By John Cottey (left), Cultivate Church Planting Coach. Pictured here with Daniel Hudson (right) at Little House of Hope in Thornley
On 9 January 2023 I started my first day in the role of Cultivate Church Planting Coach and I set myself the goal of exploring the landscape of church planting in Durham Diocese and to get to know the women and men who might have a dream to plant one day, are about to plant or have planted a new Christian community.
That is what I have been doing over the past three months and it has been a genuinely joyful experience to discover the new things that God is doing in this region. It has also been a privilege to begin drawing alongside people on the front line of mission and offering encouragement and advice as they take new ground for the Kingdom.
One of my first experiences was visiting a lay couple in a rural context who run ‘Wild Church’, which is attracting up to 60 people each month to explore faith in the natural environment. These are mostly non-Christian families who come to the church yard and take part in prayer, worship and hear a relevant Gospel message.
We have started to have conversations about how they can create a pathway for those who come to deepen their relationship with Jesus, grow in their discipleship and start to form new Christian communities.
Some people may associate pioneering mission with urban churches but it has been a really encouraging to see the creativity and missional drive of some of our rural churches. Several of the prospective church plants we are working with are doing really creative things in our rural spaces; using the natural environment, gathering around tents and fire pits, barns, social media platforms and community centers. There seems to be a real leading of the Holy Spirit to draw people to him in flexible, light-weight, mobile and fun ways. And, people are coming!
I am also seeing churches being intentional and bold in their church planting plans. Several of our churches are publicly laying out plans to plant multiple churches and revitalisations in the next few years and are identifying potential pioneer leaders who can be equipped and released to start new Christian communities.
Despite the challenges that many churches are facing, I am hearing the language of generosity and open-handedness when it comes to sending out workers into the harvest field.
As well as being trained up in their local churches, many of these emerging leaders are also joining with others in the Diocese as part of a developing leadership pipeline. With programmes such as ‘Growing Leaders Course’ and ‘Health for Growth learning community,’ potential church planters are able to identify themselves among a band of lay missionary disciples in the region and receive high quality teaching and advice from people who have planted and led churches themselves. It is a real privilege for me personally to be able to play a part in these emerging leader’s journey.
So, in the last three months of getting to know the people and places where we are planting new Christian communities, my reflection is that there is more going on than I realised. It is often happening in the places I didn’t expect and in creative ways I hadn’t considered. I am more encouraged and excited about my new job now than I was three months ago and I am confident that we are moving together in the right direction.
To learn more about Church Planting, please click here.