Keen church members at St Edmund’s, Eastgardens who are sharing the gospel with their friends and neighbours are continuing to see more people put their trust in Christ.
Last year’s church plant, ‘Wild Street’, a partnership of the St Matthias’ group of churches and the parish, has spawned a new 6.00pm service that started in February. New people are joining the contemporary service each week.
“It’s an extension of what we’ve done in the morning last year,” says pastor Rod Cocking. “We wanted to do a ministry that covered the cradle to the grave and felt we needed to do something in the evening to kick that off. We took thirty people from a Matthias’ congregation and went with the slogan ‘Discover the truth’. We want to make sure the Bible has a high profile in this area.”
While families and children make up the majority of the 10.30am service, the evening congregation is catered towards singles and married people without children. There are around 40 members, most aged between 25 and 40.
The profile of Wild Street and the parish has continued to increase in the community through the contact of church members with their neighbours, local schools and sports teams. Mr Cocking is thankful to God for the ministry relationship the congregations have shared. “People know that we’re here and we have new visitors coming along week by week,” he says.
Wild Street members join the 8:30am congregation at 10am and share morning tea with them before their own service, which has promoted good relationships between members of the two congregations. “We pray for the leadership of the Wild Street church weekly,” says rector, Bob Silberman. “We pray for opportunities for members of either church to make contact with people in the area.”
When a leader from the St Matthias’ group of churches approached Mr Silberman the wheels for growth were put in motion. “Our congregation agreed to meet at 8:30 am, so the St Matthias’ congregation could meet at 10:30 am,” he says.
‘Wild Street’ was named to identify with local residents, referring to the cross street on which the church sits.
“We investigated the idea of a second service ten years ago, but we didn’t have the people,” he says. “The idea was to aim at younger families, but when I came here, we didn’t have any young families involved.”
Mr Silberman is very thankful for the impetus of the diocesan Mission and the aim to bring 10 per cent of Sydney’s population into a relationship with God. “I’m very pleased with the Archbishop’s encouragement to see churches planted. I’m excited about what’s happening.”