Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has visited the Diocese’s newest Anglican building, Leppington Anglican Church, celebrating ministry to what has become known as the 'new southwest'.
Leppington, which straddles Liverpool and Camden councils, is part of Sydney's South West Growth Centre which also includes Oran Park and nearby Catherine Field. The church’s opening was disrupted by COVID and the service was the first opportunity to mark the event.
"Sydney is changing in so many ways," the Archbishop told the congregation during his mid-October visit. "It's not just getting bigger. There's a whole lot more people coming here, and people already here from many kinds of cultures and backgrounds. So, within the fellowship of the Sydney Anglican family, we're thinking carefully and God is raising up people to minister amongst those who come from other cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and we want to be very prayerful and deliberate about saying, ‘How are we going to bring the gospel to those who are from a Chinese background, who are, like me, from a Subcontinental background, who are from the Middle Eastern background? We are also trying to make sure that we're going to be in places where suburbs are yet to be built. There are growth areas in the southwest and the northwest. A couple of months ago I turned a sod at Marsden Park and hopefully one day there'll be a facility like this and people gathering together.”
Click below watch an interview with the Archbishop
Along with the Archbishop, members of the board of the Sydney Anglican Growth Corporation attended the service, with CEO Ross Jones giving thanks for the foresight of the Mission Property Committee 10 years ago in purchasing the land. It now houses the church complex as well as Leppington Anglican College.
“We gave thanks to God for all that he's done in establishing these premises and this church family in this part of Sydney,” the Archbishop said after the service. “We've been reminded that Jesus is the hope of the world and in a world of war and sickness and sorrow we have a living hope.”
