In 1960s China, seven-year old Jun Tan was put up on a stage with his family in front of 3,000 angry men. Young Jun was gripped with fear. His American-trained pilot father had been targeted and the family was ostracised and humiliated wherever they went. The Cultural Revolution placed Jun and his family in great danger.

Jun Tan reflects on this tumultuous time as preparation for the years to come – years where his atheistic beliefs would be challenged, his longing for purpose would span decades, and his identity as someone who was excluded from the community would ultimately be met by God and be the motivator for his ministry.

Having studied at a top Chinese university, Jun became a highly regarded scientist, who was part of the communist army. “As a young person in China, I truly believed that communism is where contribution is according to one’s ability, and distribution is according to need.” Jun was one with much to contribute. His intellect opened doors to Australia in 1987 where he began a doctorate with a scholarship at Melbourne University. Jun’s scientific career was flourishing.

However, by 1989, Jun had become disenfranchised with communism and lost hope in all he believed to be true. He was an alien in this new country, and now in search of a completely new understanding of life and its purpose. He soon became drawn to the Western ideals being lived out by those around him – to work for oneself and fight for one’s own rights and interests – a marked departure from his communist roots.

He decided to leave his studies to start a business, keeping him busy for almost a decade. In the milieu of competing world views and personal circumstance, Jun found his life dramatically lacking. “My business got me to where I wanted financially. Suddenly I realised that I had what I had always wanted – freedom as an Australian citizen, a family and a house. I had fulfilled my dream but I still felt empty.”

Jun states it very simply, “I had everything, but I couldn’t find purpose in myself or in life.” Once again, he felt alienated.

Finally, the resilience of his youth, coupled with his insatiable longing for purpose, turned Jun squarely towards God. To say that Jun had exhausted all options before learning of a loving God would be to deny the evident hand of God throughout this life to this point. While studying in China, Jun’s American English teacher gave him a Bible. Wanting to know the beginning of the story and how the world would end, Jun read Genesis and Revelation. And again, upon his arrival in Australia, Jun was introduced to a loving Church community by some Christian friends. The community impacted him deeply, where the ideals of sharing with those in need and contributing according to ability were genuinely lived out. However, the attraction to this community was momentary.

And now, having achieved his dream, but feeling the pain of his purpose shattered, Jun got in his car, and drove around aimlessly. He happened upon Northcote Baptist Church; a community introduced to him weeks earlier by one of his staff members. “I remember sitting in my car thinking that it is ridiculous to say that there is a God. It goes against everything I knew as a scientist. So, I asked God, ‘If you are real, I will give you three months to prove yourself to me. Tell me why I am here and explain all the things that are happening to me!’”

He entered the church and without speaking to anyone there, Jun sensed God speaking directly to him through the services. He returned week after week and within only a short time, he felt called to be baptised but his wife was against it. He persuaded his wife to follow him to church and two months later, she made the same decision. The transformation in Jun’s life was the catalyst for her own belief. He had changed in many ways. He learned to apologise; he grew in sensitivity; he abandoned drinking. But transformation was not on his mind. He reflects on this time, “I don’t even know what Baptism means but I knew I wanted to respond to God.”

Eight months after first sensing God speaking to him through the services at Northcote Baptist Church (NBC), Jun was baptised. His desire to hear from God was deepened further. “I felt a strong desire to seek God. I felt safe when I was talking to God. In fact, I talked to God continuously. It was the last thing I did before going to bed and the first thing I did when I woke up. I didn’t know that I was praying. I thought I was just talking to God.”

Jun began serving as a Sunday school teacher at NBC and one day, he taught the children about finding God’s plan in their life. “I realised it was too hard for the young ones to understand and more importantly, I realised that I’ve never asked God the question ‘what is your plan for my life?’”

Through the counsel of friends, a vision to repent and an invitation to attend a Theology class, Jun started his journey towards becoming a pastor. Jun quit his business and began full time studies. While fellow students talked about ‘calling’ and their hopes for their futures, Jun admitted to knowing nothing (even the term ‘calling’) except his desire to know God and his plans for Jun’s life. Jun graduated in 2005 and stepped into the role as part time pastor to the NBC Chinese congregation.

