“It Takes 10 Years to Plant a Church”

Daiva and I moved to London about 15 years ago to be part of a core team planting a church in Ealing. There were about 15 of us who met weekly with the pastor and his family in a living room for just under a year to dream and plan.

One evening he said something that has stayed with me:
“It takes 10 years to plant a church.”

At the time, I thought it took one Sunday. You know, stick up a sign, get some people together, sing three songs, have someone preach, make some tea, done!

But I’ve come to realise it takes a lot longer than that. Yes, in one sense a church is a gathering of believers, so if you gather believers together, you have a church. That’s true. But if we’re talking about being the ekklesia Jesus envisioned, creating Kingdom culture, impacting society, and having everything in place to disciple people of all ages to follow Jesus that, I now think, takes more like 10 years.

We’re coming up to 8 years, and I’m amazed at what God has done. We started as a group of about 13 people in Andi and Vicki Swift's living room. On our first Sunday, about 25 people gathered at All Saints Church, who kindly let us use their building. During the first month at our current venue, we had similar numbers. We’ve come a long way and grown in so many ways, not just numerically. We’ve seen lives transformed, people of all ages come to know Jesus, and many get baptised. None of this could have happened without many people giving their time, energy, and money. I feel so blessed by the servant-hearted people God has sent to be part of what he’s doing in Windsor.

I’m thankful for the culture we’ve developed, how we’ve grown in love for one another. I love the diversity of our community: people from so many different nations, age groups, and backgrounds coming together to worship God. I’m also encouraged by what we’ve done outside of a Sunday to impact our local community in the past 8 years:
• Parent & toddler group
• Food-share
• Homeless shelters
• Christmas & Easter events
• CAP Debt Centre
• Hope and Depression courses
• Saturday Café on Broom Farm Estate
• Our own café ‘Ravine 17’ now open during the week

We’ve also taken steps in creation care: the garden at the Hub being transformed and producing food, switching to more sustainable products, and supporting the ongoing Trash to Cash project in Nigeria.

The building has totally transformed too, because of peoples generosity we’ve adapted the kids’ warehouse space, the foyer now has a café and there has been big improvements in the auditorium. We’ve also been able to send money to other charities and organisations doing Kingdom work.

It’s good to look back and thank God for all he has done in the last 8 years. But at the same time, I feel God is just getting started with us! There’s so much more on our hearts, and many exciting opportunities ahead for the site.

I’m also aware of areas we need to improve on. One big priority is discipleship. I want us to get better at:
• Raising the standard of Sunday preaching
• Offering more midweek opportunities for spiritual growth
• Increasing the number of small groups and courses

I'm currently working with eight other churches to create a year-round discipleship course (outside school holidays), launching in January. I’d also love to see more 1-to-1 discipleship, where believers regularly meet with someone further along in their walk with Jesus.

We need to continue to strengthen our kids and youth teams. We’re blessed with a growing number of young people, and I’d love to run kids and youth ministry every week, so they consistently connect and receive age-appropriate teaching.

Those are just two areas, but really, I believe God wants us to level up in every area:

• Personal evangelism

• Welcome and hospitality

• Hosting God’s presence in our gatherings

• Prayer

• Giving

• Pastoral care

• Pursuing justice in our community, nation, and beyond

  
  It is a work in progress and will we be where God wants us by year 10? Probably not fully — but I believe we’re close to being truly established, with the infrastructure to make disciples and impact society effectively.
  
  What will it take to get us closer?
  In short — you! It’ll take all of us playing our part.
  
  One thing that has weighed on my heart over the years is seeing some of the reasons people leave churches. There are, of course, times when leaving is right and good: when God calls you somewhere new, we ourselves felt led to a church in London for a couple of years, or when a church begins to drift from the core truths of the gospel, or if leadership becomes toxic or abusive. God does move his people, and there are seasons for everything.

But sometimes, I wonder if we walk away too quickly. Sometimes we leave because of difficult relationships, the very ones God might be inviting us to work through. Or because something doesn’t feel quite right, every box isn’t ticked, and yet, perhaps God is gently calling us to stay and be part of the solution.

So as we move towards this new season, my encouragement is:
Seek God and ask two questions:

Where does he want me?

How does he want me to serve his people?

If you get the sense you are where he wants you to be we have lots of opportunities for you to get involved in our site teams:

Production
Welcome
Parent and Toddler group
Kids and youth
Alpha course
Worship
Hosting or leading a mid week small group
Serving with the CAP Debt Centre or other Revive initiatives
Creation care team

I understand people are in different seasons with kids and work but If you’d like to know more about any of these areas, please get in touch and find out more! (leon.johnson@kerith.church)

God wants to grow us, to shape us to become more like Jesus, to increase our influence in the world around us, and to equip us to reach people who don’t yet know him. We’re hearing encouraging reports of record numbers of people, especially young people, returning to church. I’m praying that God would continue to move so powerfully among us in Windsor that we’d need to start additional services, find a larger building, or even plant another site locally, all so that more people can hear and experience his love.

But for that to happen, and for us to serve new people well, we need everyone to get involved where they can and play a part.

Lets level up together this coming season.

Leon