Church planting is a strange thing to prepare someone for. You can teach theology. You can explore missiology. You can study leadership, ecclesiology, discipleship and culture. All of this matters. Deeply.
But eventually, someone has to walk into a neighbourhood, meet people, listen, pray, take some risks, gather a community and work out what faithfulness to Jesus, and what His good news, looks like for that particular community. You can’t learn all of that in a classroom.
At the same time, simply being entrepreneurial, passionate or willing to start something isn’t enough either. Church planting needs leaders who are deeply formed in Jesus, theologically grounded, connected to others and prepared for the long, sometimes messy work of making disciples and forming communities.
Because ultimately, Jesus never explicitly asked us to plant more churches. He asked us to make disciples. To see people discover Jesus, become more like Him, find Christ-centred community and participate in His Kingdom.
Yet history, research and experience keep showing us that one of the most effective ways to see that happen, especially in new places and among new people, is through church planting.
So how do we actually prepare people for that?
We have come to believe through our experience in church planting that preparing planters takes more than information. It also takes formation, community and practice.
Church planters need theological foundations, but they also need people around them who understand the strange mix of excitement, uncertainty, possibility and difficulty that comes with starting something new. They need coaches who ask good questions rather than simply handing them a model to reproduce. They need exposure to different expressions of church and mission so they can see what might be possible. And they need permission to experiment, try things, get some things wrong, learn, and try again.
Recognising this, we have seen the need for a pathway that brings theological learning together with coaching, practical experience, cohort and connection with people already involved in church planting.
The Kenmore Institute for Church Planting, powered by the Australian College of Ministries, has been developed in response to that need. It brings accredited study at Diploma, Bachelor and Masters level into a national cohort, alongside coaching, practical experience and input from practitioners and organisations working in church planting.
That national cohort matters. Church planting is deeply local, but it doesn’t have to be isolated. Bringing together planters and pioneers from across Australia creates space to learn from different contexts, traditions and experiences, while building relationships with others asking many of the same questions.
We are also learning from and working alongside organisations such as City to City, M4, DCPI, EFC and Evangelism Australia, with more relationships continuing to develop.
The aim is not to produce one particular model of church, but to help form leaders who can listen well to Jesus, to their communities and to what the Spirit might already be doing, and then have the courage and competence to respond.
For some, that may become a traditional church plant. For others, it might be a missional community, house church, neighbourhood gathering, revitalisation, or an expression of church we haven’t quite imagined yet.
We’re also learning just how important cohorts are.
Church planting can be lonely. Formation shouldn’t be.
There is something powerful about bringing together people from different traditions, denominations and parts of Australia who are asking similar questions.
They learn from lecturers and coaches, but they also learn from each other. Ideas get challenged. Experiences get shared. Friendships form. And people quickly realise they aren’t trying to work all of this out alone.
Perhaps the challenge, then, is not simply identifying more church planters, but creating environments where potential planters can be recognised, formed, connected and given permission to have a go.
That is part of what we are continuing to explore through the Kenmore Institute as we prepare for our national 2027 cohort.
There is still plenty for us to learn, but we are convinced that church planters need more than a classroom. They need formation, relationships, practice and people willing to walk the journey with them.
Learn more about the Kenmore Institute for Church Planting and the 2027 national cohort:
https://acom.edu.au/about/schools/kenmore-institute/
