If we are to see unreached Australians reached, we will need all kinds of churches planted by all kinds of people. And at times the call to plant a church may come as a surprise. 

Church planting is often seen as a young person’s game, and often it is. But not always.

Rod and Joan Hennegan’s journey to plant a church was greatly influenced by hearing the call of God when Rod was 57 and planting a church at age 60.

Here’s some of the story of hearing the call of God and planting a church as told by Rod:

Joan and I both came to faith in our late teens while at university. After marrying and starting a family, we remained committed members of local churches, serving in various leadership roles – including life groups, ministry leadership, eldership, and staff roles. Joan spent six years running community engagement programs, and I took a year’s unpaid leave to serve as a campus pastor. We’ve always carried a heart for both the Church and the lost, running courses like Christianity Explained and Alpha, and encouraging evangelism.

In June 2019, while attending a Bethel Kingdom Culture conference in the U.S., Joan turned to me before a session and said, “I feel like God just said He wants us to plant a church in Mitchelton” – our home suburb. The same impression came again the next day. We were surprised, as this wasn’t something we were pursuing, nor are we the type to easily say “God said”. But the prompting was clear.

Later that year, an unexpected job opportunity opened up. I asked if I could work three days a week – something I had previously prayed for but never thought possible. To my surprise, the offer was accepted. A financial advisor confirmed we could make it work by accessing our super, as we were now empty nesters. Suddenly, the idea of church planting felt very real.

We took six months of long service leave to pray, wait, and seek God. Through this time, we came to believe that God was calling us into full-time ministry. As that season ended, we received an unsolicited prophetic word from a visiting couple -who didn’t know us – which powerfully confirmed what we sensed God saying. 

We went into that evening praying something like, “ok God, we believe you are calling us to lay down our jobs to serve you. Tonight, we ask you to confirm that, or correct us”. It was a small weeknight gathering. The visiting couple gave an 8-minute prophetic word over us, which we recorded. This overwhelmingly confirmed what we believed God was saying to us. We then shared our journey with trusted mentors and friends, who affirmed our sense of calling.

And as a result at age 60 – three years after hearing the call of God – in late 2022 Welcome Community Church was born.