A snapshot of 428 new churches started since 2011 reveals that Australian Christian Churches (ACC) had the greatest representation of new churches (26.6 per cent), followed by the Baptists (16.6 per cent), the International Network of Churches (9.3 per cent) and Anglicans (7.5 per cent)
The Exponential Australia and NCLS Research report shows that 376 churches were planted since 2016 and 168 of these since 2021. 2023 was a peak year of activity with 67 starts of the churches in the survey. (From what The Other Cheek can tell, plants that ceased to exist were not included in the survey – but the statistic shows a considerable continuing appetite for church planting post-Covid.)
Links to parent bodies feature strongly. “Nearly seven in ten (69%) had a link to a ‘parent’ such as a sending church or another linked body,” the report states. “At the time of the snapshot, 66% still had that link currently.”
A subset of 81 churches reported on the support they had been given. “The most common responses were ongoing coaching/supervision/mentoring (79%), and training (74%). Some two thirds had gone through assessment processes. Around half had received financial support (57%), administrative support (51%) and development pathways (46%). Only 23% had been given access to property.”
Eight out of 17 denominations approached revealed they had targets for church planting, with deadlines ranging up to ten years.
John is there a link to this study ?
I think this link works… https://exponential.org.au/wp-content/uploads/NCLS-Report-2024-Snapshot-of-new-churches.pdf