The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) will hold a church planting conference tomorrow in Drogheda Presbyterian Church, County Louth to equip those already involved in church plants across the all-Ireland denomination.
Called ‘From seed to harvest’ the conference is organised by PCI’s Council for Mission in Ireland, which is responsible for new church development. The focus of the one-day conference and comes on the back of the announcement of the Council’s vision to see 10 newly constituted congregations, plus 10 new church planting projects, in the next 10 years.
Shorthanded to ‘10+10 in 10’, the vision was set out and approved at last year’s General Assembly in the report ‘Church Planting – The Next Decade’. Held in partnership with PCI’s Council for Global Mission, the Church’s European church planters located in Bilbao and Hungary, will also attend the conference.
Looking forward to the discussions, Rick Hill, Secretary to the Council for Mission in Ireland said,
“When we launched ‘10+10 in 10’ last year, I reminded the Assembly that PCI is a church-planting denomination. We are also able to point to recent fruitfulness in Maynooth, County Kildare, and Donabate in County Dublin, where new churches have been established, along with our newest congregation, Central Belfast. We also have ongoing church plants at different stages of development in other areas of Belfast, as well as Wexford, Balbriggan in County Dublin, among others.”
“While previous conferences have been about envisioning and starting a conversation about what and how church planting might look like in PCI, which in many respects led to ‘10+10 in 10’, this conference has been designed for church planters, core teams and those already involved in any aspects of a church plant. Around 70 people have signed up to attend, and I am very much looking forward to it.”
Rev Neil MacMillan, Director of City to City Europe, will be the keynote speaker. Its mission is to accelerate the planting of gospel centred churches and church planting networks in the cities of Europe. The organisation also seeks to see people and places transformed by the life-giving power of Jesus.
Writing in a recent edition of the Presbyterian Herald, Mr MacMillan said that he was looking forward to the conference. “Church planting is a normal part of church life, along with evangelism, prayer and discipleship. It happens regularly in the New Testament and we all attend a church that was once a plant.
“Church planting reaches new people, new places, new generations and new cultures…As we gather around the gospel at PCI’s church planting conference, my prayer is that it takes hold of our hearts and minds to strengthen our sense of mission.”
Mr Hill concluded by saying,
“While it is popular to decry the fall in church attendance and overplay the rise of secularism, I believe there is another story. Something else is happening in our culture, more subtle, yet deeply spiritual, especially among younger generations who are looking for something more than the day-to-day. Some have described it as ‘the quiet revival’, but whatever the label, it is a missional moment, for people to hear and be changed by the gospel, and the establishing of new churches within this generation is a key part of that developing story”
Council for Mission in Ireland
The focus of the Council for Mission in Ireland is to develop PCI’s strategic priorities in all-age mission across Ireland and to plan major church-wide initiatives at a General Assembly level.
It considers new church development looking at locations which might be suitable for church planting and oversees all aspects of the work of the Home and Irish Mission, including the Irish Mission Fund and the deployment and on-going support of deaconesses who serve in congregations, chaplaincies and communities. The Council also oversees the delivery of a chaplaincy service in the forces, hospitals, hospices and prisons helping to bring a ministry of presence to those in need. Supporting mission and ministry in universities and colleges through chaplaincy services on campus is also part of this Council’s work.
Council for Global Mission
The Council for Global Mission oversees the work of the Church on behalf of PCI’s General Assembly supporting the mission and service of PCI offered by congregations. Its remit includes sending personnel and developing mission overseas, developing partnerships with churches, Christian institutions, international mission agencies and other agencies.
PCI has 19 Global Mission Workers who as a witness in 8 countries around the world. The Church also has 24 Global Mission Partnerships with 24 churches, institutions and agencies in 21 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
