Before Easter a group of 30 young Karen and Karenni Baptists and Catholics went on a one-day pilgrimage together.

Before he was arrested, Jesus prayed that his followers would be one. Two thousand years, and hundreds of Christian denominations later, Christian unity seems far away. Christian missionaries arrived in Burma (Myanmar) more than a hundred years ago when Catholics and Protestants regarded each other as heretics, and different Protestant denominations had an only slightly higher opinion of each other. The Catholic, Baptist and several other denominations now cooperate through the Myanmar Council of Churches, but at a grassroots level attitudes are often unchanged. Christians sometimes treat other denominations – and refer to them – as different religions. The divisions between Christians hurts Christian mission. A Karen Buddhist monk once asked me why it was that at Buddhist festivals monks from different monasteries would gather together, but at Christmas and Easter pastors lead worship in separate churches.

In addition to the denominational differences, churches are divided by ethnicity as well. While Catholic and Anglicans in Burma have national bodies, Chin, Karen and Kachin Baptists have separate organisations. Neither do these differences magically disappear when Christians from Burma arrive in Australia. When 30 Karen Baptists and Karen and Karenni Catholics gathered in the You Yangs National Park, it was a group of youth who rarely meet and never worship together.

The Karen Baptist youth mainly came from Werribee Karen Baptist Church, while the Catholic youth were led by Father William Matthews, a Burmese-background and come from Sunshine Catholic Parish.

The group started with icebreaker activities to get the different groups talking to each other. The group then walked up Flinders Peak. After taking the mandatory selfies and group photo, we gathered in a circle on a granite outcrop and Father William opened in prayer. We then read a psalm about God’s creation and had gospel readings about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and the transfiguration on top of the mountain. Christians read these psalms and passages from gospels all the time – but not usually on top of a mountain. Hearing them in the bush was a new and different experience.

From the You Yangs we drove to Eastern Beach at Geelong. Here we read another psalm and read about Jesus calling his disciples by the sea and calming the storm. The weather was cool and we got off the beach to eat lunch. Lunch was rice and pots of spicy Karen and Karenni curries.

From the beach we drove to Holy Spirit Church, a beautiful Spanish-style church in a quiet Geelong suburb. Father William welcomed the group to the church and spoke about he had visited Baptist churches and learned from the experience, and said that Baptists could also learn from visiting a Catholic church.  Like most Catholic churches it has the Stations of the Cross, a series of fourteen paintings depicting Christ’s arrest, trial, walk to Golgotha, crucifixion and burial. We walked around the church, standing in front of each painting with the youth taking turns reading prayers. “We adore you O Christ and we bless you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world…” Praying the Stations of the Cross was particularly appropriate leading up to Easter.

Diana Taw, a youth leader from Werribee Karen Baptist Church closed in prayer, and we returned to Melbourne.

 “It was great,” Diana said about the pilgrimage, “I loved it when we were reading the bible on top of the rock and on the beach. Next time when we read that we should read louder. I loved the Stations of the Cross because it reminds us of what Jesus did for us and the sacrifice he made for us. I feel like all Christians should do the Stations of the Cross.”

Source: BUV News

The Belgrave South Baptist Church community has donated 1,500 cans of food to help those in need.

The church has collected cans for the Dandenong Ranges Emergency Relief Service (DRERS) for the past six or seven years, starting with 200 the first time around.

Senior Pastor Tim Dyer said families had been adding cans to their weekly grocery shop since the start of May.

“We try to get people to donate with the pop tops, so they don’t need a can opener,” Pastor Dyer said.

“All the cans get used up by the time winter’s finished. None are leftover. It’s a real, practical and easy way to help. Everyone can buy a couple of cans when they go shopping. 

"We don’t want to just be a church that opens Sundays. We’re connected with the community. We want to be an expression of God’s love in a practical way.”

DRERS CEO Tania Bevan said the donation would make a huge difference.

