For several years, plans have been drawn up to plant churches in the new housing areas of western Sydney. Work has been proceeding steadily in the ‘North-West Sector’ (centred on the parish of Kellyville). While three years ago a church was planted in Arndell Anglican College.

But this was merely the start. Spurred on by the Archbishop’s Mission (endorsed by Synod last October), there is now a whole host of churches being planted in the West. South Penrith illustrates how two parishes can cooperate in this work: Bossley Park illustrates how two regions can cooperate and Model Farms Church demonstrates the new trend towards meeting in State schools.

And what of the future? Allan Starr has been door-knocking in Newington, formerly the 2000 Olympics Village, with the hope of establishing a work by the year 2005. The West’s larger parishes such as Carlingford and Castle Hill have big church planting schemes to match, while others dream of starting churches in retirement villages. The possibilities are only limited by our imagination – which can grow as we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us. Are you prepared to pray that the Lord will send workers into these churches and fire all our imaginations?

Rooty Hill >> Bossley Park

Rooty Hill Anglican began its fifth church plant in western Sydney at Bossley Park on March 16. After two months there are approximately 65 adults and 25 children meeting each Sunday at 6 pm.

It truly is a taste of heaven, with people from many nations and languages gathering to praise God. The ethnic groups represented include Armenian, Lebanese, Assyrian, Italian, Maltese, Jordanian, Indian, Australian, Serbian and Slovenian.

Sydney’s south-west is comprised of many culturally diverse communities who do not know the gospel of grace. The Multicultural Bible Ministry (MBM), a ministry of Rooty Hill Anglican, has been seeking to reach multicultural communities over the past twelve years under Ray Galea’s leadership.

It has become a truly regional ministry with members travelling up to 40 minutes to meet with other ‘multicultural’ families at Rooty Hill.

Over the past two years, people from around the Liverpool area have been meeting closer to their homes in a Bible study group. The group has gradually grown over that time and has become the core group for the new church plant.
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While MBM Bossley Park includes about 30 adults and 20 children who came from the mother church, 50 per cent are brand new contacts. One was an Italian lady who wrote on her comment card after the sermon, “How do I trust Jesus and utilise Jesus’ trust in all parts of my life?”

As a result of the growth there are now four Bible study groups.  Of these, one is an evangelistic Bible study of about ten enthusiastic young adults keen to find out more about Jesus. Another is a group of ten older Assyrian people. Through these groups and the Sunday sermons, people have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. One young Assyrian man said, “It was at the Bible study group the message of Jesus became clear.”

He went on to say, “I have been doing lots of training for my career. Now it is time to be trained in the things of God – because that will last for eternity.”

Penrith & Glenmore Park >> South Penrith

Trainee minister Mark Bonnici tells the amazing story of how he came to plant a church at South Penrith:

It’s no surprise that throughout salvation history, God chose the weak of this world to shame the strong, exemplified so powerfully in the death of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross.

God continues today to do amazing things through weak people. With only a handful of people from Glenmore Park Anglican Church (GPAC), my wife Traci and I decided to do what we’ve been praying and talking about for the last four years.

With the employment of two new assistant ministers at Glenmore Park church in 2003, and a conviction it was time for us to move on, we seized the opportunity to talk to our church leaders about planting a congregation in South Penrith.

South Penrith is situated in the parish of St Stephen’s, Penrith (the very church that planted GPAC some ten years ago), and our minister John Lavender’s biggest concern was to work out a way of planting a church without causing disunity.

After a lot of prayer, we decided to approach St Stephen’s, Penrith with an invitation a little out of the ordinary: our group of about 18 adults and as many kids was taking a leap of faith, leaving the oversight of Glenmore Park and inviting St Stephen’s to take oversight of us instead.

After preliminary meetings, St Stephen’s happily notified us that they would oversee us under a six-month trial basis to iron out any wrinkles along the way.
We spent the first ten weeks from February 2003 working out who we were as the body of Christ, borrowing a good deal of methodology from The Purpose Driven Church.

We surveyed a small number of houses in South Penrith to get an idea of the demographics of the area, and sent out invitations to the community to our very first Easter Sunday service. Out of the many faces we saw on that night (120 adults and it seemed like as many kids), most were supporters from St Stephen’s and GPAC. This was a testimony to how supportive the people in these churches have been.

More significant were the dozen new faces that came to hear God’s word.

This is a hard harvest, but we’re trying to connect with the community and remove barriers stopping everyday Aussies from coming to church. This means we dress casually, and try to make the Bible easier to understand without compromising the gospel message. It also means we try hard to be open to people from all walks of life and make church fun for kids.

In hindsight, it has been an enormous encouragement to see how God’s hand has been firmly upon this process from the very beginning. The fact that St Stephen’s had been discussing prospects for the South Penrith area at the same time as we were gives testimony to this.

Please pray God will continue to work miracles through his people at South Penrith. We’re not experts in church plants and there will be obstacles for us to overcome. But what a great opportunity God has laid on our hearts!

Parramatta North >> Newington

All Saints’, Parramatta North with Harris Park, has been attempting to plant a church in the suburb of Newington for over a year. During 2002, the Rev Robert Denham led a service there at 5pm on Sundays, but it struggled to make bridges into the community.

So in August 2002 the method changed. Christianity Explained courses were conducted, but again this did not appear to be the right way forward.

During 2002, All Saints’ supplied two Scripture teachers in the local primary school, and a weekly Bible study began in a Newington resident’s home.

In February 2003, Allan Starr came on staff with a grant from the Archbishop which allowed him to work 50 per cent of the week in Newington. Allan works the other half of the week voluntarily in the rest of the parish. Allan and parishioners from All Saints’ have been door-knocking Newington, to discover other people willing to join Allan in studying the Bible. By March 2005 it is hoped they will have 25 people in Bible studies.

Northmead >> Model Farms

Model Farms Anglican Church met for the first time on Sunday, February 9. It has been planted as a congregation of Northmead Anglican Church and not as an independent church at this stage, though it may develop in that direction. It continues to draw on the resources at Northmead.

Attendance has averaged 75 adults during these first months.

The church began meeting in a triple classroom at Model Farms High School in Baulkham Hills, but found that it was soon necessary to move to the school hall for space and comfort. February was also a very hot time in the classrooms.

The people who began the new church came from the Sunday night congregation at Northmead. Virtually overnight, they experienced an increase in numbers of about 25 in the two congregations, partly due to a few new people but mainly because a number of irregular members become regular. They have also started to see some students from the high school coming regularly.

This highlights a unique feature of this church plant. The church is working at developing a partnership with the substantial Christian work that is already going on in the school, all with the encouragement of the school’s executive staff.

The partnership with the school has a number of aspects associated with it. The youth leaders spend time in the school meeting with scripture classes, speaking to the students, while information about the church goes to the school community through the school’s newsletter.

Together with the Christian worker in the school, the church plans a mission weekend later in the year focusing on youth and families in the area.