Sydney Diocese’s ten-year Mission plan puts church planting right at the heart of its strategy. With this in mind, over 40 ministers and interested parties from around the Diocese and beyond met last month, to discuss how to develop a ‘College of Planters’.

The ‘College’, which would not inhabit a physical building, would aim to facilitate church planting through regional meetings, sharing information and experiences, consultations and conferences.

The Rev Stefan Bull, assistant minister in the parish of Narellan, who, along with the Rev Stuart Robinson of Evangelism Ministries, is one of the principle movers behind the new initiative, commented: “Church planting has been going on since the beginning of Australia. Every church we have has been planted at some point. But of late, if anything, we have been closing more churches than we have been starting. So we need to think again about how we plant a church in today’s society.

“Currently it’s a bit of a maverick situation where a lot of us are out there just doing what we think is best in the field of church planting. So I think it is helpful to resource with others and to get together a fellowship of others in a similar situation, sharpening each other and encouraging each other in this kind of mission work. All of this very much ties in with Policy Two of the diocesan Mission.”

Interest in the new ‘College’ is high. Around 90 per cent of respondents to a recent questionnaire, sent to those already active in church planting ministry in some way, said they thought it was ‘a great idea’ to start a ‘College of Planters’. It is also hoped that the ‘cyber College’ will serve not only the Diocese of Sydney, but the rest of the Anglican Church of Australia.

Mr Bull claimed the ‘College’ would be particularly useful for ministers who have received a first class theological education, but little or no training in how to be church planters. He said he would have valued access to such a resource himself, when first asked to plant a congregation in the new suburb of Harrington Park. “Church plants are so important because they are a very effective way to reach people groups we don’t reach by our other structures,” he said. “As soon as we planted the church at Harrington Park, we picked up 16 families who weren’t going to Narellan Anglican Church or, for the most part, any other church. They were attracted to something that was their own. So I guess that’s what we have to do with church planting. We have to look for the opportunities and it is not always going to be based on communities. It can be based on ethnicity, or whatever.”

At the moment the new initiative is linked to Evangelism Ministries, but details such as whether there will be regular meetings and conferences, or precisely how information will be shared, have yet to be thrashed out. But with the high level of interest already being shown in the ‘College’, it may be well placed to play a decisive role in the initial aim to see ten per cent of the people of this Diocese in Bible-based churches.

“We need to think through how to raise up the next generation of church planters if we are serious about seeing the multiplication of our fellowships,” said Mr Bull. “These are very early days, but also very exciting days.”