A Sydney Diocesan leader once said that anyone was quite welcome to plant churches in his city.

Now the Church Army has taken him at his word, with two families moving from country Victoria to kick-start a ‘Base for Evangelism’ this week in the Blue Mountains village of Lawson.

Jon Bennett, along with wife Caroline, has spent the past three years working in youth ministry in the Gippsland parish of Taralgon.

God has also called up Taralgon couple Emma and David Nicholson to support the Bennetts.

Miraculously, school teacher Emma landed a job at a Blue Mountains school, after applying from Victoria. 

Although he admits to being a little scared entering self-funded ministry, Jon is convinced Lawson is where God wants him.

"God’s hand was upon it,” he says.

“I am so excited to have come here because I always knew I was called to be an evangelist.

"When I was working in the church most of my time was spent running programs for those in the church,” he continues.

“Now I can be a pioneering evangelist and take advantage of my God-given gifts to build a Christian community."

Jon sees himself as a missionary and hopes to use his skills as a musician to connect with the local music scene.

He has already connected with Lionel and Judy Murray from Lawson's Winwood studios " best known for its role in recording Colin Buchanan albums.

The Murrays are excited by John's vision for using music for mission and have joined the group of church planters.

The team will meet weekly at the Church Army’s headquarters at the Kahilla conference centre in Lawson, with the growth of the church dependent on the team's ability to build relationships with the non-churched.

"Tonight we start our weekly team meetings," Jon says.

"We will read the Bible, sing and pray together. It's about team building. We will study what the New Testament says about living missionally and mutual accountability."

Jon says the team will avoid having a public service.

“We don’t want people coming from other churches,” he says.

“We want to reach the non-churched."

With his children starting at Hazlebrook Public School this week, Jon's first task is to get to know his neighbours.

"Everyone is very friendly," he says.

"The mid-Mountains is a great community."

Jon has also joined Hazlebrook Chargers Cricket Club.

"That's how you be a missionary. You be with people where they are."

"I prayed for a good entrance and I am so humbled that God answered. I took this glorious catch. I ran 20 metres and dived."

For the record Jon also scored 43 runs.

"My aim is to just live out our lives as Christians among them - not to Bible bash but build relationships so you can then share the gospel."

The idea of the "mixed economy' is at the heart of Church Army's vision for its "Base of evangelism' experiment.

It is premised on the idea that just 40 per cent of Australian's have had any meaningful contact with Christianity and are therefore open to traditional church growth and church planting strategies.

In contrast, Church Army believe the bulk of the population can only be reached through a "missionary' mindset rarely seen in our churches outside ethnic ministry.

They want the local Anglican Church to keep doing what it does best " attracting and converting those people open to ‘church culture’.

But they believe there is also a need for a parallel missionary model which proclaims the gospel to those Australians suspicious or antagonistic to the Church. 

"Parallel planting - that’s what mixed economy means," explains Jon.

"Up the road from us you have an Anglican Church reaching the "open' 40 per cent through an attractional model. Down here you have a Base of evangelism reaching the other 60 per cent in a missionary model. It is not "either/or'. It is "both/and'."