In January 2025, Trinity Evangelical Church launched with a vision for a gospel-centred, multi-ethnic community — and an unexpected birth.

Matt Kang (planter) reflects on the beginnings of the church in Burwood, Sydney.

What happened on launch day?

It was surreal.

We’ll never forget the church’s age—it’s the same as our baby’s!

My wife Jane was due to have a baby a few weeks after our launch date.

Looking back, I still don’t know if that was faith or foolishness, but we had set our launch date and we were committed.

That morning, right before our gathering, Jane told me she was starting to feel contractions.

I shot up a quick, desperate prayer, “Lord help us!” There was no backup plan. My sermon was written and the service was ready to go.

While I was preaching, I was also watching Jane at the back of the hall and trying to stay calm and focused.

We were expecting around 150 people for the launch but more than 200 showed up.

The energy in the room was great. Lots of family and friends celebrating the start of another Reformed evangelical church in the heart of Sydney.

Baby Chloe was born at 11 p.m. that night!

What’s church like?

We meet right in the middle of Burwood, Sydney, with about 80 people so far. Burwood’s a busy, multicultural hub with some of Sydney’s best East Asian food.

Most of us have Asian-Australian and Islander-Australian backgrounds.

We’re seeing five to 15 new visitors every week. That’s been exciting but also challenging.

We’re working hard to build a strong sense of community where everyone is welcoming, not just people on the welcoming team.

Non-Christians are coming along each week through friends, family, or colleagues.

Recently, two people put their trust in Jesus! We’ve got baptisms coming up soon to celebrate that.

We’re so thankful to see God at work.

There’s a strong sense of community and excitement about what’s ahead.

Where did the vision for this church begin?

I was the pastor of the English congregation of a Korean Uniting church.

We were wrestling with the Uniting Church’s departure from scripture, which led to hard conversations about whether to continue on this path.

As a church, we’d also come to realise that we weren’t being nearly as effective in our evangelism as we hoped to be.

We realised we weren’t reaching new people with the gospel.

We were an English congregation that was originally created for second-generation Korean kids but, over time, our congregation became a multicultural community as people invited non-Korean people along to church.

Only about half our members at the time were from Korean immigrant families and being part of a Korean church confused some people and it confused our mission and vision.

We decided that starting a new church could be the most faithful and effective step, so we got in touch with Reach Australia. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the network, our plant would never have happened.

Over the next few months, we formed our launch team of 40 adults from our sending church, and we partnered with Christian Community Churches of Australia (CCCAust). They’ve been a great fit for our church plant and our vision.

We were very keen to build a church together that is multi-ethnic, multi-generational, intentionally focused on mission, and firmly built on the Bible. Being supported by Reach Australia and CCCAust, we feel well equipped to get on with the task.

What’s been challenging so far?

For me, the biggest challenge has been learning how to balance everything—being a good husband, a good dad, and a decent pastor.

It’s been a real process of figuring out how much energy and time I give to each area and how to do that wisely and sustainably.

Another big one is shaping healthy church culture from day one.

We want our people to understand the gospel in a way that naturally overflows into relationships, so newcomers genuinely feel seen and loved.

How can we be praying?

Pray we’ll prioritise God’s mission—to glorify God through the proclamation of the gospel and the saving of sinners.

That focus puts everything else in perspective, especially in the early stages of a church plant.

There’s so much happening, but at the heart of it is true gospel growth and heart change.

That makes it all worth it.