Models of church planting that mean a region is reached 

The book of Acts is not just as an ancient record of what the church once did, but a living vision of what the church today could be, writes Alex Harris

Recently I have been asked a lot about how churches across a town, city or region might work together to reach areas that don’t have a church. Especially when most of those churches have the heart but not the resources (of people, money or experience) to do that.

It is a great question. 

They love their town, city or region and they certainly know God loves those people. They’re aware of a lack of churches in certain estates, areas, villages or people groups. They want to do something about that – but feel unable. 

I know that feeling. I understand that question.

I’ve been helped by thinking of Acts in the Bible not just as an ancient record of what the church once did, but a living vision of what the church today could be .. and then asking two questions of Acts.

What actually happened at Pentecost?

How does God start new churches in Acts … and today?
 

What actually happened at Pentecost – siblings not clones reach cities

I wonder … at Pentecost is the Spirit actually birthing not one but two forms of church — twin sisters?

One was larger and public, meeting in the temple courts — accessible, visible, and engaged with civic life. It had recognised leadership and clear connection to the wider community.

The other was smaller and discreet, meeting house to house — led by ordinary people in ordinary places, often under the radar of government or temple authority.

Both were full and authentic expressions of the church – fit for purpose from the cultural contexts. Each had its own shape and way of engaging people. There was some connection through apostolic oversight, but each carried its own life and leadership.

I wonder if Acts invites us to embrace both? Some churches will naturally express a more temple court pattern — large, gathered, public.

Others will express more of a house-to-house pattern — small, embedded, and relational. A few may hold both together in a hybrid form. Both are essential to reach a city.
 

How churches start in Acts – diversity not uniformity reach cities

1. Uninvited Scattering — The Jerusalem Period (Acts 1–10)

In the first third of Acts, the word scattered appears disproportionately often. The early believers were scattered either by plan or by persecution, but that scattering became the means through which new churches were formed in new places.

Movement — often unplanned or unwelcome — became mission. Churches sprang up wherever believers found themselves, carrying the gospel into new regions.

Today, we see echoes of this in migration and mobility. The inter-ethnic make-up of our cities and congregations continues to shift. Many believers arrive in new communities looking for a spiritual home — and often end up starting new ones. In today’s world, migration is one of the greatest mission opportunities before us. International students, asylum seekers, economic migrants, and diaspora communities are already forming new expressions of church. Often, they plant naturally among people from their own background — sometimes before we’ve even realised what’s happening.

Our role as churches is to be both safe landing pads and effective launching pads — welcoming those who come, while empowering them to form new gospel communities among their own networks. This is a vital and significant way to reach a city, by utilising the natural migration and mobility that is city life.


2. Strategic sending — The Antioch Period (Acts 11–19)

There is a disproportionate use of the concept of ‘sending’ in this middle section of Acts, with new churches starting because of intentional, prayerfully determined strategies with teams resourced and sent to new places with the direct intention of new churches forming.

Here, church planting wasn’t reactive; it was strategic — prayerfully planned, resourced, and relationally connected. New churches were intentionally started by established churches that invested people, prayer, and finances into new ventures. A translocal network – through disproportionate investment in a relative few churches with this potential - supported this multiplication. The networked resources these few churches (in money and expectation) so these few churches resourced the whole network (through new leaders sent and new churches started).

We see this reflected today in city-based resourcing churches and regional networks investing strategically in church planting. 

The Antioch model reminds us that strategic sending is still one of the most powerful catalysts for reaching a city.


3. Intentional staying — The Ephesus Period (Acts 20–28)

In the final third of Acts, the emphasis shifts again — this time to staying. There is a disproportionate use of the concept of ‘staying’ for a long period in one location in this section of Acts. Paul remains for extended periods in places like Athens, Ephesus, and later Rome.

For example, in Ephesus, he stays two to three years, teaching daily in the hall of Tyrannus. From that one location, the whole region of Asia hears the word of the Lord. (Acts 19:10)

This was not a mobile mission, but a training centre model. Churches multiplied as disciples were deeply formed, trained, and sent from a place of long-term investment.

Today, we see this in disciple-making movements, and microchurch networks that release ordinary Christians to start small, simple churches in their own contexts. Through deeper discipleship and accessible training, believers are equipped to bring church to the everyday places they live and work.
 

Reflection questions

So I wonder, could these two questions and their answers start to help us move from a desire to reach our city, town or region to the beginnings of a reality?
 

1. Which expression of church has God entrusted to us right now — temple courts, house to house, or a hybrid — and how might releasing siblings rather than clones help our city hear the gospel more fully?
2. Where is God already scattering people connected to our church — through migration, work, study, or housing — and how could we become better landing pads and launching pads for what the Spirit may already be doing?
3. What might strategic sending look like if we partnered with others — investing together in a few key places or people so that the whole city might be served rather than each church acting alone?
4. If we were to stay longer and go deeper in one place, who could be trained and released from among us to carry church into the everyday spaces we cannot reach ourselves?

 

Alex Harris is the Regional Minister for Pioneering and Church Planting in the Yorkshire Baptist Association and the Director of Baptist Church Planting at St Hild Centre for Church Planting.

He also co-facilitates the National Church Planting Network. 

For more information, contact him at alex.harris@sthild.org

 

 

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