In August 2018, Jun assumed the role of Senior Pastor to the Balwyn Baptist community. His focus is on the alienated – those who may find themselves ordinarily excluded. Where society’s culture can seek to exclude, the Kingdom Culture that Jun fights for is inclusive – where people belong before they believe; where communion is offered, and individuals decide if they’ll accept.

Balwyn Baptist Church seeks to follow Jesus’ example and include people in their community regardless of their belief. Jun goes to great lengths to ensure people know they are welcome. He pre-records Sunday sermons in Chinese, which are played in parallel with the sermon delivered in English. It is unsurprising that many new migrant families are finding their home and finding their feet in this community.

We may use the term multicultural to describe this gathering in Balwyn, but Jun hopes the phrase will lose its currency. ‘Multicultural gatherings’ are simply a matter of life. Kingdom culture, focused on the redemption won by Jesus, includes everyone.

Rev Jun Tan also serves as a member of BUV Ordination Discernment Group and as a tutor for Transformation at Whitley College.

Source: BUV News

In Victoria today, many people from the city are moving to the Growth Corridors because they can’t afford inner city. For this same reason many who migrate from other countries also end up settling in the growth corridors.

Not long ago, the Officer region consisted of paddocks and cows, but it is now a key suburb in the rapid expansion of the South East Growth Corridor, with significant infrastructure and housing estates being developed in the area. This means that there are thousands of people moving into our region and it presents great Gospel opportunity to represent Jesus through sharing the good news, blessing the local community, caring for the poor and lonely and raising disciples on mission.

Follow Baptist Church started as a dream in the hearts of some of the people at Beaconsfield Baptist in 2012. The dream was to plant a new, vibrant, faith community in the Officer Region that would reach new people with the Gospel.

We publicly launched as a Church in July 2015 and 3 acres of land was generously donated to us in central Officer. We have since grown from 31 committed people as part of our Core and Launch Teams to celebrating with almost 300 attendees at our recent 4th birthday celebration. By God’s grace, we have grown to become a vibrant, Jesus loving community in Officer!

One of the great joys of the Follow journey so far is that we feel as though we are growing up with our local community, and that they already view us as a significant part of it. We also love seeing God at work with many new Christians and people being baptised.

Recently someone from our congregation had a conversation with a Muslim man at Hallam Hotel. This encounter led to further conversations and the man has now committed his life to Christ. It was a joy to meet him recently and talk of the freedom he has found in Christ and how he loves that Follow is a place with so many cultures who gather to worship in one name. This is a foreign idea for him, but as he explained, it “feels like 100 kilos has been lifted from his shoulders” He is now wanting to be baptised!

The big dream for Follow is that we will bloom where are planted in the Officer region. We will be fruitful and then multiply to establish new Churches throughout the South East. We desire to see real transformation happen in the South East of Melbourne and we would love for you to join us in prayer for a move of God! We know and believe that God can do immeasurably more than we could ever hope, dream or imagine, according to His power at work in us for His glory!

Pastor Luke Williams
Lead Pastor, Follow Baptist Church

Our Vision and Mission
Our vision at Follow has always been very simple. Our vision is Jesus. He is the one we look to in all things, He is the one we want to imitate and follow with our lives. Our mission is almost as simple; to Follow Jesus in our community for His glory! We have probably all seen long vision documents which sound amazing, but nobody actually remembers them. We chose to make it simple enough for our people to remember.

Our Name
People often ask why we are called Follow Baptist Church. We were praying about what to call a new Church and during that period, a relative had been to the Melbourne Art Gallery and had taken a photograph with hundreds of words on it. As I looked at the picture the word that jumped off the page was the word Follow. Essentially following is what discipleship is all about and that’s who we want to be; followers of Christ. It is an ancient word, but it’s also a modern one as we ‘follow’ people on social media, so we felt it was a word people connected with. As far as we know it is the only Church in the world called Follow!

