In the short term, we want to get on the ground in the parish with a reasonably big group of people so there is ministry for the growth in the area from the outset, and we hope that will set things up to just keep working away and growing into the future.”

The plant is headed by the Rev Mark Collins, who previously served in the parish of St Marys. He and his wife Rachael became part of planning for the plant after deciding they wanted to continue working in Sydney’s west while also focusing on evangelism and new ministries.

“Life Anglican had started thinking about the need to start a new ministry in Quakers Hill sometime around 2014, but without a hard plan or people in mind,” Mr Collins says. “I’d been speaking to [local bishop] Ivan Lee about wanting to do evangelistic-type work in the west, and it was through that I ended up in contact with Geo Bates. I became involved in the plant that way and I’m really looking forward to what God will do in the area.”

The parish recently held a vision afternoon, inviting church members and other interested parties to hear about the plans and think about how they might potentially become involved.

“We had about 80 adults there on the day,” Mr Collins says. “It was basically a time to share the vision we have for the plant and to answer questions.

“We’re basically at the point of putting together a church service from the first term in 2017 and we’re wanting to have a group of about 60 when we begin public services – although we are also planning to start some other work in the area before then as well. We’re also in deep conversations with New Churches for New Communities, ENC and the Mission Property Committee, so we’re already keeping busy.”

Mr Collins says the main aims of the plant early on will be grassroots evangelism, a welcoming approach to membership and participation, and youth ministries.

Land has been purchased in the suburb for a church building to be constructed by NCNC, but in the medium term people will meet in the hall of Richard Johnson Anglican School’s Marsden Park campus. 

Photo above: Plans: Mark Collins (left) and another couple chat about the Marsden Park church plant at the recent vision afternoon.