“It has a really big impact on being able to feed families, people who are homeless,” she said.

“Cans are great for people who are homeless because they can carry that meal around with them.

“We are really grateful for what Belgrave South Baptist does.

“That is a lot of cans. It’s going to help a lot of people.”

To other people who’d like to help with donations, Ms Bevan suggested they think about what they put in their own trolley.

“Then it’s something that someone will use. We’re all very similar,” she said.

“We all use toilet paper, we all use shampoo.”

But aside from the most basic necessities, Ms Bevan encouraged donations of the ‘basics’ that make people’s days a little brighter.

“Some people go to a cafe and have a coffee every day, but some people can’t even afford instant coffee,” she said.

Article previously published by Ferntree Gully Belgrave Mail.

Source: BUV News

At Reservoir Baptist Church (RBC), we have a dedicated person who puts a tremendous effort in bringing Missionary News to us all year round. Every year, in May, she’ll also set RBC up for the Global Interaction’s May Mission Month. RBC has a proud history (since 1926) of not only financially supporting missionaries, but also sending them out from our church.

During May Mission Month, we shared videos and stories of the cross-cultural workers and candidates with our diverse congregation. Each week, we learnt something new about the least-reached people groups, and we saw God’s amazing work through Global Interaction’s projects. This year, we learnt something different from each of the people featured in the videos we watched.

We also had the privilege of having Graeme and Pat Barnden presenting at our church on the last Sunday of Mission Month. Graeme and Pat have been building relationships with the local B people in South Asia from 2011-2014. They told us that even though they are now based in Australia, Graeme and Pat are committed to returning to South Asia at least once a year for up to four weeks (limited by visas) to provide valuable training. 

During their visits, Graeme continues the mechanical training and driving school work he began, providing encouragement and extra support to the current driving instructor as well as helping with building maintenance wherever needed. Pat continues English teaching and provides support in other vocational projects.

Through their stories and sharing, we saw the deep passion and love that Global Interaction and the cross-cultural workers have for mission. It has also become more apparent for us that missionaries do not have to go overseas in far flung nations; they can be right here in Australia. We hope that this hit home to the least reached people who also make up our diverse church: that we too should, “Grow where we are planted”. In turn, we should reach out to our own people who might feel lonely and isolated in what is a foreign country to them.

At RBC, we will keep on celebrating our diversity with the understanding that a lot of us came to Jesus because someone sowed their care and prayer into us. We hope to do the same and know we can truly grow where we are planted. Every month should be missionary month, for the need never disappears.

Source: BUV News

 Views from the Manse

A monthly series showcasing different expressions and experiences of the role of a Pastor’s spouse. Stories span from the archives to the present.  We invite you to contribute your story by emailing John Sampson at jcsampson406@gmail.com

Episode 1 – Circa 1885 onwards
Sarah Ann Richmond Phelan – A good wife 

In April 1881, the Rev J S (James) Harrison came from England to Victoria and joined up with the Rev Edward Isaac to form a mission team that held evangelistic meetings throughout Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. Little did they know that they would both marry the same woman.

In early 1884, Rev Harrison was invited to the pulpit at Aberdeen St and brought his Tasmanian wife with him. While at Aberdeen St, he continued with his evangelistic meetings, teaming up with other evangelists of the day such as the renowned Mrs Amelia Baeyertz who drew enormous crowds, especially on the goldfields. But in Feb 1887, as his health was declining, he resigned and returned to England.

Meanwhile, in December 1884 the Rev Isaac was appointed to the pastorate at Brunswick Baptist Church. It was a challenging call as the church had just endured a very turbulent period in its history.

On March 31^st 1885, Rev Isaac married Sarah Phelan, the daughter of Mr & Mrs E Phelan of Talbot. She was welcomed to the church at a tea meeting and given a fine clock to mark the occasion. Everyone was in high spirits as the meeting closed with three cheers for ‘the pastor and his better half’ and it was reported as ‘being the most pleasant meeting the church had held for some time’.

