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Contact a bishop or archdeacon early in the process.
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Meet weekly as a small group. Be sure the meetings include a Bible study time, as well as prayer time. Be sure this is a time of fellowship and community building. Consider including time for sharing with each other and make sure it is a “safe place”, where things are kept in confidence (within the group).
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Discern God’s direction for the group, to see if the ANiC is part of its future.
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Agree as a group to apply for ANiC affiliation. This should be the culmination of a process that includes much prayer, discussion, consultation and seeking God’s will for your group.
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Identify the leadership of the group. Initially a small group of leaders is adequate – perhaps 4, with one person appointed as spokesperson and contact for ANiC.
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Send a letter of application, listing the members with signatures, to the ANiC. This begins the formal communication with the ANiC. With that comes the accountability needed in both directions.
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Establish budget. Possible items to consider, even early on: Rent of a building, part-time or full-time priest salary, tithe to ANiC, supplies, etc.
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Send tithes to ANiC to be held in trust, until the group can get incorporated and secure a charitable number.
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Rent a building, preferably a church building. The group may need to begin meeting in a building, rather than home, even during the formative stages of the house Church development, depending on the group’s size. This could be for the mid-week meeting, even before making the switch to a (more traditional) Sunday worship time.
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Switch your weekly meeting times to Sunday. The format for Sunday meetings will likely be that of a service. Small groups are still a main component of the new parish, so mid-week small group meetings will need to be (re)established as soon as possible to complement the Sunday worship time.. Multiplying the original group into two (or more, depending on the size of the group) is probably wise, rather than keeping it intact so that the second group is not made up entirely of the newcomers to the Church Plant. Planned splitting is a good sign!
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Form a vestry. The existing leadership team should initiate the process of establishing a vestry (board) including wardens and treasurer, once the group is growing and has reached about 30 members. This will need to be in place before the incorporation process. The process of selecting a vestry should culminate in a vote by the full congregation, – initiating what will become the “annual meeting”.
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Incorporate. This will include adopting a constitution. Please contact the ANiC office for support and assistance with this process.
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Get a charitable number. You will need to have identified the leadership team, as well as having adopted a constitution before applying for a charitable number. The ANiC office can help you with this as well.
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Define structures of committees. This should include an implementation timeline. Often a Church “visioning process” is used to help define these.
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Establish Sunday school, worship team, and outreach team. Once the structures have been defined, establish the committees and ministries as per your timeline. These should include Sunday school, worship and outreach teams at a minimum.
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Appoint a priest, working closely with your bishop. In some cases, an available priest will be known to a congregation. In other cases the ANiC leadership may assist in helping locate a suitable priest. The priest must be licenced by ANiC.
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Act as a liaison. If you find there are interested individuals or small groups in your broad geographical area, act as a liaison with them for ANiC. This is applicable mostly to Church Plants in rural areas where networking with outlying areas is especially challenging.
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