Explore Church Planting 2026

The Explore Church Planting course is for anyone who wants to engage in mission, especially church planting and starting new worshipping communities, but does not know how. It is especially for those who have not heard much about church planting or have reservations about it but feel that there might be something in it. It is for the curious from all sections and traditions of the church and you don’t necessarily need any dreams or great plan at this stage!

• Deepen our understanding of the theology of church planting – why church planting?
• Understand the context of church planting and church growth in the history of the UK. Explore current definitions and terminology used in relation to church planting – what is church planting?
• Consider the skills, gifts and calling that are helpful in planting new worshipping communities– who plants?
• Find out how to establish where new worshipping communities may develop – where do we church plant?

There are three sessions to the course that run on Saturday 28th November 2026, Saturday 16th January 2027 and Saturday 27th February 2027 (9:30 for 10:00-1:00pm) at Jubilee House, Southwell

Each session is structured around:

• Prayer
• Testimonies and stories from contemporary planters and their teams, or
• teams from new worshipping communities
• Lessons and models from history
• Complementary understandings of both church and mission
• Short bursts of input, followed by facilitated discussion and application

You are not required to complete a formal assignment for this module. However, throughout the course, you will be given suggested reading and asked to engage with practical tasks e.g. finding out when your church was planted.