Towards a church plant

In both the church family lunch recording and the sermon "The Land" (above) Luke covered some points clarifying what we are and aren't talking about when we say we're exploring church planting. Here's a quick summary:

1. We’re not talking about buying land and building a building.

We would love the Uniting Church to invest in land south of Canning Vale so that in the future, more venue to be used for Kingdom work can be established. But that's not the first step. This isn't about a building, this is about establishing new communities of people to reach local areas with the good news of Jesus. 

2. We’re not talking about a carbon copy of The Billabong congregation in Canning Vale

A church plant is shaped around the people it is trying to reach with the gospel. So the new worshipping community will look different to The Billabong in Canning Vale. Once we decide on leadership and location, a team will 'research' the area and shape the church plant around the needs, passions and demographics of the local area. 

3. The plant would be part of The Billabong family

A decision to establish an autonomous congregation with it's own governance, eldership, finances etc. could come later. But in the interim, it makes the most sense that this be a "location" or "campus" of The Billabong family, with the leaders working closely together and the two communities having "family gatherings" from time to time.

4. It may start small

We’re not expecting a full 50% of The Billabong congregation to up and move to the new church plant. It might be 20 or 30 people including kids. Maybe more, maybe less.

5. It won’t start this year

Even if committed to proceed, appointing a leader and investing resources later this year, a minimum 6 month period of developing a team, praying, preparing, getting training for the leader (this is usually called “launch phase”) is required. So Easter next year is the earliest we’d see the first weekend service and “official launch”.

6. We can't and won't proceed without identifying a leader

Launch phase can't begin if there's no key leader to encourage people to come and work with to research, pray, plan and prepare. This is an essential step and current point of much prayer and discernment. 

7. Finally, we're unlikely to employ someone from outside The Billabong to come and lead the church plant

The leadership team feel that identifying and sending a leader or a couple from within The Billabong, who carry our DNA, align with the vision and mission of this church, is so important. This must be someone who is called, has the right character, and is willing to be trained and equipped for the task. While not impossible, it would be tough to find someone from outside who gels so well with The Billabong that they are the right person/couple for the job.

Hopefully this helps in clarifying a few things. Again, please take time to watch the videos above, and share any questions you have via the google form. Thanks!

During Holy Week, some of us gathered on zoom each morning at 7am to pray. Part of our prayer focus each morning was on suburbs around the region where The Billabong is located. As we are currently on a journey of discovering whether God is leading us to expand our ministry through ‘church planting’ - starting a new worshipping community - it’s important that we pray for the areas we could be led to plant into. There’s been a strong sense for me that the suburbs south of Canning Vale where new housing developments are still happening are where the Holy Spirit is leading us. But that’s a very big area! How far south? More towards Cockburn, or Byford? Where there’s already well established communities, or where houses are yet to be built?

NOTE: If you haven’t yet read the letter to our church family “an invitation to prayer and conversation”, please read that first!

Rather than doing “zoom prayer” from home last week, I figured I would head down to whatever suburb we were praying for each morning. It’s such a rich experience - driving through a suburb for no other reason that to pray for this land and ask God what he’s doing and saying. You notice things you’d never notice if you were just going to meet up with someone or head to a shop. You notice the structures, landmarks, ‘monuments’ built into the area when it was established. You notice some of the values of local community, based on signage and shopfronts. You notice the strengths and the opportunities.

One thing in particular that really struck me a few years ago is the lack of any churches, almost. Last year I met with the leaders of Carey Baptist Church to hear their experience of ministry in the Harrisdale area. They “bookend” the Harrisdale/Piara Waters area with their Harrisdale and Forrestdale school/church campuses. As far as I know, there may also be a few small single-ethnic churches who meet in local schools. But that’s it. Canning Vale, on the other hand, is home to 15 churches. At least those are the ones I know by name, and know who the Pastors are. A quick google search reveals a few more…

God has a history of “going ahead” of his people. He prepares the land, even as he prepares the hearts of his people to “possess” the land. I think the process of praying for, and praying on the land he may be calling us to “inhabit” is a transformative process. As I drove around Harrisdale, Banjup, Treeby and Piara Waters last week, and prayed with brothers and sisters in Christ while sitting in local cafes, I felt the Lord saying again “I’m at work here”. The question for me is “where and how does God want us to join him in that work?”

I hope you’ll join us in the coming months as we set aside times to pray in these areas. In the meantime, here’s a few of my reflections from the 7am prayer sessions last week…

Harrisdale

Prayed this morning for Carey Baptist Church and College and their ministry to the suburb of Harrisdale. Although their ministry focus is to the thousands of people connected to their school community (plus cafe, ‘Jump’ etc.) they are the only ‘visible’ church in this area which is now very well populated (between 10 and 15 thousand people). Thank you God for their important work in this region. They’re not a huge church, but have a huge mission field right on their doorstep!

