REFLECTION: A Spirit-Led Decade of Renewal

By faith, the Uniting Church in Queensland has chosen to respond to the Spirit’s prompting with boldness and hope. At the 38th Synod, the Church endorsed the Church Planting, Re-planting and Revitalisation Strategy 2025–2035—a ten-year commitment to renewal that invites every congregation to participate in either planting new communities or revitalising existing ones.

This decision was not made lightly. It emerged from a season of deep listening, prayerful discernment, and courageous imagination. Across Queensland, there is a growing awareness that the Spirit is calling the Church to be renewed in Christ—not just to preserve what has been, but to cultivate what could be. The strategy reflects a collective conviction: that the future of the Church lies in its willingness to be led by the Spirit into new expressions of discipleship, community, and mission.

The vision is clear. The Church seeks to foster an ecosystem where discipleship is central, leadership is nurtured, and innovation is welcomed. It is a vision rooted in five strategic priorities:

1. Identifying what healthy revitalised churches look like, implementing best-practice measures for congregational and discipleship health.
2. Identifying and equipping churches and people called to plant, replant or revitalise the church.
3. Growing capacity in local churches to plant churches and/or assist other churches to be planted.
4. Delivering coaching, training, and development pathways, for planters and their teams to embrace the call of God.
5. Streamlining and implement approval and governance pathways to reduce any resistance or obstacles for would be church planters.

These priorities are not simply operational—they are theological. They reflect a Church that believes God is still speaking, still calling, and still sending. They embody a faith that is active, responsive, and open to transformation.

This strategy is not about growth for its own sake. It is about faithfulness. It is about being attentive to the Spirit’s movement and willing to follow—even when the path is unfamiliar. It is about trusting that God is already at work in our neighbourhoods, and that the Church is being invited to join in.

As the Uniting Church in Queensland embarks on this decade of renewal, it does so with humility and hope. By faith, it plants. By faith, it revitalises. By faith, it believes that the Church can be a living witness to the love, justice, and grace of Christ in every corner of our communities.