Plant a Church
Plant a Church / Join Our Diocese
The Anglican Diocese of All Nations is a missionary diocese. Church planting is our essential DNA: most of our parishes began as plants, and we exist to see the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed and faithful Anglican congregations established wherever the Lord opens a door.
1
Begin with Your Parish
Every church plant begins with a conversation. Reach out to the Ven. Mark Ball, our Canon for Church Planting, and tell us your story: who you are, where you are, and what the Lord seems to be doing in your heart and in your context. We want to hear about the people you are praying for, the gifts you bring, and the questions you are asking. This first contact is informal and unhurried, an invitation to begin a relationship and to test the soil together.
As you explore our diocese, please review our Mission, Vision, and Values and our understanding of What Is Anglicanism, so that you can tell whether ADAN is a diocese in which you can flourish and labor faithfully.
2
Meet with Us
After our initial conversations, and if a partnership seems promising, we will arrange a fuller meeting with our church planting team and, in due course, with the bishop. This is the heart of the discernment process: an opportunity to know one another, to weigh the call together, and to consider how ADAN might come alongside your work with prayer, counsel, and the apostolic oversight of our bishop. We will discuss your sense of call, the context for the plant, the people God has gathered around you, and the practical realities of launching and sustaining a new congregation.
You will also be welcomed into the rhythms of our church planting cohort, which gathers monthly by Zoom under Canon Ball’s leadership for prayer, teaching, and mutual encouragement, and you will be paired with an experienced planter or rector for ongoing mentoring. Church planting is never a solo work, and we want you woven into the fellowship of the diocese from the beginning. We also encourage you to attend our Annual Synod to meet our bishops, clergy, and lay leaders, and to taste the wider fellowship of the diocese in person.
3
Apply to Plant
Once you have applied, your proposal will be reviewed by our Evangelism Task Force, led by our Suffragan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Scott Seely, which equips clergy and laity across the diocese to bear witness to Christ in word and deed so that the work of planting is fed by the work of evangelism. We will walk through the requirements with you personally, so that the application is the fruit of conversation rather than a hurdle to clear. The Task Force will then bring its recommendation to our Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Felix Orji, who makes the final decision.
When the bishop is satisfied that the work is of the Lord and that ADAN is the right home for it, you will be commissioned and sent. From that day, the labor begins in earnest: prayer in living rooms, the Word opened among new friends, the table set in a borrowed space, neighbors invited and strangers welcomed. A congregation is gathered slowly, soul by soul, until the day comes when bread is broken, hymns are sung, and a new outpost of Christ’s Church stands where there was none before, to the glory of God alone.
