CCX exists to serve a God-given call to join in with the new thing he is doing across his Church, and help in the task of reaching new people in new and renewed ways with the love of Jesus Christ.
Our roots are set in a church planting movement that began in 2004 with the publishing of the Mission-Shaped Church report. It encouraged the Church of England to pursue church planting and fresh expressions of church, to reach a nation that had undergone dramatic change in the previous 30 years.
By 2013, the Diocese of London reflected this activity in its Capital Vision 2020, prioritising the planting and revitalising of 100 new worshipping communities. In September 2015, Ric Thorpe was appointed as the Bishop of Islington, leading on the goal of planting 100 new worshipping communities. Bishop Ric founded the Centre for Church Planting and Growth to oversee this work, acting under the permission of the Bishop of London to serve any diocese in the Church of England.
Due in part to the success of the Diocese of London’s Capital Vision 2020, the scope of the Centre’s work grew rapidly. To reflect this, it was renamed as The Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication, or CCX, supporting diocesan leadership teams and church leaders throughout England and beyond as they look to plant and grow churches and develop their strategies for church planting.
In 2018 the Church of England’s House of Bishops issued a statement which proffered warm support for ‘planting new churches as a way of sharing in the apostolic mission by bringing more people in England to faith in Christ and participation in the life of the Church’.
In 2019, the Church of England’s General Synod passed a motion encouraging every parish and diocese to be part of this movement, forming new disciples and new congregations to reach the unreached in their community and proposing the creation of ten thousand new Christian communities.
To support this new movement of planting, CCX launched a new stream of lay-led planting, Myriad, inspiring and serving everyday people to form new worshipping communities. In 2025 Myriad became an independent charity, continuing its work beyond the structures of CCX.
2025 also saw our founder, Bishop Ric Thorpe, elected as the Archbishop of Melbourne. H Miller was appointed the new Executive Director of CCX, having served CCX since its founding. To meet an increased demand for our resources and courses, CCX adopted new methods to multiply our impact, equipping the Church for multiplication by training local leaders to deliver our courses and resources in their own contexts, working across all denominations and traditions.
Our mission has always remained the same – serve God’s call to grow, plant and pioneer new worshipping communities in every context, helping the church reach new people in new and renewed ways with the love of Jesus Christ.
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