A beachside parish’s injection of new life two years ago has led to amazing growth among kids and families.
Two years ago St Mark's, Malabar received a new congregation that was one part Asian and one part academic.
The Asian Australian Bible Church (AABC), a former congregation of Unichurch, was incorporated into the church under the leadership of AABC leader the Rev Andrew Moore, who is now rector of St Mark's.
The influx of 80 adults and 20 children from AABC was a valued addition to the 40 adults and 5 children already at St Mark's. Since then the church has grown by more than 25 adults and 10 children.
According to Mr Moore, the amalgamation breathed new life into the parish.
"Apart for the Sunday School of 35 children, there is week day children’s ministry and a youth group on Friday nights. Many of these teens are siblings of the children who came to the holiday children’s program."
Mr Moore admits there were some challenges in the early days of the partnership.
"There were differences. The existing congregation loved the traditional Anglican service, and the new members were mostly young, first generation Christians, from South East Asia," he says.
"We joined both morning congregations for the first two months and this enabled us to get to know each other, but then it was time to form two morning congregations. Now everyone's happy."
The addition of an evening service also helped the church pick up many new people. The church has successfully attracted young couples and incorporated them into the life and ministry of the parish.
Amy Chen and her husband Siew-Kee are former members of St Andrew's Cathedral's The Bible Talks congregation who were looking for a local church to join.
The Hillsdale resident says St Mark's was the best church among some good options.
"We went to a couple of evangelical churches in the area and we are blessed there were a few to choose from," Amy says
"At St Mark's the good clear Bible teaching stood out, the people were welcoming and the fact they had dinner fellowship afterwards was attractive."
In fact, Amy says the post-5pm church dinner fellowship has been key in building up the church.
"It's a great way to get to know people on a deeper level, to talk about the sermon, to encourage each other and to serve one another by taking turns cooking."
Amy, who works full-time at an intellectual property firm, has also taken the bold step of teaching scripture on Friday mornings at La Parouse Primary School to assist the church in its outreach to kids.
"About a year ago the church was praying for more scripture teachers. I asked Andrew how it was going and he said they needed a teacher for a Friday morning class," she says.
"I asked my boss if I could start late to teach scripture on Friday mornings if I caught up the time on other days during the week. He was fine with it!"
