By Madeleine Collins

The members of the harbourside parish of Neutral Bay have made history after selling off the church building and rectory of St Chad’s, Cremorne Point for $6.5million to fund a new church plant in Sydney’s northwest.
‘A prayerful partnership’ is how Rector, the Rev Craig Roberts, describes the church’s decision to work with the Mission Property Committee and sell off the 1300 square metre site to commercial developers, who plan to construct four units on the property.
Ninety per cent of the proceeds of the sale of the church building have gone to the Mission Property Committee, with the remaining 10 per cent and the sale of church memorial items being channelled into diocesan Indigenous ministry. The $2.4million received from the sale of the Rectory has been used to purchase a replacement residence for Mr Roberts and his family.
The parish has also assisted the provisional parish of Cammeray/Naremburn financially by allowing the neighbouring church to acquire a ministry residence owned by St Augustine’s for $350,000 – half the market value – to house an assistant minister.
Ministry ceased at St Chad’s in 2001 when the small group of older parishioners transferred to St Augustine’s, Neutral Bay. The churches amalgamated in 1999.
The Mission Property Committee plans to use the funds to build a church among new homes in the northwest sector. It is the first transaction of its kind since the Committee urged last year’s Synod to consider the property needs of the Mission. The first part of the two-fold plan is to buy land or build new ministry facilities in the ‘greenfields’ – areas such as the northwest, expected to see a residential boom within 15 years. The Synod endorsed a $91million blueprint for the project.
Committee Chairman Peter Kell said he would encourage all parishes to look at their own property holdings. “This was a great example because it’s not one where we went and tapped people on the shoulder and said ‘this is our need, would you please have a look and sell something’,” Mr Kell said.  “Here is a parish in an established area rationalising its property holdings and not thinking of how it might keep that money to itself entirely but to act generously and make a substantial gift. This will help us enormously.”
The plan to sell the site for diocesan use was a vision of the previous Rector, the Rev Ken Yapp, who retired in 2002. The decision was made taking into account the several hundred thousand dollars of restoration work that was needed on the site, which is difficult to access from the street and has limited parking. The parish, the Bishop and the Archdeacon considered that it had no ongoing ministry purposes, and that the greatest value of the site for Mission purposes lay in its sale and reallocation of resources.
“Pioneering work is hard work,” said Mr Roberts, who admits the process has been difficult and has come at a personal cost and a distraction from parish ministry. But the former liquidator said he hopes the move will inspire other churches to consider how they can have ‘a greater impact on our culture for the Kingdom of God’.
Bishop of North Sydney Glenn Davies said he is delighted that the parish has been the instigator of such a ‘radical move’.
“[It] is a magnanimous gesture, which is a model for all parishes to think in terms of realigning their assets,” Bishop Davies said.