Along with the many community facilities in Harrisdale, there are several public schools both primary and high - and big ones! For a suburb that was official established only 15 years ago, there are a LOT of people who will grow up here, go through school here and build significant memories here. Lord, please establish your kingdom here and establish many more churches alongside Carey to reach this suburb!

Banjup (and surrounding)

Had a coffee at “Banjup Local”, a cafe/bakery/kids play area with animals near the corner of Warton Road and Armadale Road. Banjup is mostly rural residential or “lifestyle” properties. Sitting and looking out over the farmland (with an emu or two nearby) is a nice change from the dense housing areas just a few minutes north. The “Banjup Residents Group” has clearly fought hard to try and maintain this lifestyle (their website mentions pushing back against things like rising council rates). Although people are more spread out here, Banjup, Forrestdale and suburbs further south are still home to a significant number of people, and land is plentiful. It would be ideal for churches to invest in some of this land, if God would open that door!

Treeby

I’m amazed at how much this area has changed in the last 12-18 months. It seems like yesterday I drove to John and Lyn Whaley’s house (they moved here a few years ago) and there was lots of housing, but not much else. Now there’s a MASSIVE school, community/sports centre, and more shops to be built soon. The suburb is right next to the Cockburn industrial area, but it doesn’t feel like it. To me it’s like a “village” - it’s own not-so-little community with a hub of activity right at the centre (cafe, childcare, community centre, school, more shops coming soon). Just down the road is a community garden, and these interesting little play or exercise areas, with hills with steps (for exercise?) where you can walk up and look over the suburbs. Great places to pray over the suburb!

After prayer meeting there were a bunch of engineers/surveyors/city council people at the community centre (to be opened mid this year) discussing the finishing touches of the development (I guess). I had a quick peek through the windows of the various rooms of the community centre - what an amazing facility! Perfect for church gatherings!

Piara Waters

Had to get my coffee from Macca’s this morning - no good cafes in the suburb! Went and did zoom prayer at one of the local community centers. I’m always amazed when I come to this area how well designed these facilities are - and how many there are! Almost all of them are connected to a primary school (I’ve lost count of how many schools there are now. Is that another one going up a few hundred metres off Warton Road? Or a High School?!) All these community centers have playgrounds, and most of them are near an oval and are home to a sporting club. There’s always someone walking their dog, sitting near the money bars while on a work call or sipping on a takeaway while the kids play. 

We found ourselves praying for unity in the local church, noting that any effort to plant churches in this area would need to come from the combined work, prayers and discernment of the churches in more established areas like Canning Vale. One of my friends who pastors a church Southern River lives in Piara Waters and longs for churches to be established here. Lord, would you unite and mobilize your church to be a missionary people into new and still developing suburbs like Piara Waters. 

Dear church family, 

In the late 1990’s the Uniting Church in WA identified Canning Vale, a developing suburb at the time, as a strategic place to start a new “faith community”. Land was purchased and a leader identified (Mark Illingworth), and in February 2000, the church plant that would become known as The Billabong was born. Mark’s “congregation” was his wife Deb and 3 kids Anneliis, Rebekah and Zac. It was no easy task ahead of them, but with a focus on bringing the good news of Jesus to the people of this area, they began to see people come to faith and the congregation slowly grow. Over time, other churches added their support, releasing members to commit to The Billabong. Today, more than 20 years later, we are beneficiaries of the faithful, tiresome work of these “church planters”.

Over the last 3 years the leadership team has sought to recapture the heartbeat of this church that existed from the beginning, by finding new language for our mission, vision and values. Many years of struggle, setbacks and sacrifice during a building program made us a little weary. And while our core mission remained, it had become a little fuzzy. We hope that this is now becoming more clear again: we exist to be disciples who make disciples. 

Not only was this the heartbeat of Mark and Deb Illingworth in those early years of The Billabong, it is also the purpose of any healthy church plant. New churches are started for a variety of reasons. But successful, God honouring church plants exist not to attract Christians from other churches, but to reach communities with the gospel and make new disciples. Praise God that Mark and Deb Illingworth understood this and lived it out faithfully! While they didn’t have a core team or any substantial training to begin with, God equipped them to succeed. 

Because church plants are focussed on reaching the people of a local community and not on maintaining a building, set of ministries, and so on, they are one of the most effective ways to make new disciples. Also, despite the sacrifices involved for existing churches who resource and release people to plant a new church, church plants can help renew and revitalise older churches. They help equip more leaders and create opportunities for members to find and use their gifting. Church planting can prevent established churches from unintentionally settling into a kind of “maintenance mode” which distracts them from the great commission. 

For these reasons and more, we want to invite you into a period of intentional conversation and prayer over the next 4-6 months, as we explore the possibility of The Billabong planting a church - a new worshipping community in another location.

A decision to church plant is no small thing, and we recognise that it will take time, prayer, conversation and learning together as a family. We will need to explore the “WHY” and really understand the purpose of undertaking such a venture. 