Our Ministries
The Growth corridors are vibrant places to live where new things are always happening. With affordable housing and many education and employment opportunities, the South East is an attractive place to live. This creates a wonderful opportunity for us to reach a high percentage of young families and children settling into the area.

While there are many positives of a corridor such as this, there are also challenges. Many people feel lonely or isolated in our area and there is a higher percentage of homelessness, poverty, mental illness and youth suicide than in other regions of Victoria. This is tragic; however, it does provide opportunities for us to minister and serve in those areas to bless our community. We believe Officer should be a better place because we are there! 

All of our missional activities are under the banner of the Bless Collective.

The Bless Collective Food Van.
After researching and seeing the needs of our local community, we consulted with our local community and council to ask them how we could best serve our community. The needs we saw and they had identified, matched up and those discussions led to the establishment of the Bless Collective Food Van. Every Tuesday & Thursday evening we meet in what was a notorious Pakenham Park adjacent to Pakenham Station. Over the years Bourke Park has been associated with addiction and drug dealing, violence and homelessness. The council felt that it was a key place to meet real needs in our region. We meet there twio nights every week and have developed a community connection HUB to help break isolation, build relationships and alleviate the pain people are feeling. We set up tents, tables and chairs and provide cooked meals for all of our guests. We don’t judge people who come to the Bless Collective but seek to develop meaningful and ongoing relationships. We have also partnered with Cardinia Shire Council, Orange Sky (Portable Laundry) and Clean as Casper (Portable Shower Truck) to make a HUB for our community, while also providing a referral service for our guests who need additional support. We have recently employed a new Food Van Manager who has valued experience in these areas and we look forward to new and creative ideas to further help people break down these cycles in life and find wholeness in Christ.

Mainly Music
Our mainly music program has expanded to back to back sessions predominantly filled with unchurched families. This has flowed onto a parenting course and it has been a joy journeying with new families and to see several of them cross over into a faith community as a result.

Officer Secondary College (OSC)
We have the privilege of running a breakfast program every Tuesday morning at OSC as well as running a No Limits mentoring program for Year 9 boys. It has been a wonderful way of connecting with both staff and students.

Timbertop Christmas Festival
In 2018 we were approached by a local resident’s group to work with them to deliver a Christmas celebration is the new Timbertop Estate in Officer. It was a special event where we were able to take our portable coffee cart, provide a sausage sizzle and perform and sing Christmas carols at such a significant time of year. The mayor opened the event and it is the first carols event in the Officer region.

Source: BUV News

Back in early 2006, Brett and Michelle Mitchell and their three children from Crossway Baptist Church (CBC), sensed God’s call to explore the possibility of starting a small group in Craigieburn. They began an ‘outreach’ into the area with the hope of birthing a new Church by approaching both people they knew and others within the Craigieburn area.

An initial group of interested people started to meet for the first time in October 2006.

“The first time we ‘connected’ with the local community was at the Craigieburn Festival. Over 500 balloons (advertising Crossway Kids is coming to Craigieburn), free drinks and gifts were given away. Most importantly, 145 ‘Community Survey questionnaires’ were filled out by passers-by.” Brett said. “We followed up this outreach with a personal invitation to all our new contacts to a ‘Fabulous Free Family Fun Feast’ on Easter Sunday.”

Through these outreach activities, God brought more families and people to the small group. In less than a year, Crossway North Baptist Church was officially launched at Willmott Park Primary School in Craigieburn.

“Attendance grew quickly and within a year of launching we had over 100 people attending each week!”

Initially supported by CBC, Crossway North’s worship and children’s teams grew and were soon flourishing with a team of dedicated volunteers. The church continued to flourish with God’s blessings. Over the years, new ministries were established to reach out to the communities in Wallan and Kilmore.

“Playgroups, P.O.K.I.T.S (Parents of Kids in the Spectrum), Love in Action, our North Youth Ministries and a small group meeting in the Plenty Valley Retirement Village saw us reaching out to the community around us in different ways.”

1^st January 2018 marked the beginning of a new name for Crossway North Baptist Church to become “North Church”. In the same year, Pastor Samy and Martha Kaldas launched North Arabic Baptist Church which quickly developed into a thriving community for new immigrants worshipping in their mother tongue.

