From the Ops Desk
Church Planting
By Steve Meharg, QB Director of Local Mission
The Stats are in! God is doing a new thing.
Recently I was able to hear the latest statistics from Ruth Powell who works at the National Church Life Survey group. This group has carefully gathered all the latest information from all churches in Australia. As a person focused on church planting, I was eager to hear how things are progressing and what other denominations are doing in this space. Well, the results are in and it seems like God is moving powerfully in the space of Church planting.
In the last five years, the volume of church plants across all denominations has doubled! Since 2021 over 230 churches have been planted. Perhaps the most exciting statistic is that these church plants are growing and the majority of the growth is new Christians (62%). Church plants are recording an average of 16.1 new attendees per year and 9.9 of those are first-time commitments. We have known for a long time that one of the most effective ways to reach the unreached is through church planting and these statistics bear that out.
The most effective church plants (at reaching the unreached) have three aspects that seem to bring health. Firstly, they have a clear discipleship pathway from new Christian to volunteer leader. Secondly, they are reaching young adults and have a focus on young people. Thirdly, the churches that run Alpha are seeing 40% more new Christians than those that don’t. Although overall church attendance has flatlined in the last decade, church planting seems to have a correlation with growth.
The Baptist denomination has moved from 4th largest to 3rd largest since 2001, and the ACC has moved from 5th, to second. The ACC have planted 22.4% (247) of new churches since 2011 and the Baptists account for 19.4% (218). Seventh day Adventists 126, then Anglican 120, then it drops by over half from there. Obviously, we are not in a race against other denominations, but this simply shows that denominations that plant churches are growing and denominations that don’t, are not.
I think the most exciting stat of this whole report is the escalation we are seeing in church planting. From 2019 to 2025 the number of new churches is growing. Clearly, God is inspiring this church planting movement across all churches.
As part of Vision 33 we believe God has called us to plant and revitalise 100 new churches. We are seeing new churches being planted already and there are several in the pipeline for 2027. The size of your church is not relevant in this discussion, we are seeing churches planted from small, medium and large churches. Next year we will be starting the first of our church planting learning communities. These learning communities will be useful for a church getting ready to plant or a church that is planting or has just planted! They will create a structure that will enable your team to hear about best practise and strategize next steps over a two-year period. The journey will be taken with other groups who are on a similar journey but at all different stages, which will facilitate peer learning and sharing wisdom.
I believe that God is calling us to respond to the needs of Queensland. Our State is growing rapidly and there is new openness to the Gospel, especially in the younger generations. Please contact me for more information and we can discuss your next steps.
The Stats are in! God is doing a new thing.
Recently I was able to hear the latest statistics from Ruth Powell who works at the National Church Life Survey group. This group has carefully gathered all the latest information from all churches in Australia. As a person focused on church planting, I was eager to hear how things are progressing and what other denominations are doing in this space. Well, the results are in and it seems like God is moving powerfully in the space of Church planting.
In the last five years, the volume of church plants across all denominations has doubled! Since 2021 over 230 churches have been planted. Perhaps the most exciting statistic is that these church plants are growing and the majority of the growth is new Christians (62%). Church plants are recording an average of 16.1 new attendees per year and 9.9 of those are first-time commitments. We have known for a long time that one of the most effective ways to reach the unreached is through church planting and these statistics bear that out.
The most effective church plants (at reaching the unreached) have three aspects that seem to bring health. Firstly, they have a clear discipleship pathway from new Christian to volunteer leader. Secondly, they are reaching young adults and have a focus on young people. Thirdly, the churches that run Alpha are seeing 40% more new Christians than those that don’t. Although overall church attendance has flatlined in the last decade, church planting seems to have a correlation with growth.
The Baptist denomination has moved from 4th largest to 3rd largest since 2001, and the ACC has moved from 5th, to second. The ACC have planted 22.4% (247) of new churches since 2011 and the Baptists account for 19.4% (218). Seventh day Adventists 126, then Anglican 120, then it drops by over half from there. Obviously, we are not in a race against other denominations, but this simply shows that denominations that plant churches are growing and denominations that don’t, are not.
I think the most exciting stat of this whole report is the escalation we are seeing in church planting. From 2019 to 2025 the number of new churches is growing. Clearly, God is inspiring this church planting movement across all churches.
As part of Vision 33 we believe God has called us to plant and revitalise 100 new churches. We are seeing new churches being planted already and there are several in the pipeline for 2027. The size of your church is not relevant in this discussion, we are seeing churches planted from small, medium and large churches. Next year we will be starting the first of our church planting learning communities. These learning communities will be useful for a church getting ready to plant or a church that is planting or has just planted! They will create a structure that will enable your team to hear about best practise and strategize next steps over a two-year period. The journey will be taken with other groups who are on a similar journey but at all different stages, which will facilitate peer learning and sharing wisdom.
I believe that God is calling us to respond to the needs of Queensland. Our State is growing rapidly and there is new openness to the Gospel, especially in the younger generations. Please contact me for more information and we can discuss your next steps.