In 2005 Stuart Robinson will uncover new ideas for outreach. This month we head south to Victoria and investigate St Jude's, Carlton " a church ministering to people from Melbourne's top-end to its projects.
Carlton, Victoria is famous. It has a footy team; the name of a national brewery; the subject of that 70s Skyhooks song ("When the sun sets over Carlton…"), and the home of the Lygon Street café set. It is also the base of a burgeoning Anglican ministry named St Jude's.
Having served in the Grafton diocese for a number of years, the Rev Richard Condie joined the staff of Ridley College, Melbourne, to teach Greek and New Testament. That was in 1995. Seven years later, Richard was invited to lead the team at St Jude's, Carlton. Richard describes the last 36 months as "the ride of his life!'
SR: Richard, can you give us a profile of St Jude's please?
RC: St Jude's was earmarked for closure in the "60s because it was empty. The new vicar (sent in to shut down the parish) prayed that God would instead fill the building to overflowing. Over the next 30 years the church did indeed grow. We now have five congregations.
SR: You've worked out specific key ministry areas.
RC: Right. We have four principal areas of ministry: "All Ages' " ministering to families, youth, children, singles and a handful of people approaching retirement; "Workplace' " ministering to young workers (and people in the CBD); "Students' " serving the nearby campuses and colleges of Melbourne University and RMIT; "Estates' " ministry to migrants, refugees and people who live in the high-rise public housing projects in Carlton (where we have contact with many Muslims and people from the Horn of Africa).
SR: That must take some staffing.
RC: We have 15 people on our pastoral team.
SR: I understand your work, though extremely effective, has a broader focus than Carlton.
RC: We have, in God's mercy, been able to send heaps of people into ministry in Melbourne and around the world. We currently support four St Jude's families with CMS in South America and Pakistan (with others seriously considering this). We also run an internship training programme called "e-Quip' that prepares people for full-time ministry.
SR: Place of church planting?
RC: Two years ago we entered into a formal "partnership' with St Augustine's, Moreland, a declining church (12 members) a few suburbs away. We are very excited to see this church getting back on track. Some 50 people attend each week. St Jude's has committed people and money to this work for three years.
In addition, we are seeking to begin two new congregations in as many years. One will be with workers and residents in the CBD, the other among students. We are also looking for another parish (like St Augustine's) to partner in the work of revitalisation and renewal.
SR: Brilliant! Please share with us some recent missional initiatives.
RC: Some of the Christian parents of our youth group kids, with intent, take the non-Christian parents out for coffee during group time. Relationships are being forged and with the witness of newly converted teenagers, parents are coming to Christ too.
We run a homework club for children on the estates. Each week between 40 and 50 Muslim young people come to us for tutoring. The tutors share their lives and their faith with these kids.
A group of women from St Jude's have been inviting friends to "pamper nights'. I think they do massages and facials whilst chatting about life's big issues. I've not attended one (yet!).
The men from the Moreland partnership have a regular pub night. They meet locals and pray for discussion that will lead to the gospel. In addition, we run English conversation sessions with local migrant residents in Moreland.
This year we have appointed the Rev Tim Patrick as the "chaplain' to the Lygon street café clique. His job is to get to know every store owner, restaurateur, barista and waiter. His task is then to seek creative ways to gospel them.
Recently we conducted a "Da Vinci Code' seminar. People came out of the woodwork to hear Rhys Bezzant (a church historian) give his perspective on the novel.
We are big on community infiltration; people in book clubs, architects designing overtly Christian symbols in their building, doctors offering to pray with patients, for example.
SR: Happiest moment in ministry?
RC: Here's a standout from last year: We heard two testimonies at our annual dinner. One was from a lady who lives in the public housing estate. She has very little formal education and is really on the margins of society. The other from a Law professor at Melbourne University. Just seeing the gospel unite two unlikely people as sister and brother in Christ was a real treat.
