As the next1000 Summit approaches I thought I would cheer us up with the story of how the British equivalent stalled.

This is a condensed version of Martin Robinson's account of the rise and decline of the British church planting movement in the late 80s and 90s. Tomorrow his reasons why it stalled.

In the late 1980s something new was taking place in church planting in Britain. Church planting had always occurred but now it was becoming intentional.

In 1987 Bob and Mary Hopkins pioneered Anglican Church Planting Initiatives (ACPI) which led to a number of church planting conferences hosted by Sandy Millar at Holy Trinity Brompton.

At the same time Baptist pastor, Steve Chalke, founded Oasis which offered one-year mission placements for young people Frontline Teams. Spurgeon’s College (Baptist) formed a partnership with Oasis and provided a three-year course to train church planters.

Rob Frost (Methodist) developed Seed Teams that worked within existing churches to move them into mission and in church planting.

The Hopkins worked with Lynne Green of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to facilitate church planting.

Roger Forster, was also connected with Lynne Green. His ICHTHUS movement was busy pioneering new models of church planting in south east London. ICTHUS was one of a number of new church networks that were vigorously planting churches—Pioneer led by Gerald Coates, Harvestime led by Bryn Jones, and New Frontiers led by Terry Virgo.

The next1000 Summit kicks off at the end of this month. Over 50 church planting leaders are registered.

Here's a checklist I've been working on as a companion to the next1000 ebook on church planting movements.

Check out the checklist and let me know what you think. I hope to use it at the Summit.

There's a $10 reward for every typo you pick up. Yeah!

Download the checklist

Registrations close for the next1000 Summit and preSummit on February 15.

Register here.

Caught up with Peter Botross. We took a hour to walk around Blackburn Lake a few times and pray for the church he’s planting. It was fun listening to the stories of what God has done.

When you meet Peter Botross his intensity is compelling. He’s passionate about his faith and he loves sharing it with others. I grew up in suburban Melbourne where being a Christian was met with passive indifference. Peter is Egyptian. He grew up in Cairo where he witnessed his father’s repeated imprisonment for his faith.

Peter and Susie Botross are planting a church in Brunswick, as part of the Crossway movement. Brunswick is just a few kilometres north of the centre of Melbourne—a city that is more culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse than the rest of Melbourne.

They began with a team of twenty in October 2005. Today over one hundred adults and children involved. The church meets above a video store on Lygon Steet.

Peter has a simple strategy—his people. They invite their friends and family and they share their faith. Twenty-five people have come to faith in Christ as a result.

Taka is a Japanese language student studying in Melbourne. His flatmate invited him to an outreach service. When Peter talked to him after the service Taka had no idea of even the basics of the Christian faith. Six months later he’s an avid student of the Gospels, he’s completed a basic discipleship course, he’s playing in the band and is about to get baptised.

One of the young women at the church reached out to a Chinese student working in her father’s doughnut shop. The girl visited the church and wanted to know more. Peter and Susie Botross visited her home for a Bible study. She came faith and soon began bringing her friends to church. Two more Chinese students came to know Christ. They have since returned to China and connected with a church there.

The first report of a recent church plant comes from Penguin Tasmania. . .

BIG things are happening in the little town of Penguin on the North West Coast of Tasmania.

Twelve weeks ago a church was planted, The Rock Community Church, with much excitement and celebration. A successful add was placed in the local paper for musicians, so our team of eleven (4 adults and 7 kids) quickly grew to fourteen.

Our band really ‘rocks’ these guys have grown in their faith. Their families and some of their friends now come along to The Rock, this has been a vital part of the strategy in reaching our unchurched community.

We now have a crowd of around 70 people who would consider The Rock their church, with over half, not having any pre-existing relationship with another church.

It has also been extremely important for us to have been birthed out of New Directions in Launceston.

Our hearts burn within us, we are experiencing the joy of knowing God’s favour and the excitement of seeing lives transformed step by step. We already feel like a family and have great anticipation for what the future holds.

Louisa and John de Bruyn
The Rock Community Church

If you're in the first two years of a church plant in Australia you can submit your story with a photo to <saddison at crm dot org dot au>

next1000 will award a prize of a $50 voucher from Koorong to the best story submitted before February 28, 2007.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as of 5.27pm, December 12, 2006 there were 20,713,873 Australians.

Every two minutes the number goes up with a new baby born. Every four minutes it goes down with a death. With migration factored in, that's a net gain of one person every two minutes.

Less than 9% of Australians attend a church weekly. About half of those who do are Catholic. The rest are Protestant: Anglican, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Liberal or “mainline” and everyone else in between.

In 2001 there were 10,447 Protestant congregations in Australia. One Protestant church church for every 1800 people, with an average of just 75 people attending weekly.

Allowing for continuing decline since 2001, today there may be around 10,000 Australian Protestant churches. NCLS are crunching the numbers from the 2006 survey right now.

What is clear from their studies to date is a strong link between the numbers of churches in Australia and weekly attendance. NCLS research reveals that typically, the denominations that grew in weekly attendance between 1991 and 2001 also grew in the number of congregations. Denominations that declined in numbers of congregations also declined in weekly attendance.

1991-2001 Weekly attendance and number of congregations

Anglicans: 7% decline in weekly attendance, 9% decline in number of congregations*

Lutherans: 18% decline in weekly attendance, 5% decline in number of congregations

Uniting: 22% decline in weekly attendance, 22% decline in number of congregations

Apostolic: 32% increase in weekly attendance, 67% increase in number of congregations

Assemblies of God: 30% increase in weekly attendance, 37% increase in number of congregations

Years ago mission strategist, Peter Wagner, made the audacious claim that church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under the sun.

Two reports two reports provide evidence that supports his assertion.

The findings of a National Church Life Survey (NCLS) on the effectiveness of church planting as a mission strategy.

1. Church plants are healthier

2. Church plants are more effective in reaching newcomers

3. Church plants are more effective than other forms of outreach

4. Church plants reach younger people

5. Church plants are more likely to reach non-Anglo migrants

6. Church planting is good for the “parent”.

The (NCLS) facts about church planting

In addition, Natural Church Development (NCD) research shows churches that have planted other churches are healthier and grow faster despite having given released people to church planting.

Alternatively, perhaps they are healthier and grow faster because they have given away people and resources.

Warning, having children could be good for you!