At least three new church plants have been launched in the past few months, with congregations sending members to new or developing suburbs.
There is so much to praise God for, with new teams of people jumping in to work alongside those already in these suburbs to see more people come to know Jesus.
Praise God for the desire across the Diocese to see churches growing and flourishing, communities being loved and cared for, and many people coming to find salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Multicultural Bible Ministry (MBM) Blacktown
On Sunday, August 4, MBM Blacktown held its first public service at Tyndale Christian School. With a launch team of 75 adults and 25 kids, members are excited to reach their community for Christ.
Kwabena Nsiah, one of the launch team members, shared how he was praying for opportunities to introduce people to Jesus. “Pray that we would continue to build relationships with the people in the Blacktown area so we can share the gospel with them!”
Grace City Church Rockdale
After months of prayer and planning, a team of more than 60 adults from Grace City Church in Waterloo will start a Rockdale Sunday afternoon service in October. The service will include weekly kids’ programs and dinner afterwards.
With so much good already happening in the St George area, the team at Grace City is excited to join the wonderful work there. They are hoping to see God use churches across Australia to bring many to eternal life in Jesus Christ.
The Rev Jade Hajj, who is heading up the plant, acknowledges that prayer is the key to seeing this church plant flourish. “Please be praying for God to use this new plant to reach new people for the gospel. We are praying to see people transformed, turning away from sin and putting their hope in Jesus.”
Cornerstone Box Hill
In the fast-growing suburb of Box Hill, Cornerstone is ready to welcome people as they move into the area. Although the church has been meeting since June, members celebrated their official public opening on August 25 in a meeting at Arndell Anglican College.
Launch team member Sally Taylor is enthusiastic about getting to know people in the community, and sees her neighbourhood as a rapidly growing mission field. “There are so many people coming from so many different places,” she says. “I don’t really know what to expect – and I think there’s going to be a bit of hard work that needs to be put in – but God has got this, and he will glorify himself through it, so we just need to be relying on him.”
In the pipeline
In response to the planned metro station and urban renewal of the Burwood North precinct, St James’, Croydon, who recently amalgamated with St Luke’s Concord Burwood, are preparing to plant a church to serve the proposed 6000 dwellings expected in the next few years.
“We want to see a new church opened up in that Burwood North area that is engaged with all of the people that live there now, and the many people that are going to be moving in,” says the Rev Blake Hatton, Croydon’s planting team leader. “Jesus has hope and we want that for all the people in Burwood North.”
