What is UP School?
The Urban Planting School equips missionally-minded, gospel-hearted people to bear long-lasting fruit in urban settings
Training and practise | Supportive Community | Spiritual development
Find out more
Take a look through our digital prospectus below.
Applying to UP School
Applications are now CLOSED for 2024-2026
Look out for application information in late 2025.
Autumn 2024: Our first cohort of students at the launch training block
Over two years, UP will equip and encourage you in the principles of missional pioneering, enabling you to discern where God is already at work and learn how to plant the seeds of the gospel deep into the soil of your world
Features of UP
- Two years of practical training, spiritual input and missional fellowship
- Three residential training weekends in 'LIVE' urban contexts each year (6 total)
- Five missional modules applicable to your urban context
- Peer group mentoring and support
- Supplementary online resources
Missional Modules
Each UP residential weekend comprises a blend of content from across five modules:
- Theology of mission
- The missional disciple
- Communities of mission
- Kingdom collaboration
- Unique urban challenges
2 Year Training Overview
Training weekends take place in October, March and June of each academic year.
Why UP is for you
UP is for those who are prepared to think differently, live radically, walk faithfully and labour diligently
UP will resource you with new tools and ideas to make a significant impact in your community.
Individuals, Couples, Households and Groups
UP is for those wanting to plant the gospel in a street, neighbourhood or wider community (either where they already live, or somewhere they are called to in future).
Church and Group Leaders
UP is for those with leadership responsibility in house groups, missional communities or pioneering settings, who are eager to learn (and share) effective ways to engage missionally with their street, estate, town or city.
Established Churches/Multi-sites
For those seeking to expand their missional skillset and amplify their gospel witness in their local community and surrounding area.
Churches looking to reach an unreached or underrepresented area or community in their town or city.
The Team
Stef Liston
London-born Stef is no stranger to urban pioneering; leading a group to plant Revelation Church in North Central London over fifteen years ago, and in recent years coming alongside individuals and groups invested in seeing the gospel bear fruit in urban communities in the UK and beyond.
His in-depth experience, together with an apostolic vision for creative church multiplication, has influenced a robust and relevant curriculum for the UP training programme.
Gordon Watson
Gordon has been married to Natalie for 19 years, and together they are adoptive parents to two young adults. In 2018, they planted Hope Church Sittingbourne (Kent, UK), starting as a small house church gathering in their front room. Today, Hope Church is an established community meeting throughout the town during the week and gathering all together on Sundays.
Gordon holds a Master's degree in Missional Leadership, is an avid Charlton Athletic supporter and serves UP: The Urban Planting School as our Course Director.
Matt & Helene Spocchia
The Spocchias are practising urban pioneers, having moved to the Isle of Sheppey in 2018 where they have been intentional to share their faith through authentic relationships with their neighbours and they are seeing people come to faith!
The Spocchias will be joining our training weekends to share their passion for sowing faithfully with a long-term harvest in mind, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Craig Prentice
Craig is married to Heather and they are parents to three young adults. Craig is part of the team that planted and leads Thanet Community Churches - 3 inter-connected congregations in Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs (Kent). Craig has a vocational background in social work, loves spending time with his family and has run the London marathon.
Eve and Gamel Byles
Eve and Gamel are married with two adult children and both have extensive experience teaching by vocation. They serve together on the team leading a re-planted church that is now part of a regional multi-site. They are both pastorally gifted and will be serving us as the mum and dad of our UP training weekends.
Joel Johnson
Joel is a student at university and serves with the Students and Youth team at his church. He has trained as a home church leader as his church alternates between home church and larger all-together gatherings for greater discipleship. Joel has a heart for seeing people become more missional in their day-to-day lives.
Michelle Safo
Michelle is a businesswoman with a passion for seeing church and business leaders working together to bring regeneration and transformation in lives and communities. She is a member of a multi-site church in Essex and is married to Emmanuel with two adult children.
Tuuli Platner
The daughter of missionaries and a third culture kid, Tuuli was seven when her family settled in the UK. She serves as the student deacon for her local church and recently stepped into a new adventure of living missionally in a close-knit community within inner-city London.
Jay Eastman
Jay serves as a community developer and pioneer church planter. Originating from America and now living in Berlin (Germany) since 2001, Jay has helped plant five churches throughout the city, reflecting the rich context of each area. Jay serves across multiple movements as a learning systems consultant. Jay’s lived experience, missional insight and community education expertise has helped shape the overarching content and flow of UP.
FAQ
-
UP will be facilitated across three unique urban settings: London, Sheppey and Liverpool. They will each host two residential weekends across the two-year programme.
• 4th to 6th October 2024 - Camden, London
• 21st to 23rd March 2025 - Sheppey, Kent
• 6th to 8th June 2025 - Kensington, Liverpool
• 3rd to 5th October 2025 - Camden, London
• 20th to 22nd March 2026 - Sheppey, Kent
• 5th to 7th June 2026 - Kensington, Liverpool
*All dates are currently provisional & may be subject to change
-
We believe UP should be financially accessible, so we have priced this first two-year programme to hopefully make that possible. Therefore, group discounts are available to encourage and enable more than one person to attend from each setting. We believe that teams and additional households from the same local settings will benefit from attending UP together.
• The first delegate from each local setting is priced at £449 per year.
• All additional delegates from the same setting are priced at £399 per year.
• Married (or engaged) couples are priced at £749 per year.
We recognise the family unit as the hub of urban mission, and often (but not always) couples pioneer together. Attending together causes each training weekend to become an opportunity to step away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and be equipped and encouraged together.
*Please note: Delegates are responsible for organising their own travel, accommodation and meals.
Have more questions?
Email your UP enquiries directly to Gordon via: up@revelationchurch.org.uk
Three ‘LIVE’ urban contexts
Each year UP trainees will go on three residential training weekends (Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon); each hosted in a uniquely different ‘live’ urban context.
As well as worshiping, learning and fellowshipping with each other, at some training weekends you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned in an urban setting where your hosts are already on the ground, sowing gospel seeds.
Camden, London
A densely-populated city borough featuring all the extremes of diversity within 8.4 square miles. People of widely differing backgrounds, educations, class and economic status will often be neighbours, but rarely will their paths cross.
We'll be based at The Church in Bassett Street, a church which recently re-planted and re-oriented towards a fresh vision to love and reach their surrounding streets and estates of North London with the good news of Jesus.
Sheppey, Kent
We'll be visiting the seaside town of Sheerness with Good News Church Sheppey, a growing Gospel Community that was planted in 2018 with the dream of seeing Jesus made known in one of the UK’s most deprived towns.
The church love and serve Sheppey in a multitude of practical ways and have seen numbers of people come to faith in Jesus.
Kensington, Liverpool
Kensington is in the heart of the city of Liverpool... The area is home to approx. 16,500 people, many of whom are yet to encounter Jesus.
We'll be joining with the Liverpool Gospel Plant which began when two families relocated their lives from Norfolk, with a vision of sharing Jesus with the communities of Kensington.