Mrs. Isaac (née Phelan) was soon in charge of the Young Women’s Bible classes and by 1887 these were flourishing. She was also recognised as a fine soloist.

In 1895, Rev Isaac moved to George St Baptist in Fitzroy. At his welcome he referred to his wife as ‘the pastoress’, clearly showing the importance he placed on her role as his spouse; but the term did not stick. In 1896/97 he was honored as the President of the Baptist Union of Victoria.  In February 1902 he left George St, preaching his final sermon in July.

After a settled existence for 18 years they were on the road again, with a short-term appointment at the Evangelization Society of Victoria for whom he conducted missions throughout the state, before they headed back to England.  

When he left for England his wife, Sarah, was acknowledged as follows:

‘This short sketch of our brother’s career would be very incomplete without reference to Mrs. Isaac, who has been a real mainstay to him. She has proved herself to be a true helpmate indeed. How much of his success is owing to her hopeful and buoyant character no one is able to say, but that her cheerful temperament has largely contributed to it, no one who knows her will deny’.

But the English climate played havoc with Sarah’s health so that they returned to Australia, settling in Launceston on 31 Dec 1904 where he accepted a position at Reed’s Christian Mission Church in Launceston. Six years later he resigned, and they began a period of moving around to short term pastoral appointments.

They moved to New Zealand to positions in Dunedin and St Claire, before moving to the Sydenham Baptist Church in October 1910. In 1911 he had a short pastorate at Mount Gambier before moving to Williamstown. Finally he was appointed to Albert St in 1916 and served here until his death on Dec 30^th 1918.

Sarah wrote an article for the Australian Baptist while at Albert St, in which she made the following observations:

‘People set a very high ideal for the minister’s wife. She has many domestic duties over and above those in a private home. She cannot get help due to the high cost of wages for maids, the high cost of living and low stipends. Her children and the life of the home are her responsibility. She is expected to visit the sick.She is expected to take a Sunday school or Bible class. And she is expected to foster missionary activity in the church.’

In 1922, we get a glimpse of another side of Sarah. She was corresponding with Rev Harrison at the time, who she had known earlier and whose wife had since passed away. He was looking for a new church and she gladly helped by putting an announcement in the Australian Baptist saying that he intended to return to Melbourne in October 1922 with his son. If any churches were interested in securing his services she would be pleased to ensure that he got their correspondence.

But her plan did not work out as Rev Harrison secured a position at Bristol St Baptist in England and started there in January 1923 with a salary of £400 per annum.

Soon after, however, we find that she had another announcement in the paper in Jan 1924. This one gave the good news that he had arrived in Melbourne at the end of 1923, that they had married and were living in her house at 180 George St Fitzroy. I suspect that when it came to marriage she was not the passive object of Rev Harrison’s quest but took the initiative.

In August 1927, Rev Harrison and his wife, Sarah were welcomed to the pastorate of Hawthorn West, where he served for eight and a half years until his death on 30 Nov 1935.

Sarah died on 10^th April 1947 and her obituary in the Victorian Baptist Witness reads as follows

‘Mrs. Harrison, widow of the late Rev. J. Harrison, whose final charge was at Hawthorn West Baptist Church, passed to her rest recently at her home in 180 George. Street, Fitzroy. Had she lived a few days longer she would have celebrated her 89th birthday.  A lady of very gracious disposition, she has graced many manses and has now been called to grace a mansion of Light. Her two husbands were comrades in the Gospel and both were attracted to her at the same time. The Rev Isaac first won her and for many years she was his helpful partner. After his death the Rev. J. Harrison renewed his quest for her and for many years she proved an able and glad companion during his later ministries. After his death she continued her membership and services at Hawthorn West Baptist Church where every progressive gospel movement immediately won her approval’.

What is your experience of being a pastor’s spouse? If you would like to contribute to this series, please email jcsampson406@gmail.com

Source: BUV News