Magazine Editor: Colin Baron Email: colin.baron@mfc.org.uk

“Where are the people who are going to dream big dreams for God?”

Colin Baron

My understanding of New Testament church planting has been shaped not only by the Book of Acts, but also by my own personal walk. My first two church plants probably taught me more how not to do things! This led me to look at the different ways churches had been planted within Newfrontiers, and across different church planting movements, to see what could be learned from them. Pioneering churches in Manchester has taken me on a steep learning curve, and although the journey of discovery still continues, my intention is to share some of the things I have found along the way.

One of the main building blocks we have used to plant churches in Manchester is that of gathering in people's homes. We call these small pioneer churches "church in the home." Faith for this came from my own conversion: at the age of sixteen I left school and began work as an apprentice heating engineer. As most of my friends went to college, I found myself feeling isolated and ended up going to the local Methodist youth club where I became friends with the youth leader, John, and his family. I was not interested in Christianity, but when invited to join a prayer meeting that he had just started in his house I found myself saying 'yes' out of friendship. At one meeting a man came along who belonged to a local Pentecostal church. During the evening he spoke in tongues and another person interpreted. I was overwhelmed by the presence of God and sat in a chair shaking for a very long time. By the end of the evening I was radically saved, and from then on I longed for Wednesday nights to come so that I could get to these fantastic meetings. Church for me in the first two years of my Christian life was in John and Diane's home. We saw many young people come in and get saved and a flourishing youth group emerge. During our time in Manchester, we have seen many hospitable people opening up their homes for the purpose of pioneering a new church.

Another building block we have used to plant churches also came out of those early years in the Methodist church. It seemed that if you had a vision, you had a job. Although I was a very raw and new Christian, I threw myself into reaching teenagers. By the time I was eighteen, John and his family had moved to a new area and I found myself running a large youth work. Once a month we would run an outreach coffee bar where we saw many saved. This led to bible study groups being set up in different homes during the week, and then every Friday night we would have up to 150 teenagers coming along to the youth club. Having vision and the encouragement to take initiatives has been a major part of the way people have been empowered to pioneer new churches, often when they felt very inadequate for the task.

One of the greatest weaknesses I noticed during my early Christian years was that after seeing people saved, they loved the Christian community they found midweek, but were very bored with church on Sundays. After getting married and working for the Methodist church for three years, Mary and I decided that we wanted to be part of a church were new Christians were eager to join. This led us to a Baptist church that was endeavouring to bring their church life into line with the New Testament. They had asked Terry Virgo to come and help them, and this was our first introduction to a man and a movement (the Newfrontiers group of churches) that was to play a major part in our lives from that time onwards.

This next phase gave us another major building block for planting churches - the importance of apostolic involvement and church leadership. It was great to be in a church where the leaders were interested in what you were doing and wanted to disciple you. I was thrilled to watch young people not only being saved but wanting to come to the Sunday services as well as midweek meetings. Seeing the fruits of apostolic ministry in the church and getting caught up in the prophetic call and vision of an apostle was fantastic, and has continued to motivate us over the years.

One thing I noticed during this time was a negative response to strong leadership resulting in people being reluctant to take the initiative. In my early years I had longed for fathering and to be led by a team of elders that were seeking to follow the Spirit - now I had it, I also wanted the church to live in the good of this and be able to take risks and step out in faith in order to build up the body of Christ. When we moved to Manchester to start planting churches I was keen to put into place leadership that empowered people to 'have a go' - releasing them yet not abdicating responsibility for them. With this as a background I can remember as if it was yesterday the first time I drove from north Kent to Manchester. Mary and I had felt God call us to move from Swanley and plant a church in Manchester. This was my first visit and as I was passing Birmingham on the M6 I heard Steve Nicholson (a Vineyard pastor) on a tape ask, "Where are the people who are going to dream big dreams for God?" I responded to those words by praying and saying to God "I want to plant churches all around Manchester." Something had happened to me that was to change my life.

As I began to share this experience with Terry Virgo and with Newfrontiers leaders at a time of prayer and fasting, I found myself speaking out "twenty churches in Greater Manchester", and even as I did so God gave me faith that I would see this, and more. Many Newfrontiers churches across the country began to pray for Manchester and as a result, God called others to the city.

In June '93 we made the move to Manchester along with Graham and Charlotte Webb with whom we had teamed up to lead the new church. Also around this time three families moved to Manchester from other Newfrontiers churches, and four families already in the city who had Newfrontiers contacts and had been awaiting our arrival, joined us. So the first group was gathered. Over the next couple of months others were added, including three young people who came to serve us on a 'Year Team', and by September 1993 we had 33 adults and children and were able to begin meeting in a local school hall.

A while later, whilst sitting in a prayer meeting with a group of thirty people we had gathered in South Manchester, I noticed a girl who had joined us from Bolton. It provoked me to say to the group, "Let's pray for Bolton, and maybe we can have a go at planting there!" Immediately I felt rebuked by God for saying, "Let's have a go", and I felt Him say, "Have I not called you to plant churches?" Faith began to rise in me and we began praying for Bolton Family Church. The church was birthed in that prayer meeting. At first it seemed to be so arrogant to say we have a church plant in Bolton when we had a single girl and her dog, yet I was learning the difference between genuine faith from God that speaks things into being, and wishful thinking that produces empty words.

Since that time we have seen 25 churches planted around the North-West of England. Some of them are now well established and have appointed elders, some are smaller with developing leadership teams, and some are a handful of people in a home. Each of the Manchester churches has a vision for their own town or district, yet all unite under one corporate banner with a vision to see the kingdom of God advance by:

• Planting 20 churches in Greater Manchester

• Seeing 10,000 saved & added to the churches

• Uniting with other churches to fill stadiums

Recently, I have been travelling a lot around the UK and abroad, and I have met many people who know that God has called them to pioneer a church but have no idea how to go about it. IÕve heard the same questions being asked over and over again. So, in response to these questions we have produced this magazine which will hopefully answer some of those questions and give you real, practical advice from people who have or are currently planting churches. I am also producing a manual which will be a comprehensive guide to pioneering churches from my personal experience - Planting Pioneering Establishing Churches.

You can read more about how it all began in Manchester in the article 'One Woman and Her Dog'.