Prayers will be answered this Easter Sunday when Glossodia's one and only church opens its doors for the first time.
The town, nearly 10 kilometres north-west of Windsor, has a population of about 5,000 making it one of the largest communities in Sydney Diocese without any church gathering of any denomination.
Church planter, Andrew Mahaffey, said a major answer to prayer has "been the overwhelmingly positive' community reaction to news that an Anglican church is opening in Glossodia.
"You hear of new churches confronting opposition from their community, but people in Glossodia say they are pleased that a church is opening up in the area. They might not be on board with the message of the gospel, but they see it as somewhere they could send their kids. The church, they say, is another community service, like the doctor or the butcher, that Glossodia should have."
Mr Mahaffey has been grateful for the way nearby St John's, Wilberforce, has "generously and prayerfully contributed' to the new church plant.
"The church at Wilberforce has a very strong prayer life and the Glossodia church has been high on their prayer agenda," he said.
A core group of 16 adults and eight children from Wilberforce Anglican have been meeting since February in preparation for the launch.
"We've been knocking on doors, introducing ourselves to people," Mr Mahaffey said.
Wilberforce prayer warrior, the Rev Sarah Plummer, said that St John's views prayer and evangelism as intrinsically linked, adding that prayer can help the planting church deal with the loss of people to the new church.
"There is lots of grief in losing key people to the church plant," she said. "Through our prayer life we have become prepared for the sending out."
St John's will begin the "40 Days with the Risen Lord' prayer journal on Easter Sunday just as the Glossodia church opens its doors.
"The average person in the pew is still grappling with what the Mission means," Ms Plummer said. "My goal is to help people pray through the Mission. This means praying for someone in your area to be saved. If you individually pray for the Mission, you own it."
The new church will meet in Glossodia Public School. The high profile public launch on Easter Sunday will feature a jumping castle, tasty treats donated by a donut outlet, and a gospel message on the resurrection. In subsequent weeks the new congregation will work through Dominic Steele's multi-media evangelistic series Introducing God.