To begin, we invite you to read this article by Tim Keller. We then plan to hold a series of open conversations, including opportunities to hear from church planters in Perth and representatives from organisations who train church planters, as well as dedicated times of prayer and intercession. The first of these conversations will be scheduled for some time in April and we invite anyone who is interested to come along. 

Over the course of these 4-6 months, we will, as the Lord leads us, explore: what a church plant could look like and what resources it would need, where it would be and who would be the key “leader in training” for this venture. Then, if God seems to be saying “yes”, and if we have identified a leader and location (eg. suburb/region), this would lead to a proposal being brought to the congregation to commission the leader identified and approve a financial plan to fund the first phase (including use of our “expanding ministry fund” which currently holds $75,000). On the other hand, if further conversation and discernment is required, or if an alternate goal for ministry expansion has emerged, we would bring this to the congregation. 

This time of conversation and prayer would not involve deciding the nitty gritty of what the church plant will look like, for example:

• Choosing what ministries to launch

• The exact venue that will be used and when gatherings would happen

• Appointing a core team or members who would form the new church

• In depth training for the leader and team

• Hosting gatherings in the local areas and getting to know the community

These steps would all come after The Billabong makes a decision to proceed. 

That being said, following much prayer and conversation about this, the leadership team does feel that the following is a starting point for us to discuss and pray about. We see a possibility for:

• A new congregation South East of Canning Vale in a developing suburb, somewhere that does not have many churches and is where many of our members currently reside (or are not far from).

• Has its own Sunday morning Celebrations, groups and mid-week ministries

• Operates in a hired venue for at least the first few years

• Starts off with a minimum of 25 committed people when it launches

So, in summary:

We want to invite you into this exploration phase where we will have conversations and times of intentional prayer about:

• Why (or why not) we should plant a new church in a nearby suburb in the near future

• What church planting is all about, what it takes, what it could look like for us and what resources will be required initially and in the long term

• Who God might be calling to be “leader in training” to lead this church plant

• Where (suburb/region) God might be calling us to church plant

• Leading to a point in 4-6 months time (at the earliest) when we would propose a financial plan and leader for commissioning to The Billabong congregation.

We’d love you to join us at our AGM on 27th March as we talk a little more about this, and in particular, in April for our first time(s) of prayer and conversation. 

Maybe you’re wondering what the journey might look like after this phase. Firstly, a leader would need time for substantial training in church planting, a core team of leaders would be developed, more prayer and exploration of possibilities, identification of a venue, then eventually the commencement of some ministry activities and community focussed events. All before a new congregation is officially “launched”. This is at least a 6 month process, usually more. So, we don’t see a new church plant being launched any earlier than term 1 of 2023. 

And for those who are wondering “what’s the long term hope here?” Ultimately, a vibrant, sustainable congregation whose story is something like ours - the story of a handful of people stepping out in faith to bring the gospel to a local community and a generation later, many, many lives have been blessed and God has been glorified. 

Fear or Faith?

This past long weekend, the leadership team spent significant time praying about this venture and talking about the journey ahead. At one point, we went around the room and shared our fears - the things that worry us about what could happen if we were to proceed with a church plant. These fears included:

• A fear that The Billabong will lose many of its key leaders and members and struggle to fulfil its mission as a result

• That we won’t understand the needs of the local community we plant into

• That members of The Billabong will feel pushed or pressured into being involved in the church plant (or the added responsibilities that emerge in Canning Vale)

• That Covid-19 will affect our resources and ability to do this in the near future

• That we won’t have the money to fund such a venture

• That we proceed too quickly, without sufficient “buy in” from enough people

• That we aren’t sufficiently equipped to reach evangelistically into a new local community in this way

• That this distracts us from other key priorities in this season and our ministry suffers as a result

• That people will leave our church because they don’t agree with this direction

• That there is too much “red tape” that the Uniting Church will put in the way of this

We know you’ll share many of these fears, and may have others to add to the list. These are part of the reason why we want to invite you into conversation with us over the next 4-6 months. Many are legitimate concerns we need to weigh up and explore. 

But we also want to invite you to ask whether at least some of these fears can be laid before God who is our provider, protector, deliverer and leader. Rarely does God ask us to do something that is comfortable or guarantees success. Many times over the life of The Billabong we have had to take steps of faith, not knowing what the future holds. But time and time again, God has proven himself faithful. 

In 2019 a committee of the Uniting Church WA Synod decided to wipe our $2.4 million debt. Soon afterwards, David de Kock (General Secretary at the time) shared a sermon at The Billabong and challenged us with these words:

“(Those who forgave your debt) are trusting that you, the people of this congregation, will take that gift and use your new debtless freedom to multiply for the Kingdom of God, just as each Christian freed from the burden of sin can go out and make disciples.” (You can watch this video to hear David share a little more about our debt being forgiven)

What could God do if we took what we’ve been blessed with, placed it all at his feet, and stepped out in faith again to do whatever he asks of us?

We hope you’ll come on the journey with us!

Grace and Peace

The Billabong Leadership Team

March 2022