One of the issues that we have been discussing and discerning this year through our BUV Consultation Forums has been the issue of Religious Freedom. We appreciate your input into these discussions over the last couple of months at the 5 Consultation Forums we have held through the State and appreciate those who have provided feedback even when not being able to attend. 

This is to inform you that the Attorney-General has just released their draft Religious Freedom Bills for public consultation and feedback. The Bill is available on the following website https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Pages/religious-freedom-bills.aspx

The Attorney will also be meeting with key stakeholder groups in the coming weeks to discuss the Bill. This process will ensure stakeholders are able to discuss issues and questions raised by the Bill before a final Bill is drafted later this year. 

The Government has recognised the importance of giving Australians the opportunity to provide comments on these Bills, and is now inviting submissions on the package of legislative reforms; these being:

– Religious Discrimination Bill 2019, providing comprehensive protection against discrimination on the basis of religious belief or activity in specified areas of public life.

– Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019, which will make consequential amendments necessary to implement the Religious Discrimination Bill. 

– Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill 2019, which will amend existing Commonwealth legislation to better protect the right to freedom of religion.

We encourage you to read the draft bills, or outlines thereof and if you feel led to, make a submission by emailing FoRConsultation@ag.gov.au and using the following templates. You can do this individually or as a church community. Australian Baptist Ministries will be providing a submission on behalf of all state Baptists organisations.  

Submission Form – Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 Exposure Draft [PDF 344KB]
Submission Form – Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 Exposure Draft [DOCX 82KB]

The submissions received will be considered by the Government when developing the Bills before the package is introduced into Parliament.

Source: BUV News

The forecast galeforce winds didn’t arrive and the wet, bitter days that had preceded; passed. Our mighty, mighty God blessed us with a beautiful day, where the sun shone and warmed our backs.

Little faces were painted with butterflies or caterpillars and a simple sausage sizzle then doughnuts fed everyone happily. With a prayer, some acknowledgements and very little pomp and ceremony the Bizzy Butterflies Playground was declared officially open.  It was indeed inspired by God’s mercy and enabled by God’s grace.

Bizzy Butterflies Playgroup commenced in the middle of 2004 after six months of planning, preparing and policy writing. The name chosen to signify the transformation of lives.

We started with one weekly playgroup that met in the portable building at Drouin Baptist Church. A small grassed area was available for some outdoor play in the early years. As the church continued to expand, the old portable was removed to make way for a new building. This building process meant the grassed area was no longer accessible. For three years, we were running three playgroup sessions per week indoors. It was challenging maintaining indoor play and we desperately needed an outdoor play space for our children.

By 2016, we successfully purchased a playground on ebay. Because playgroup caters for babies and up, there are always little ones crawling or falling or putting things in their mouths. We decided to put “Rubbertough” under the structure; a wonderful softfall that hoses off for cleanliness and is so much easier than barkchips – it is however very expensive. At our initial meeting with Rubbertough, it became clear that if we proceeded with what we wanted we were $2,500 short.

We decided to put in an application for a BUV community engagement grant and just three days after over-committing financially at Rubbertough we received a grant from BUV for… $2,500 of course! Along the journey, God organized other little blessings that inspired us to keep going with the project when we felt like walking away and giving up on it.

We are now into our second week of learning new routines because we have outside time. The children run and climb and play. We have an extravagant sandpit that was built by volunteers and turf that will hopefully grow into lush grass. We can ask the parents how their week is going and if they need a casserole to help them through. We can be served some “chips” through the shop front by an entrepreneurial child – yes, a shop front had been on our wish list.

God in His mercy inspired our playground, so we could care for those He brings to Bizzy Butterflies. God in His grace enabled the actual building of it. All praise to Him.

Source: BUV News

I grew up as a pastor’s kid in Malaysia. While I had seen a lot of my dad in action, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a pastor. When I was 7, I lost my mum to cancer. At a young age, it dawned on me that I was privileged because I’ve heard the gospel – Jesus came to overcome sin and death. And He did it for my mum. I remembered thinking, “If that’s true for mum, then that’s true for me but there are millions of people who do not have this privilege because they have not heard of the good news of Jesus”. That’s when God planted a seed in my heart for evangelism.

When I came to Melbourne to study at Monash University (Peninsula), I was involved in the campus’ international students outreach ministry. Over time I became convinced that church planting is the best way to accomplish the Great Commission.

After graduation, I decided to go back to my Baptist roots and joined Mentone Baptist Church. When I first met the Lead Pastor, Murray Campbell, I said: “Hello, my name is Stephen and I want to be a church planter!” He graciously took me under his wing and became my mentor as I commenced my studies in Master of Divinity at Ridley College. I also contacted City to City to do a church planter assessment and intensive. I knew that the assessment by my sending church’s leaders, peers and the congregation is an important affirmation to my calling.

By 2014, I was 28 years old, full of energy and excitement for church planting. I sought God for direction regarding what kind of church to plant and where. God then challenged me at a church planting conference, to plant a church to reach the many migrants that were coming to Australia. Pastor Murray Campbell was also passionate about reaching the students of Monash University (Clayton) and so, we decided to combine both our visions and plant Regeneration Church. As a migrant and former international student at Monash myself, I felt particularly equipped and called for this task.

With the support of Mentone Baptist Church and some students from Monash University, I was able to put together a church planting core team. We also received support from the BUV and City to City.

