Planting New Churches

A Pastoral Guide for Churches and Church Planters

Last month, I wrote a church planting guide for the Uniting Church in Australia, and many pastors, churches, and current and potential church planters have requested it as a resource.

Planting a new church is a journey of faith and obedience – one that can revitalize both the new community and the sending congregation. In the Uniting Church in Australia, where collaborative discernment and mission are highly valued, established churches are increasingly sensing God’s call to “go and make disciples” in new places and forms. Perhaps your congregation is wondering if you are called to birth a new worshiping community. This guide is here to walk you through that process with wisdom, grace, and practical insight.

Embarking on a church plant will stretch your faith, deepen your dependence on God, and likely change your church in beautiful ways. It involves sacrifice and risk – you may send some of your best people and resources away – yet it brings great joy and growth. Many churches find that by giving themselves to God’s mission, they are blessed in return with renewed purpose, unity, and even unexpected growth.

This guide will lead you through four phases of the church planting journey:

Phase 1: Exploration – Discernment: Are we called to plant?
We will learn how to discern God’s leading through prayer, ask the right questions, engage our community, and recognize signs of readiness.

Phase 2: Preparation – Foundations: What must we commit to and prepare?
We’ll outline what to invest spiritually, culturally, and practically — including leadership development, vision casting, resources, prayer, and theological grounding.

Phase 3: Planting – Launch and Support: How do we launch the new plant and support it while maintaining the health of our sending church?
We’ll discuss caring for the new church and your own congregation through relational dynamics, shared identity, risk-taking, and flexibility in the face of the unknown.

Phase 4: Transformation – Renewal: How will our church be changed through this process?

We’ll explore embracing the internal changes that come with sending a new church — decentralization of ministry, missional renewal, letting go of control, continual learning, and celebrating the new thing God has done.

Throughout each phase, you will find reflection questions for group discussion, action steps to move forward, and special “callout” boxes highlighting common pitfalls and words of encouragement. We also address specific considerations for planting in urban, rural, and cross-cultural contexts, since each context presents unique opportunities and challenges.

Above all, this is a pastoral journey. It is God’s work — bathed in prayer, guided by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. God is already at work ahead of you and graciously invites your congregation to join in what God is doing.

See the full and abridged versions of the Church Planting Guide

Here is the link to the guide, which is posted on the Uniting Church in Australia website (see the “Church Planting Guide” green buttons on the right side of this website, for the full and abridged version of the Guide):

Click here for the Church Planting Guide