Editor’s Note: New City Church is one of the featured church plants in 2026 Maguire State Mission Offering prayer guide. One hundred percent of all receipts for the Maguire Offering are designated to help launch church plants across Florida. 

Pictured above: New City Church held an Easter Worship service on the beach in 2026. (Photo submitted)

SAINT AUGUSTINE, Florida — Finding a name for a new church plant in the oldest city in the nation quickly landed on the only option that seemed relevant for pastor Trent Griffith: New City Church. 

“That is a very strategically chosen name because New City Church is planted in the oldest city,” stated Griffith. “We’re a new city for an old city, but we’re a city looking for a better city that is to come. We are longing for one day when God makes all things new and brings heaven to earth.” 

With previous planting experience in Indiana, Griffith and his wife were called to plant in Northeast Florida last year, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.   

“In August of 2025, we parachute dropped into St. Johns County not knowing anyone here and just began the process of learning our neighbors’ names and casting the vision,” expressed Griffith. “Of course, there were some people from the sending church that partnered with us to come, and now we’ve been in the process of cultivating that core group in this rapidly growing area of Northeast Florida.” 

Building a cooperative spirit to birth a church plant isn’t foreign to Griffith. He is well aware of the importance of relationships to build a healthy plant.   

Together with the sending church, Parkview Church in Palm Coast, which is also a church plant, Send Network, and help through the Florida Baptist Convention’s Maguire State Mission Offering, New City Church was able to launch.  

“I want to express my gratitude to the churches in Florida that have given to the state missions offering. There is a new church in the oldest city in the country because of some tangible gifts that were given,” said Griffith.   

Though the church is in its infancy, New City plans to make a point to budget dollars to further the opportunity for new plants in the state and help fund mission work beyond the walls of the church plant. They too will be giving to the Maguire State Mission Offering.  

“We’re going to participate in sending some resources from our little church plant into the state missions offering because we believe that we’ve got an opportunity to impact this state,” expressed Griffith. “We don’t know what God’s going to do. We just know that we’ve got a responsibility to be generous.”  

Similar to other church plants, meeting space is a continued prayer point for New City Church. In early summer of 2026, the church moved from a shared church building to a school a few miles down the road.  

Griffith acknowledges everyone desires to have a better building to help accelerate the movement, “but we know that the thing we need most is just the power of God’s spirit that invades our church. We need the saturation of his presence in our services for sure.”