Church planting: a national perspective on God at work 

A report from the latest meeting of the The National Church Planting Network, which aims to spot emerging trends, and seek God’s direction together for the future of church planting in the UK 

The National Church Planting Network (NCPN) aims to bring together leaders from various church streams and denominations who share a commitment to starting new churches across England.

On Thursday, 26 June, leaders from across the UK came together online for the half-yearly full meeting of the NCPN. The morning was designed not just for information-sharing but for collaborative learning and spiritual discernment. Almost two dozen denominations and church networks were present.

The wide diversity reflects the growing desire among leaders across the theological spectrum to learn from one another, spot emerging trends, and seek God’s direction together for the future of church planting in the UK.


A strategic table for church planting

Alongside Ric Thorpe and Caroline Khoo-Millar, Baptist Alex Harris plays a key role in shaping this network, helping to convene leaders from historically siloed church streams. What makes NCPN particularly distinctive is that it gathers those with a strategic mandate for church planting in their respective movements. These are people responsible on a national, regional or network scale, whether from Pentecostal, Evangelical, Catholic, or other church traditions.


Where was God at work?

The morning featured four key contributors:

Ness Wilson, leader of the multi-site Open Heaven Church and national leader of the Pioneer Network, shared how she had observed a renewed openness to public expressions of faith—particularly among younger men. People were wearing crosses, engaging with the Bible, and demonstrating spiritual curiosity in ways that weren’t true even five years ago.

Within Pioneer, a strong emphasis had emerged on small and microchurch models—creative, missional communities of 20 people or fewer. The network had championed these expressions as legitimate forms of church that could flourish without buildings.

Father Raphael de Bouillé, a Catholic priest and church planter based in France, brought a European perspective. He described how, in the last 5–10 years, cross-denominational learning had become far more accepted within Catholic circles. A major shift had taken place with the formation of the first Catholic church planting team and the launch of “Mission Congress”—a 10-year experiment involving 4,000 Catholics focused on revitalisation and planting through conversion and discipleship.

Yinka Oduwole, from the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), outlined a clear strategy of equipping and empowering “anointed amateurs”—ordinary people called to extraordinary missions. This bottom-up model had enabled rapid multiplication and growth across Europe.

Misheck Manhanha, Director of Church Planting for Assemblies of God (AOG), told a remarkable story of turnaround. From 1959 to 2019, AOG had seen no net growth in the number of churches. However, a shift in national leadership and a new strategic plan had reoriented the denomination around church planting. Since 2019, AOG had planted 116 new churches. They implemented a mapping strategy to identify areas with the fewest Christians and focused their planting efforts accordingly.

Again, lots of this focussed on embracing both large and small church planting strategies and models – some of 200 and some of 20.


Key themes that emerged

Throughout the multi-voiced forum, several themes stood out:


From relationship to reproduction

Movements that valued deep relationships often struggled with the relational disruption that came with sending people to plant churches. In some of these spaces a great church planting strategy had faulted because of the relational disruption it caused. There was discussion about developing cultures that were both relational and expectant of that disruption.


The rise of the small

Small and microchurches were gaining visibility and affirmation, which has been a trend noticed by the NCPN for several years. In 2024 NCPN had a full year focussed on understanding the microchurch and disciple-making movements in the UK. Many leaders celebrated that churches of 20 people could be just as impactful as large congregations. Success was being redefined to be less numerical driven and more discipleship driven – not how many, but rather what impact.


Training through spiritual parenting, not (only) organised programs

A consistent theme was the need to raise up spiritual parents—mentors, coaches and disciple-makers who could walk alongside emerging leaders, particularly something Gen Z longed for this. Previous generations postured their training and development more organisationally, perhaps allowing a few brilliant educators to invest in many emerging leaders.

The posture of Gen Z leader is a hunger for the vehicle of relationship and shared life – a more caught than taught approach. Quite different denominational streams were seeing this and moving their training from organised programs and organised mentorship toward spiritual parenting and shared life.


Top-down vision and strategy

National vision and strategic planning were increasingly understood as needed to mobilise grassroots planting. Even in looser, local church autonomous networks the need for a national vision and strategy to release permission and resources was seen as key to empower local churches to start new churches. Movements like AOG and RCCG showed how top-down vision, paired with grassroots action, had led to dynamic growth.


Leadership mindset shifts
A generational shift in leadership models was noted: from keeping the best leaders in-house for succession, to sending them out for multiplication.


Cultural contexts and 18-35 year olds

Leaders noted that Gen Z and younger Millennials were coming to faith in different ways than previous generations, often orientated around direct access to Scripture rather than personal story or invitation to courses. New models of church and evangelism were essential to reach them effectively.


Looking ahead

NCPN also said farewell to Bishop Ric Thorpe, newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne. Participants reflected on Ric’s significant contributions to the NCPN vision and collaborative ethos. His presence would be missed, but the momentum of the network remained strong.


The next full onsite NCPN gathering is scheduled for Thursday 27 November.