North Church’s mission is to be “A Whole people, caring for the whole world” with a big vision: “We see God leading a caring family, thriving through discipleship, locally engaged, regionally focused, globally aware and constantly giving birth to new mission.”

Let’s pray that God will bring North Church’s vision into reality, the future into the present and to fulfill their mission as A Whole People, Caring For the Whole World!

Source: BUV News

Going to Cambodia on a Global Xposure in January was a transformational experience! How you ask? Well, God opened my eyes to what His mission looks like, not only in Global context, also in my local context! The Xposure trip had me asking questions and reflecting about what I had observed and how we could bring our learning back home.

We visited several incredible social enterprises that helped the Cambodian people on the margins to learn new trades, be rehabilitated, become educated and re-enter the work force. We saw the impact of faithful cross cultural workers who were serving, building relationships with their local community and making a difference in the lives of those they had met. Our team experienced local village life and community within the friendships of local workers. We feasted together, shared stories, shared life and saw what God is doing amongst the least reached people groups. The end of the trip was spent in reflection – there was a time of solitude, listening and hearing from God, times of laughter and fun, poignant times of sharing our hearts and coaching through our next steps as we headed back into our local communities in Australia.

Urban Xposure was birthed out of our Cambodian experience.  How could we learn from what we saw overseas and use it in our local church context? How could we inspire the next generation to put down their devices and engage with their neighbours?!

We started by having an Unearthed Feast in July this year with mission minded youth and young adults from various churches at Kilsyth South Baptist Church. Like in Cambodia, we ate together and heard from a young adult, Andy, a Global Interaction candidate. We had opportunities to share our stories, ask questions, dig deeper and reflect on what we had heard.

Having done some research, Creation Care and Social Justice Issues were areas young adults want to engage. Our first Urban Xposure was to explore Planted Places, a social enterprise in the heart of our city focussing on Creation Care. We had a group of seven young adult leaders from various churches and backgrounds join us in September to visit ‘The Green Room,’ which is operated by Planted Places and run by Sherry and Geoff Maddock. They shared about their mission, which is to directly address disadvantage through the cultivation of relationships through plants, people, and place. They do this by connecting with people experiencing social isolation and hardship, specifically asylum seekers, refugees and international students.

Sherry shared her heart for what they do, “Our generosity doesn’t have limits, we need to love people who do not feel loved, we need to wake up each morning with a lens of love.” These inspiring words had us excited to hear and see more. Geoff shared their history and experience of mission in the US, reminding us that “social isolation is an epidemic.” Sherry encouraged us to “live a life that evokes questions, as we are the ones that hold the light to share Gods love in the world.”

On reflection of their time in ‘The Green Room’ the team shared that Sherry and Geoff “were passionate, genuine, engaging and really transparent, their energy was contagious, what they are doing is incredible.” Another stated “I really enjoyed the opportunity to come across a different type of missionary, it inspired me to try and involve the people I work with in a similar eye-opening experiences.”

Our Urban Xposure team then met for lunch and heard from Wendy, a Cross Cultural worker from Global Interaction, who had served in Asia for over nine years with her family. She shared about their call, their Creation Care experiences, her involvement running a café and family life. She shared that “God lights up each step ahead, not the whole path” and that “we need to trust Him as we walk our journey.” Another inspiring story from an amazing woman of faith. The team shared afterwards “it was inspiring, and they loved “how strong she was,” and “it was so real and raw.” One of the team shared how they felt after hearing of Wendy’s experiences “being a missionary is not easy, you have to go through a lot of difficulties at times, but if you put yourself in God, nothing is impossible.”

The common word to encapsulate our day was “INSPIRING!” We spent time debriefing and reflecting upon our learnings and what it may mean for our local context.

