Church-planting guru the Rev Ed Vaughan is set to see if the green fields of Ireland are as fertile for the gospel.
Mr Vaughan will be delivering his last sermon as Rector of Darling Street Anglican Church this Sunday [February 27], before trading the café culture for the emerald isle.
But Balmain's loss is Dublin's gain: Ed Vaughan is leaving his beloved Inner West for a parish south of the Irish capital.
Does Ed have any regrets as he leaves Balmain after 13 years?
"Well, I've never quite figured out how to evangelise the Inner-West," he says.
It may seem surprising that the dynamic pastor admits such a thing, considering the 45-year-old is acknowledged as the pioneer of Inner-West church planting and evangelism.
But he says busy lives and escalating real estate remain significant stumbling blocks to the gospel for his neighbours.
So too relationships. He says for the Mission to succeed, Sydney Anglicans need to think about putting as much effort into "relational' aspects of ministry as they do in strategy and planning for the gospel.
Ed and his wife Jane first began considering this sea change when they went along to Moore College last year to pray for Ireland.
The son of an Irish publican, Ed is a Guinness and Irish rugby fan. But his first love is God " and he can't wait to tell his new parishioners about him.
"It was the hardest decision we have ever made to leave," Ed says.
"But we feel it is where God is leading us. We feel it has lots of potential for growth."
The Vaughans will be taking more than a "little piece of Australia' with them when they go.
They have arranged for everything they own to shipped to Ireland, even the family car.
He will take up the position of rector of the small but growing evangelical parish of Crinken in early May.
