Starting New Churches in the City of Casey & Cardinia Shire

[Jason]

Something's been on my heart for the last couple of weeks - really since Gordon started a thread on starting new churches in Melbourne. I've had a look at some of the statistics in and around the area of Berwick-Narre Warren where I've been ministering in a team of two for the past four years -  and, frankly, the stats speak for themselves.

Have a look here for Casey and here for Cardinia

Narre Warren and Berwick leads out to Cranbourne but also down to Beaconsfield, Officer, and Pakenham. Not "sexy" suburbs, but a total population NOW of (and this is a close estimate based on available figures) 166,000 people. It's due to balloon to 259,000 people by 2031!


The distance between our church and the nearest Anglicans in a suburban area is about 10km and 15km to the north-west (Hampton Park and Endeavour Hills respectively), 20km to the South east (Pakenham) or about 15km to the south west (Cranbourne).

Have we missed the opportunity? Is it too late? What do we do apart from pray?

[Jason]

A few views, but no traction on the topic?

Perhaps I should have framed the question this way: what would you do to plant a church in this area? What kind of person would it take? And what kind of strategy might work for God's kingdom and the glory of Christ?

Let's throw some ideas around.

[Cat Patrick]

"He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest."

It makes me feel even more passionate about raising up new ministers and leaders for God's precious bride; about training them to think well about engaging our culture and sharing his word in new contexts; about seeing more and more people being trained and sent out. I pray that our Lord would graciously hear your prayers and those of others - to see a multitude of new and revived and missionally engaged churches in the next while.

It seems that there are lots of opportunities, but not enough people to take them up.

Are there people in your church who might think about being trained for ministry and church planting in the next five years?  I don't mean that in a rude, 'find people yourself' kind of way. But the people who have a love for the area and already have established relationships and networks will be the best people to reach it.

Great question, though, and great passion!
cat

[Jason]

G'day Cat,

There is one person from our church being trained for ministry at the moment. The difficulty is with the window of opportunity - the window is closing faster than we think if we're to use resources wisely. It will grow increasingly expensive in the years ahead of us.

You make a great point about people having a love for the area. My lament is that there are too few people willing to develop a love for the area.

We've got some great people, who would give their heart and soul into growing God's kingdom - they're the ones with the relationship networks, what I think is needed is someone to encourage, pastor, equip and lead them.

How we go about that process of church planting is also a fascinating thought - do we abandon the traditional "build-it-and-they-will-come" mentality (e.g, Caroline Springs) that involves massive up-front injections of capital, a time-consuming building process, and sticking only *one* person (clergy person & family) from whom a financially self-sustaining and successful church is expected in 3 years time?