After years of prayer, seeking, training and planning, more than 30 people joined together in an encouraging launch service of The Way Church Pakenham with Pastor Jared Williams at the helm.

“The launch was a real blessing. Since starting a missional micro-church community in March 2023, we’ve been on that journey, meeting week by week, loving people, working through the ups and downs and learning a lot,” Jared said.

He was excited to see that from day one, God brought along to the church people that he didn’t know. “Out of those people, there have been professions of faith and baptisms as God was drawing them to Himself even before this church had started. It’s been a real blessing to be able to have a front-row seat to people being reconciled back to God, and their growth as believers – it’s such a joy in the heart of a pastor!”

One of the major strategic focus areas for the BUV is reaching Victoria’s growing population through multiplication and church planting.  So, it has been a privilege for the BUV to have played a part in the successful launch of The Way Church on Resurrection Sunday. Church plants can take many forms, such as traditional church plants, campus plants, missional initiatives, micro churches and placemaking. The BUV’s Mission Catalyst Team provides assessment, training and coaching for emerging missional leaders and those who are interested in church planting or . In 2024, the BUV’s Church Planting Learning Community (CPLC) was set up to bring additional training, support and networking for prospective church planters, headed by the Mission Catalyst Team.BUV’s Church Planting Learning Community (CPLC) was set up to bring additional training, support and networking for prospective church planters, headed by the Mission Catalyst Team.

The Way has been part of the CPLC cohort and it received a mission grant from the BUV. It is a church plant of Regeneration Monash, a new constituent church of the BUV.

Jared said there was a lot more to planting a church than meets the eye . “There’s a whole lot to it, in the planning and preparation, in recruiting a team, seeking funding and thinking through theology and doctrine. A lot of people – me included – think Christian ministry will be like the New Testament description with just teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. But for better or worse there’s a lot more than just those things, such as compliance requirements, that may not be front-of-mind when you consider starting a church.”

He said planting a church required the ability to focus on many aspects at once. “It’s helpful if you are a bit of a go-getter and have an entrepreneurial bent! For me, one of the pitfalls is when you try to do it all and practically be Jesus for people – you paradoxically end up being overwhelmed because this is something that no pastor can do. This reminds me of Hebrews 7, about human priests being ‘fallible’, while Jesus is infallible and able to do everything needed. The crucial point is that it still pleases God to carry out His work through fallible priests because this points us all towards Jesus.”

Jared has felt an “inner pull” towards church planting since he was a teen. He has served as Associate Pastor at Regeneration which provided him with invaluable experience through courses, preaching, leading small groups, hospital visits etc, before taking on a church plant.

One of his greatest joys of the journey so far has been to hear of children developing a passion for reading the Bible and sharing their new love of Jesus with their families, since attending The Way Kids. “It’s also great to journey with a gifted and committed core team and see them step up and serve. Seeing the team acting as the body of Christ is really exciting. We exist to love God, love people and build Christians up, and I’m passionate about showing the people in the local area that not only is the bible true, it’s also good, and we can have confidence and faith in God.”