Stuart Robinson has just published a book on church planting: Starting Mission-Shaped Churches

In October his in on national tour running a serious of one day workshops: Church Planting Countdown and Launch!

1. Who is Stuart Robinson?

Age 48. Born in the 50's to (unmarried) musicians from Kings Cross Sydney.

Placed in an orphanage. Adopted by the Robinson's - godly and enthusiastic Baptists. Raised 'christianly'. Never knew a time when Jesus was not my Lord and Saviour. At age 18 began attending a Pentecostal church; exposed to church planting and street evangelism for first time.

I am married to Jane (have been for 23 years). Three kids Jonathan (21), Nicoloa (20), William (18), Ed (16).

Background in management - then trained for fulltime ministry at Moore College.

Why Moore College? Because a wonderful old retired Anglican minister said..."the Lord has told me that you are to go to Moore next year...I've arranged for you to see the Bishop next week...we start Greek classes in my study on Tuesday...do you have any questions?".

Two years as an associate minister in a wealthy seaside suburb and then another two years in a public housing housing community.

In late 80's planted Quakers Hill Anglican Church and then Parklea Anglican Community church which closed after 4 years. Began a student ministry of the University of Western Sydney.

Late 90's commenced work as Senior Minister St Paul's Tervuren in Brussels and The English Church Liege, Belgium. My task was to relocate and grow the former and relocate, 're-pot' and make self-sufficient the latter.

I returned to Australia early noughties and worked as a consultant with Evangelism Ministries and led the team that planted Penisula Church in Pyrmont

Mike Baimbridge (centre back row) was just through the supermarket checkout when he heard a young voice call out, “Hi Mike!”
 
It was Jake, an eleven year old primary school student from Yarra Glen—the town where Mike and his team are starting a new church, Heartland.
 
Jake knew Mike through the voluntary class room help Mike does in the school, as part of serving the Yarra Glen community.
 
Jake was a popular student and a good young sportsman. That weekend he was looking forward to playing his 50th game of football for Yarra Glen under 12s.
 
Jake was keen to introduce Mike to his mum. They chatted for a few minutes and then Mike and his wife Wendy headed off for a weekend away in the mountains.
 
Mike and Wendy got back late Sunday afternoon to the buzz of a police helicopter swooping overhead. The next day they heard that a young boy had been rushed to intensive care following a severe asthma attack. Later they discovered it was Jake.
 
Just minutes after finishing his 50th game of football Jake suffered an asthma attack that left him in coma with irreparable brain damage and little chance of survival. Later that week he passed away.
 
Mike immediately met with the school principal and offered to help the school come to terms with this tragic loss.
 
Mike spent the day among crying students, teachers and parents, offering comfort where they could. He encouraged the kids as they made cards for Jake’s family.
 
The following day, Mike felt prompted to contact Jake’s family to offer the help of the pastoral care team. This was a nervous time for Mike.
 
He wondered, “When is the right time to ring? A family in mourning doesn’t necessarily want the church guy ringing up at this time.”
 
He walked the house for around an hour, thinking of what to say, praying about ringing, wondering if he should put it off until the next day.

ResourceZone has just launched its online store.

If you're in Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific, it's great place to go to order for resources on church planting, church health and leadership.

Bob Logan's Be Fruitful and Multiply is a must for anyone with a heart to fuel church planting movements.

Other categories covered: coaching, church planter assessments, simple church, multi-site churches and team building.

The Assemblies of God in Western Australia have made a good start in reigniting a vision for church planting. Here’s an interview with John Warwick (left), their former State Chairman who is now heading up the church planting department.

1. What’s your current involvement in church planting?

I am the Church Planting Director for the AOG in Western Australia. This is not a paid position. I am also the Senior Pastor of NorthWay Christian Centre. The AOG State Executive employs a full time evangelist, Patrick Humberstone (right), to help me run the church planting department.

2. What was the state of church planting when you came into the role?

We started with nothing. Before coming into the role of Church Planting Director just under four years ago, we had not see any churches planted for the previous five years in WA. There was no strategy, no resources, nothing in place for someone to take over.

3. What did you learn about how to get church planting back on the agenda?

We had to ‘blow the trumpet’ as loud as possible. At our bi-monthly pastors meetings we voiced our concerns and every opportunity that came our way we spoke about church planting. We produced a newsletter and worked the phones. We would meet with two or three pastors for coffee and to sound them out and encourage them to get involved with church planting. It wasn’t long before some churches started to make church planting a part of their missions budget. Our Executive here in WA now make church planting a top priority.

4. What’s the vision for church planting in WA?

Our vision is to plant a least five new churches a year. At present we have 80 churches in WA, so within the next four years our target is 100.

5. How are you turning that vision into reality?

Wayne Pickford believes, “Wrestling is the opera of the working class.”

Wrestling is an important part of his strategy for reaching working class people in the steel mill town of Berkley, NSW.

That's Wayne on the right just about to drive the other guy's head into the canvas.

You can read the first instalment of his story in: Wrestling against flesh and bood.

I caught up with Wayne last week in Sydney and interviewed him for next1000.

How did you get involved in church planting?

I grew up working class and became a prison officer. Through those experiences God gave me a heart for working class people. I saw the disconnect between the way we do church and their everyday life. I wanted to bridge the gap.

I discovered that Tim Scheuer from the Church Army had a vision for a base of evangelism in Berkley, a strong working class town. So we got together.

Tell us about Berkley.

The people are Australian born and working class. They have a history of working in the steel mills. There’s chronic unemployment. Some families are second and third generation welfare recipients. They watch a lot of TV, especially sports on Foxtel.

People don’t leave the area very much. The dream for a young man is to play Rugby League professionally and get out of Berkley.

We have a big problem with drugs and alcohol. We have one of the highest rates of single parent families in the nation.

There’s a local Salvation Army church but no other churches have survived.

What was the initial strategy?

I’d read about Matthew Barnett's Adopt A Block approach.

He’s pioneered it in some tough areas of LA. I thought we could adapt the model for working class Aussies.

I recently caught up with Paul and Wendy Hateley (the couple on the left) of the Salvation Army. Here's their church planting story. . .

How did you get involved in church planting?

We were commissioned as Salvation Army officers in 1994. Our first assignment, three days later was to plant a Church in Merriwa, a Northern Suburb of Perth. We had a one hour lesson church planting in our Training College as preparation.

Where did you begin?

We had only experienced Church life within the safe confines of Churches that had more than adequate facilities that survived by an attractional model of ministry.

Merriwa was a typical satellite suburb, geographically separated from the wider Perth development, where many people came to live chasing the great Australian dream of owning their own house. However once they settled into their new home they began to realise that they are miles away from family and friends, feeling somewhat isolated and vulnerable.

I remember walking the streets of Merriwa, noticing that there were no public facilities whatsoever. There were no public halls, no schools, no seeded parks, no shops, no community centres, no post boxes, no public telephone boxes, no public transport, just a sea of new homes.

I cried out to God “How can we grow a Church without any place to meet?” I remember God responding “Paul my Church is not bricks and mortar, it is people. That you have plenty of, so get to work”.

How did this experience shape your strategy?

Preconceived ideas of what Church looked like did not belong in this place and the Holy Spirit was urging us to tailor make this new Plant to suit the needs of the community. In order to do this however a solid understanding of the community was necessary.

Meetings with the local Council, neighbourhood action groups and government departments were helpful. The mayor welcomed us with open arms exclaiming “You are the beginning of our social infrastructure!”