Initially, I wanted to be a chaplain for Monash and to plant a church on the Clayton campus. Our team worked hard and jumped through hoops and just as we were about to launch, the University’s management knocked us back and rejected our church. I was devastated and asked God: “How can we gather people if we don’t have a worship space?”

Then, God reminded me that He is in control and in His perfect timing (not mine), He answered my prayer! Through my personal network, I met Rev Jeremy Morgan, a minister from an Anglican Church that is within walking distance from the Monash Clayton campus. He heard our story and offered a space for us to use. God is good!

In 2017, we launched Regeneration Church and held our service regularly at the Anglican Church. Our vision is to be a gospel centred, transcultural community that welcomes students and migrants from every nation, some of whom have never heard the gospel or met a Christian.

Initially, our congregation was made up of mostly students. God continued to bless our church and our community grew from 25 to 50 within the first year. We started missional communities to reach different pockets of people. We saw several people come to faith in Jesus and we baptised 13 people in the first two years of the church.

By God’s grace, I met Pastor Bill Wheaton from Monash Christian Fellowship through the Clayton Pastors’ prayer network. Pastor Bill was seeking to retire and as Monash Christian Fellowship only had 10-15 people, they were open to combining churches. After six months of discussions and a further three months of combined services, we came to an agreement and merge as one church earlier this year.

We are now Regeneration Church Monash with a mixed congregation of people from a variety of ethnicities, cultures, nationalities and ages, all learning, serving and worshipping as one church!

As we continue to bring the gospel of Jesus to the City of Monash, my vision for our church is to be a sending church that trains people for mission. I believe that if God is calling, anyone can do it. After all, we are all about the Great Commission!

Source: BUV News

There’s nothing quite like coming home to a loving family. Having a place where you are known, loved and encouraged to fulfil your purpose. At Mill Park Baptist Church (MPBC), our members and our community are experiencing exactly that

Nestled in a multi-cultural suburb, north of Melbourne, MPBC welcomes people of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds to the family of God. Through the personal testimonies of many, we are seeing the fruit of our church embracing multi-ethnicity where over 30 different ethnic groups of people come together to worship and serve every week.

Mariam, one of our dedicated members, is a great example of this. Mariam migrated to Australia from Egypt and felt lost in a new country. She began attending MPBC with her family and soon found a sense of belonging and value within our community. Mariam knew that she was not alone and dreamt of people from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds feeling welcomed, loved, and accepted for who they are, and being empowered as tomorrow's leaders in a multi-ethnic context.

We encouraged her to take up a leadership role and supported her team to launch an “International Expo” event, celebrating ethnic diversity.  Using her own experience and story, Mariam offered all she had to the Lord. And faithfully, He has used it mightily! Through a showcase of diverse food and cultural performances, the International Expo, now in its 5^th year, is an event that our community looks forward to participating in and celebrating. It is a beautiful demonstration of Revelation 7:9,

‘After this I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.’

And then, there’s SHAK! Whispering in the hearts of Siew-Peng and two sisters, Joanna and Sonya, God united their vision to Share His Almighty Kingdom through a community kitchen. The SHAK was birthed in 2015 to share God’s love through a hot meal and warm conversations. Today, this incredible ministry feeds 20-25 people each week, impacting many who are lonely and struggling with issues such as mental health.

Theresa, was one of the many individuals, captivated by this ministry. Having been diagnosed with Cancer and sitting with questions of faith, Theresa saw how the SHAK was a reconciling community of Christ where all can belong. She was deeply moved and started volunteering at the SHAK. On her last birthday before passing, she asked that all her gifts be a contribution to the SHAK and provided new equipment for the kitchen. We are thankful that Theresa left a legacy that continues to transform lives within our community.

There are also stories from people whose lives have been changed through the process of counselling. Mill Park Community Care, our professional counselling service, was established back in 2013 through two church members with counselling training and experience. This more publicly accessible form of counselling is quite different to traditional pastoral care and has helped many outside the church four walls, to work through issues and deal with emotions. One of our clients shared with us her story below:

 “If you were to tell me six months ago that I would be currently living addiction free and full of purpose – I would have literally thought you were downright crazy. It was three words that changed my life forever… "By His grace." It was the grace of God that met me from the very first counselling session at Mill Park (Community Care) with my counsellor or "Doc" as I refer to her at times. I knew in that room, on that very first session, that God was in that place. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy by any means and I had to go to some dark places but… (it) was so easy to talk… and I could literally share everything… I have by no means arrived, but I do know that generational curses, habits and addictions are forever broken off my life – wrong ways of thinking have also completely been rectified (this is a continual process) and I have gained a greater clarity of the "big picture" of my life and how I best fit in that by God's strength, through His will and by the power of His Holy Spirit. Let me finish by saying that even if you're not spiritual or religious in any way – the counselling team is still right for you to gain good quality, world-class counselling in my humble opinion.”

We also have ministries across every generation, that share the love of Jesus and good news of the gospel to the community – from kids to youth to young adults and beyond. Thanks to volunteers like Kat Stokes, our church provides playgroup twice weekly as a wonderful way to connect with parents and their young children. The ZONE is another outreach program available to primary school children. Through fun activities once a month, children in the community have the opportunity to make friends with believing children their age and establish connections with faith-filled mentors to help them grow.

At MPBC, we believe there’s a place for everyone at His table and it’s something we find engrained throughout the DNA of all our ministries. With so many unique gifts and callings working together as one family in Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:7 and 11 so perfectly sum up what we are seeing at MPBC:

‘To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.’

Source: BUV News