10: Hard Graft?

In an Anglican context, there is nowhere a new church can be planted outside a parish that is not into another parish. The terms replant, graft, transplant and seed identify the varying dynamics of size, resource and mission partnership of a planting venture beyond an existing parish. These metaphors were used in the 1994 Breaking New Ground and 2004 Mission-shaped Church reports.

This issue examines the particular metaphor of 'grafting' in greater depth. This term is used to describe the introduction of a new group into an existing congregation and is characterised by the incoming group being smaller numerically but spiritually more vigorous than the receiving congregation. If 27% of English Anglican churches have an attendance figure of less than 25, the option of grafting is a significant mission option.

This issue looks at two stories of grafting and identifies the factors that have led to their effectiveness. The challenges that face a church planting graft are not easy; building new relationships and establishing the shape of the new joint congregation while keeping mission firmly on agenda can run the risk of being too demanding. However, as these stories illustrate, when a graft is healthy there are great possibilities.