Twelve years ago, longtime friends Rev. Frank Hitchings and I were on a trans-Atlantic conference call with ministers in Edinburgh and London. This phone call catalyzed a partnership between PCA congregations, Reformed churches, and, ultimately, six UK denominations to plant churches in England and Scotland. The partnership is called the United Kingdom Partnership (www.ukpartnership.net).  

Why is there a need to establish a partnership of this nature? What was the spiritual need of the moment? The U.K. ministers indicated they could identify, train, and equip men to plant new congregations in the U.K. However, they lacked the funds to deploy these men for church planting. Frank and I realized financial resources were needed to fund and facilitate these church plants. The question was, “Would PCA congregations be willing to come alongside our U.K. brothers and sisters to fund church plants from London to Edinburgh?” Ultimately, we determined that the UKP would help foster and fund indigenous church planters in the United Kingdom who hold to the tenets of the Reformed faith. Initially, we dreamed that a $1 million goal over ten years might be achievable. Yet, the Lord, in His gracious providence, our Father has provided over  $4.3 million in eleven years, with every dollar going directly to the church planters. 

In God’s providence, a second US denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, was added to the partnership approximately four years ago. 

Many of us who have been involved with the UKP over the past eleven years stand in amazement at the Lord’s abundant blessing on all our church planting labors. God’s gracious providence has allowed upwards of 30 church plants and several planting incubators to dot the landscape from London to Edinburgh and beyond. An additional bonus has been the sweet fellowship and the missional camaraderie that has developed between followers of Jesus on both sides of the Atlantic. The Lord is weaving men and women and families from both sides of the Atlantic into a tapestry of resources, strength, and encouragement to press on in the beautiful task of planting churches so that others might come to know and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The UKP was founded with five main goals: 

• Encouraging indigenous, Reformed church planting from London to Edinburgh
• Ensuring 100% of every dollar given goes to the church planter (absolutely no overhead fees, and any size church can get involved)
• Developing meaningful church–to–church and pastor–to–pastor relationships
• Over the past eleven years, over $4.3 million has been directly invested in U.K. church planting. These investments were made from session to session, congregation to congregation, and family to family. 
• Partnership meetings are held annually, alternating between the USA and the UK. 

The PCA and EPC congregations that currently foster and promote the partnership are: 

• Briarwood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Birmingham, AL 
• Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church (EPC), Knoxville, TN 
• Chapelgate Presbyterian Church (PCA), Marriottsville, MD
• Christ Community Church (PCA), Franklin, TN
• Christ Covenant Church (PCA), Matthews, NC
• Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA), Chattanooga, TN
• Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA), Birmingham, AL 
• Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA), Little Rock, AR 
• Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA), Nashville, TN
• Deer Creek Church (PCA), Littleton, CO
• First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Chattanooga, TN
• First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Kosciusko, MS 
• First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Macon, GA
• First Presbyterian Church (EPC), Starkville, MS 
• Hope Presbyterian Church (PCA), Winston-Salem, NC
• Independent Presbyterian Church (PCA), Memphis, TN 
• Lawndale Presbyterian Church (PCA), Tupelo, MS 
• Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church (PCA), Lookout Mountain, TN
• Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church (PCA), Birmingham, AL
• Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCA), Dallas, TX
• Redeemer Church (PCA), Knoxville, TN 
• Redeemer Presbyterian Church, San Diego, CA
• Resurrection Presbyterian Church (PCA), Knoxville, TN
• Spanish River Presbyterian Church (PCA), Boca Raton, FL
• Surfside Presbyterian Church (PCA), Myrtle Beach, SC
• Tate’s Creek Presbyterian Church (PCA), Lexington, KY
• Trinity Church (PCA), Collierville, TN 
• Tenth  Presbyterian Church (PCA), Philadelphia, PA
• West End Community Church (PCA), Nashville, TN
• Willow Creek Presbyterian Church (PCA), Winter Springs, FL

All of this has been achieved by God’s good pleasure and the movement of the Holy Spirit in the U.S. churches and throughout the United Kingdom.  As we prayerfully consider and set our future goals for the UKP, we feel led to help strengthen and grow the partnership and to double its numerical size to 60 supporting US congregations and 60 UK churches planted in the next five years. To accomplish this, we hope to raise an additional $4 million in the same period. We hope many new congregations throughout the U.S. will consider joining us on this tremendous Great Commission adventure. 

What spiritual fruit has been harvested through the partnership? The Reverend Jonty Rhodes is the Lead Pastor of Christ Church Central Leeds. This is a congregation of the International Presbyterian Church. On May 2, 2024, Jonty wrote in an email: “I think IPC might grow by up to twelve churches in the next eighteen months. We’re planting three churches this summer, hopefully five in the summer of 2025, and I think four already existing congregations/plants hope to join soon. Given that the entire presbytery was about five years old when we brought Derby in 2012, it’s incredible what God has done and seems to be doing. 

This is unprecedented English Presbyterian growth: “… likely the fastest since the days of the Westminster Assembly,” according to the Reverend Jonty Rhodes. So it feels like a moment we want to capitalize on, but given Presbyterianism’s historical poverty, we’re massively resource-light.   

One other story, of many, comes from the Free Church of Scotland (FCS). The denomination has begun a church planting movement entitled “Generation.” The mission of Generation is as follows: 

• Our vision is to see new churches multiply in post-Christian Scotland. Healthy gospel churches are needed in every kind of community.
• We believe that new churches reach new people, cultures & new generations.
• One hundred twenty churches close in Scotland each year. Planting new churches is our best hope for evangelizing the nation.
• We are planting churches that will plant more churches. 

The initial goal of Generation was to plant thirty churches in Scotland by 2030. As of the writing of this article, Generation has planted seventeen churches in and around Edinburgh and throughout Scotland.

Experts have indicated that the United Kingdom is an unreached people group because less than 2 to 3% are evangelical Christians. The Lord is accomplishing an astonishing work as He plants Indigenous and Reformed churches from London to Edinburgh and beyond. 

As Frank and I have looked back over these years, whoever would’ve thought the British landscape would be dotted with small, growing, and healthy Reformed congregations? We prayerfully invite you to join us and many others in this beautiful mission in the lands of our Reformed Heritage. 

In closing, we are initiating a new avenue for ministry entitled “Adopting a Church Planter and His Family.” Historically, the partnership has been church-to-church, congregation-to-congregation. This new avenue of ministry adds a new dimension where families can become prayer partners and spiritual friends personally invested in the life of the church planter and his family. 

Edward Norton is a retired PCA Teaching Elder who has served the Independent Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tennessee, for the past twenty-eight years. He is also a Consultant Coach with McGowan Global and the Co-founder and Coordinator of the United Kingdom Partnership.