The third aspect of the Urban Xposure was a Reflect Day on Monday 28^th October in Warrandyte.  This day somewhat resembled time that we carved out in Cambodia to reflect on what we had seen and heard. We began with community, with six young adults sharing coffee together at “the church of my heart,” as Callum one of young adults described our home base for the day, Now and Not Yet Café. Walking along the beautiful surrounds of the Yarra river in Warrandyte allowed us time to “take a moment and listen,” to slow down, reflect on the story of Jonah, and Jesus calming the storm. We spent time on our own to shift our gaze towards Jesus, asking questions, listening and meditating on God’s Word.

During a delightful lunch, we met with a Global Interaction cross cultural worker R, who described his experiences in Asia and shared his heart with us about faith and building relationships.  Jamie, another young adult felt challenged by R to be “hungry for the Lord – as you are what you eat,” and that we need to seek Jesus “as He will provide us with the daily strength to face the world’s challenges.”  We then met with Derek Bradshaw, who gave us insight about what church looks at Now and Not Yet Café, and how Global Interaction and his Global Xposure trip to Asia played an important part in his story. We heard about his desire for those entering into the Café to experience the love, care and community Jesus offers. Amazingly, we learnt that his visit overseas, to our previous speaker, Wendy’s Café, sparked his idea to start the Café environment church in Warrandyte. After hearing Derek, Joel shared that he “realised how we are already in God’s kingdom and we need to live out that kingdom for everyone to see,” he also realised that “Church doesn’t always have to look like church, it just has to be a place for people to experience Jesus.”

Why run Urban Xposure? We want to partner with churches, youth groups, young adults and individuals to start thinking about what Global Mission looks like in our own neighbourhoods. This will then give us the opportunity to look at what we already do well, and how we can use what we have observed and become creative in innovating what mission looks like in our local church context. It is a springboard to exploring what Global Mission looks like and how Global Interaction’s missiology, ‘empowering communities to develop their own distinctive ways of following Jesus,’ is relevant in our daily interactions and walk with God.

Oh, by the way, I was so inspired and transformed by my Cambodian Global Xposure that I gave up my job as a Primary teacher (15 years!) to work as the Young Adults Consultant at Global Interaction!

Sulari Nielsen
Global Interaction, Young Adults Consultant Vic/Tas

Source: BUV News

Last year, with the support of BUV, I began a podcast and Facebook community to reach out to those on the fringes of church life. I was motivated by the many who love Jesus but struggle with church for various reasons. Often called wanderers or wayfarers or the dechurched.

Some of them find the strictures of traditional denominations too restrictive or have been wounded by the church. Others have left and joined the swelling ranks of those who would call themselves Christian, but don’t currently attend. All of them would fall into a broad category of “Jesus I like. Organised religion, not so much”. 

Reaching this disparate group of people has been challenging, but steadily rewarding as numbers respond appreciatively to either our Facebook page or the 20 or so podcasts we have released so far.

One person contacted me from inter-state saying that he was struggling with issues relating to the values being communicated in his church and he had found the podcast discussions really helpful. Like many, he had served in leadership in his fellowship, but his ways of thinking about faith had shifted and he now felt like a proverbial square peg. He contacted us. Further conversations ensued and he has been able to move to pastures new. Similarly a woman from Queensland was in transition moving from her church and she found one of the podcast series particularly helpful as she works through the grief and false guilt of leaving her church.  

I liken the journey that some seem to be on as that of a lobster having grown too large for its shell. The journey of leaving the shell is a time of vulnerability and risk before a new shell can be found. A transition during which, all too many, give up on faith altogether. My vision is to provide opportunity for them to hear a voice of understanding with opportunity to contact me for support, as some do.

Pastoral care online has its limitations, but if even a few folks maintain their walk with Jesus and find fellowship with other disciples rather than drift from church, then it is fantastically worthwhile.

Rev. Julian Holdsworth

Source: BUV News

The Box Hill Baptist Church celebrated its 118^th Anniversary on 20^th October. The preacher for the occasion, Rev Tim Costello, focussed on the fact that the church was founded in 1901, the same year as Australia was founded through the Federation of the previously independent states. Throughout its history, the Box Hill church has echoed some of the social outlook and views of the Australian nation.

