Church Planting
What a crazy ride this has been.
In 2022 my wife Sarah and I, along with our two teenage boys, Charlie and Oli, packed up our lives in Melbourne to move to Coffs Harbour on the NSW Mid North Coast to plant a new church.
Prior to moving, our lives were comfortable. We loved where we lived, we loved our home, the boys were doing great, and most of all we loved the church we were in, our roles, and the people that we were privileged to do ministry with. We were there for life, or so we thought.
God had other ideas. Through a series of moments, discomforts, stirrings, and conversations we felt we were being called to something more. Through prayer, seeking God, and the wisdom of others, we made the decision to leave, only knowing that God had called us to go.
Over the next few months, Sarah and I came to a point where we felt God calling of us to plant a church in Coffs Harbour. Our 20 years of ministry had been varied and amazing, but we felt called to see a community where multiplication of disciples occurred and that people were empowered to share their faith in their daily context. We weren’t called to just start a service but instead plant a vibrant, life-giving discipling community.
This was a moment of clarity, a moment of calling. Calling is an interesting thing. It can be easy to say ‘God said’. But pick up your life, move your family, not have jobs, and start a new church with no team in a community you don’t know, requires a clear call from God. That moment of calling gives you something to come back to and will sustain you while helping you to keep going.
We arrived in Coffs in mid 2022, took some time to rest, seek God, and plan for the future. While excited to be stepping into something new, we came up against challenges including significant health issues, work challenges, criticism and assumptions. The pain and grief of leaving, isolation, life challenges, uncertainty and self-doubt were strong and on some days felt unbearable. But God was in it and He was doing a significant work in us first.
In the later part of 2023 we started gathering in our home with a handful of people that loved God and were interested in being a part of what He was doing in our community. One family felt called to move to Coffs and be part of our core team, which we are incredibly grateful for. Doing this journey with others is vital.
Throughout 2024, we did what we could, reaching out and caring for people and loving those that God put in our path but without a lot of momentum. Our goal was always disciples, not numbers. We had strong conviction around not just filling a room but to see our church built on new believers and christians not currently in a church community . We didn’t want build by just moving people around from other churches, it’s about seeing the kingdom extended.
We were good with the slow burn, but it required perseverance. We can all too easily look at the highlight reels of other churches and ministries and compare. Let’s be real, we have all done it. This impacts our emotional health, but we have to remind ourselves of the call and hold on, not give up, and persevere with what God has asked of us.
At the start of 2025, we were praying and believing for breakthrough because we were struggling. We intentionally started to pray for just a few families that we could build with. Through amazing God moments, we began to see people reach out and come to our cafe services and discipleship gatherings. This began to grow with multiple families starting to regularly attend and become involved. We even had emails from people moving to town, looking for a church and feeling God calling them to our church before they had even met us.
By the start of 2026 we started running out of space in the cafe and in our home. We currently run a fortnightly rhythm of a worship service with preaching one week and then a discipleship gathering with communion, prayer and discussion, the other. We see this being a long term plan to help raise disciples that make disciples.
God is good. He always has been and always will be. But the journey to planting hasn’t been an easy one. It has required us to hang onto His calling, go through pain and persevere with the vision.
Right now, we are praying and believing for a facility that we can rent regularly on Sundays for services, which is proving really difficult but God’s got it. We are blessed with a multigenerational group of people that God has brought along to carry vision and also need an encounter with Jesus.
If you are considering planting or making a significant decision for your life, can I encourage you to firstly get 100% clarity on the call, it will give you focus and direction, and in the hard times help you survive. Understand that you will go through some pain. I would argue with anyone that tells you otherwise. But you will come through it.
Whatever your calling, persevere and see what happens when you hang on for the ride, trusting God and experience the breakthrough.
