23rd February 2026
Stories
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Equipping Leaders to Reach Cities with the Gospel
St Hild Centre for Church Planting Update: January and February 2026
Over recent months, Rev Dr Alex Harris, Director of the St Hild Centre for Church Planting, has been serving church leaders, networks, and movements across the UK and beyond—helping them re-imagine how the gospel can take root and flourish in cities, churches, and communities today.
In Sheffield, Alex was invited to speak to the Leaders in Prayer network, drawing leaders together to reflect on how a city can be effectively reached with Jesus. Exploring key themes from the book of Acts, Alex highlighted how lasting city-wide transformation happens through three interwoven strands: personal, social, and commercial. Over 70 business leaders, charity CEOs, and church ministers wrestled together with what authentic collaboration might look like, sharing a vision not only for the whole city to be reached with Jesus, but for the whole gospel of Jesus to be experienced—personally, socially, and economically. It was a powerful example of St Hild’s calling to inspire, connect, and train leaders to serve cities faithfully and effectively.
The Centre for Church Planting also continues to serve local churches directly. Alex recently spent a day with the leadership team at New Wells Church in Ashford, Kent—one of the fastest-growing Baptist churches in the UK—as they explored a fresh approach to church planting. The day engaged deeply with Acts as a living vision for the church today and worked through a practical six-stage church planting framework: Prayer, People, Proclamation, Plan, Pennies, and Permissions. The Centre regularly offers days like this to help leadership teams move from theology to practical implementation.
In Blackburn, Alex led a full-day event titled Church Growth: The Evangelism Factor at St Luke’s Church. Alongside local leaders and teams responsible for church revitalisation across Blackburn and the Carlisle Diocese, the day focused on practical ways to see churches grow through adult conversions. Based on research from Alex’s co-authored book On This Rock, the training explored proven characteristics of churches growing evangelistically and offered tools to support ordinary local churches in sharing their faith with confidence.
In January, almost 200 prospective church planters gathered in Milton Keynes for the Train1000 initiative, hosted by Catalyst within the Newfrontiers family. Leaders from eight additional nations joined online from across Asia and Africa. Alex explored how the Spirit birthed both temple-court and house-to-house churches at Pentecost, and outlined three ways God starts churches in Acts and today: through migration, strategic sending, and staying to build deep discipleship and relationships. The day offered both vision and practical guidance for those discerning a call to church planting.
Feedback from the Train1000 team captured the heart of the day well, thanking Alex for his generosity, wisdom, and encouragement, and for creating an atmosphere that was both welcoming and deeply impactful.
February saw Alex speaking at the East Midlands Baptist Association Ministers’ Conference, gathering ministers, chaplains, and regional leaders from across the region. Reflecting on the final word of Acts— “unhindered”—Alex encouraged leaders to let this become the starting point for missional leadership today, as they steward, catalyse, and nurture churches for mission.
Alex and the wider Centre for Church Planting team love supporting churches, networks, and movements in practical ways to help start new churches through new people coming to faith. If you’d like to explore how the Centre could serve your context, we’d love to hear from you. Please email abby.harris@sthild.org if you, your church or organisation would like to connect.
In summary, here are the recent ministry highlights
- Sheffield Leaders in Prayer: Exploring city-wide gospel transformation
- Leadership day with New Wells Church, Ashford
- Church Growth: The Evangelism Factor training in Blackburn
- East Midlands Baptist Association Ministers’ Conference
- Train1000 gathering of 200+ prospective church planters, with global participation