In 1901 the suburb of Box Hill was just starting to ‘take off’.  The impacts of the property crash of the 1890’s was starting to lessen and shops and houses were appearing amid the orchards and farms of Box Hill. The coming of the railway linked Box Hill with the centre of Melbourne and with settlements as far away as Lilydale. This connection with other communities is reflected in the sharing of a pastor (the impressively named Martin Luther Murphy!) with the Lilydale Church from 1902-1907.

The first church roll reflects a varied membership. Of the 29 foundation members approximately a third had joined by transfer from another Baptist church, a third by baptism and a third by profession of faith. This last group includes a number of members of the United Free Methodist Church who left the Box Hill chapel to join with the new Baptist cause. The ‘open membership’ and inclusive character of the Box Hill church dates from its foundation.

The young church engaged with the social issues of the day – gambling and alcohol, and (perhaps surprisingly in an age when not a few Baptist men smoked pipes) opposition to the smoking of cigarettes which was held to be “injurious both physically and morally to young men”.

The church has always had an interest in the Baptist Union and wider Baptist work. In the 1930’s the Surrey Hills Baptist Church was planted from Box Hill and Blackburn North Baptist Church (now NewHope Baptist Church) in the early 1950’s.

The area of Box Hill and surrounds was a Methodist stronghold. When all the local government areas of Victoria voted whether to have alcohol-free zones, Box Hill and Camberwell was the only area to vote to become a dry zone. The absence of hotels and venues providing alcohol significantly shaped the local community as a middle-class suburb of a particular character. It is only in the last few years, after a nearly a century, that the provision of alcohol in cafes and nightclubs has begun to grow.

In his anniversary sermon, Tim Costello highlighted how the development of the church has echoed the evolving social values of Australia. Indigenous issues, the expropriation of indigenous land and the destruction of indigenous culture did not figure in the thinking of church or society until the 1960’s, when Aboriginal Australians were belatedly included in the census and anthropologists like Bill Stanner began to popularise a deeper understanding of the intricate and complex culture and worldview of Australia’s First Nations. In an age when the White Australia policy dominated immigration Box Hill was an overwhelmingly white, middle class, Christian community, sheltered from the dynamics of ethnic and cultural diversity that were seen in inner suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.

As Australia developed a greater openness to immigrants, refugees and indigenous people, the Box Hill Church also developed new programs and openness to the varied community that was growing around them. Through a succession of ministers since the 1970’s the church found its vision widening to include a passion for social justice and service to people on the margins. A social housing service (Jubilee Housing) was commenced in partnership with the Blackburn North church and continues today. Ministry with Cambodian refugees resulted in the formation of the Cambodian Christian Community, a worshipping and community support network that continues to meet in the Box Hill buildings. The Village Well Counselling Service and Village Well Community Centre delivered a range of community services from ‘the Barn’ – the original church building, moved next door from its original site and refurbished to serve the community in the 1920’s. Over the last ten years The Gallery has provided a focus and support for local artists in the front of the church building on Station Street.

Box Hill as a community has experienced profound change. Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison (a distinguished urban historian and member of the Box Hill congregation) says that no municipality in Australia has undergone such deep and wide-ranging change as Box Hill. From a sheltered and alcohol free, white, middle-class suburb in the 1960’s, it is now a bustling business and transport hub complete with high rise office and apartment towers, with significant diversity of population, especially its Chinese and Indian communities.

The CSIRO’s Australian National Outlook 2019 sees a trend of “higher-density, multicentre and well‑connected capital cities to reduce urban sprawl and congestion” (Executive Summary p. 26). The same report sees the rise of Asia as a key element of our wider context: “By 2030, the Asia–Pacific region is set to consume more than half the world’s food, 40% of its energy and be home to an estimated 65% of the world’s middle class.” (p. 8)

Both these trends will impact the Box Hill community through its development as a high-rise urban hub and the growing linkages between the city and China. As a faithful community that seeks to follow Jesus, the Box Hill Baptist Church will prayerfully discern the leading of the Holy Spirit as we continue our second century of ministry in a rapidly changing context.

Rev Jim Barr
Pastor, Box Hill Baptist Church

Source: BUV News