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Hard Graft

Planting by a graft

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

This issue no.10 Hard Graft 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.