The Mission Board has approved spending $10 million on parcels of land in areas of Sydney Diocese "experiencing or likely to experience" a rapid increase in population.
Areas around the diocese have also been earmarked for potential ministry centres.
The $10 million sum is part of the $20 million appropriated from the Diocesan Endowment in June last year with the aim of boosting ministry by aquiring and upgrading property in growing areas of the diocese.
The Mission Board has allocated $8.6 million to "brownfields" projects, which are in areas which are experiencing or are likely to experience a rapid increase in population or are projects which are likely to lead to a rapid increase in the number of persons attending church.
The parishes which are receiving these grants are as follows: Annandale, Auburn (St Thomas'), Berowra, Broadway, Dapto, Glenmore Park, Marrickville, Naremburn and Rooty Hill.
The final $1.4 million has gone towards the construction of the Hoxton Park ministry centre, which will feature a worship/conference facility seating up to 600, meeting rooms, offices and a carpark."I believe that the projects that are going to be supported by this grant money will strongly support the objectives of the Diocesan Mission," says Mission Board member Steve McKerihan.
Annandale
The home parish of Sydney's media industry mission work Christians in the Media and evangelistic course Introducing God, is set for a $2 million upgrade after receiving a $1 million grant from the Diocese.
The new facility will include expanded seating for 350 people, a children's education centre and an audio-visual suite to expand the church's evangelistic web and television ministry.
The development will also include a commercial kitchen and street-side café where the hospitality-based Introducing God course can be run virtually on an ongoing basis. In the past they have had to cook on camp stoves in the church office and wash up in buckets.
"It will give us lots of small group spaces that are culturally "cool' " appropriate for inner west people," says minister Dominic Steele.
The current facilities are totally inadequate.
The morning congregation is currently "overflowing' the 120-seat church, with about 100 adults plus 50 children. The Sunday school uses a classroom of the local primary school. There is nowhere to have morning tea apart from in the church itself. To go to the toilet you have to walk along Annandale's busiest road.
"The property has had 40 years of neglect," says minister Dominic Steele, explaining that when he arrived the outdoor toilets were "virtually derelict" - open to the sky - and as a result no church-goer had used them for years. "We could patch things up but even then the facilities would be inadequate for growth."
Mr Steele says the only option was to make a "generational difference". So far the membership has raised and pledged $800,000 themselves.
"Unless we did something dramatic it was clear with our trajectory of growth we were heading for a crash," Mr Steele says.
Indeed, Annandale Community Church is the fastest growing parish in the Diocese, according to the 2006 NCLS data. Less than a decade ago there were a dozen attendees and three kids. In 2001 there were plans to close the building.
Nevertheless one recent research paper suggested that most of this growth has come from young adults transferring from other churches rather than newcomers who have been converted.
Mr Steele acknowledges that there is some truth in that observation but adds that when he thinks about individual examples "some transfers are actually conversions".
On this point, it must also be acknowledged that Christians in the Media is playing a pioneering role in addressing one of Sydney Anglicans' weakest ministry areas: young adult retention. The Diocese is shedding young adults who have just entered the workplace at an alarming rate.
Mr Steele emphasises that the diocesan grant is purely for the Annandale capital project. Christians in the Media still requires ongoing outside support to staff its missionary work in the industry.
"Annandale is like a new housing area," says Mr Steele. "It is going through urban renewal."
So has most of the recent growth come through the local parish ministry or Christians in the Media?
"That's hard to answer," says Mr Steele. "It's blurred because so many media people live in the local area."
The vast majority of members live in Annandale and the neighbouring suburbs. A significant proportion of them are also media industry workers.
"Across the board the gospel is back in the inner west. It's exciting to have played a part in putting Christ back on the map."
The Hoxton Park project
St Clement's, Hoxton Park will have their long-awaited building project completed in August " weather permitting " thanks to a grant of more than $1.4 million from the Mission Property Fund.
This money covers the shortfall for the $4.8 million project which has been mainly funded by $3.2million that came through the Archbishop's Vision 2001 Appeal Fund. These funds included money raised by the parish and donated by numerous Northern Region churches.
The rector of St Clement's, the Rev Bruce Dingwall, says the new facility will contain 11 offices and meeting rooms, a café and a 600-seat church.
"We are in an area of south-west Sydney that is still growing so we are hoping to be a big, central church in the area," he says.
The two congregations, which currently meet at Thomas Hassall Anglican College, total 180 adults plus kids. While the school can hold these numbers, the church's midweek ministry is severely restricted.
"We can use the school for Friday night youth group, but the school's kitchen facilities are small and on the other side of the playground, and we have to make special arrangements to hold midweek special events like evangelistic meetings."
"The new building will allow us to multiply our ministries. We will be able to start after school kids clubs, playgroups and we can now do weddings for our members in our own church."
Mr Dingwall hopes other churches can also use the new facility and says it will help reach the 75,000 people in the parish boundaries.
Dapto
Dapto Anglican Church, centred in Wollongong's new housing development corridor, has received $1.1 million to complete its $2.5 million redevelopment project.
"The whole of Dapto is envisioned to double in population over the next 15 years," said rector the Rev Stephen Semenchuk.
Last year the parish purchased a $280,000 strip of land from the Department of Education, and has raised a further $300,000 for the project.
Like a number of the successful "brownfields' urban renewal applications, Dapto has outgrown its current facilities.
"The 10 am congregation is over-flowing," says Mr Semenchuk. "People have to wait in the foyer for the children to go out to get a seat… We run at capacity on Friday evenings and Sunday nights, the preschool has a waiting list, and we have discipleship groups meeting in hallways outside toilets."
The Dapto ministry can no longer grow because of the site restrictions. A second morning congregation won't work because of parking. They have planted off site but one of their branch churches is also full.
There are currently 150 youth and 120 children across their programs. In the upgrade, the existing 300-seat church will become a children and youth ministry centre. All sections of the site will be interlinked to form one complex.
When completed it will also include a café "fellowship" area, a clamshell auditorium seating 550 people and a new preschool. Stage 1 - which involves building the new preschool and foyer - is out to tender. The parish hopes Stage 2 " including the new auditorium " will be completed "early as possible" in 2009.
"We're excited because it increases the opportunities for outreach and community connection " there will be facilities for counselling, a café and greater opportunity to integrate the preschool community," said Mr Semenchuk.
NOTE: Stephen Semenchuk absented himself from all meetings of the Mission Board that considered his parish.
