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

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

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

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

Over the past 12 months, Heathmont Baptist Church has run a ministry called “Sweet Eats & Laughs”. The idea was borne after talking with a number of females, including young mums, working women and realising that the common feeling shared amongst them was one of busyness and tiredness, combined with a subtle nagging guilt that as Christians we should be doing more to build relationships and to reach out to our neighbours and community. The missing ingredient? ….. Joy – a sense of the fun.

So we decided to create a night called Sweet Eats & Laughs. We run this once a quarter. One ingredient we are committed to is laughter as we realise in our every day lives, good laughs can be few and far between and the reality is that we actually need to intentionally schedule in laughter!  

So our nights involve delicious food, champagne on arrival and activities that are fun and interactive. Our latest one in October was our Market Night, where we had a number of stalls and a huge clothes swap. People brought along their no longer worn clothes and brought home a brand new wardrobe for free!

We look for activities where our women can invite their non-churched friends and know they will have a great night. And more importantly, where they can see that getting together with us is fun! Laughter being one of our underlying themes, we were able to naturally bring in a thought for discussion on what an amazing sense of humour God must have!

Source: BUV News

It is a tradition in Samoa to celebrate White Sunday every year on a second Sunday of October. This special day is to celebrate and acknowledge our children of all ages by their parents, grandparents, all families and the community.

It is tradition for all children to wear their finest white clothes on this day (White Sunday).

The children will lead the service, act in special programmes, learn Bible verses in English and Samoan language. They will also show their talents like singing, dancing, skits and other creative acts and they also give the message of the day.

Lastly everyone will enjoy a big lunch/feast and again the children will eat first.

We as parents, church leaders and Sunday School teachers are so proud of our children for showing their talents, involved in skits and learning their Bible verses.

All praises and glory to God for blessing our children with amazing talents and also for his healing and protection on them everyday.

Samoan Victory Baptist Church
Tooradin 

Source: BUV News

Syndal Baptist Church(SBC) began on October 10, 1954 in the home of Ray and Jean Williams. It was a group of mainly young families. Over the years, prayer has undergirded much of what happens.

Today, the church sees around 1,000 people in worship services on a Sunday. There are 7 services each Sunday – Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean and 3 English.

Our mission is to ‘present Jesus, provide nurture and produce disciples’ and our tag line is ‘Life together is a gift’ i.e. Life together with God, with one another and with those we encounter day to day is a wonderful opportunity to partner with God in his mission. One of the greatest challenges for Syndal and every church is to help every follower of Jesus to know that they represent Jesus and are on mission wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It involves recapturing the secret of Jesus to see where God is at work and join in that mission (see John 5:19). Because the Father is always at work it means every day has opportunities to partner with him.

At our 65th Church Anniversary on October 13th, Rev Chris Danes was inducted as our fourth Senior Pastor. 

Rev Bill Brown, our church’s 3rd Senior Pastor, encouraged Chris from Colossians 1:28-29: “to proclaim Jesus, to do it as a team, through encouragement, prayer, working with God and each other, training, helping people engage with life and learn from it, all the time relying on the Spirit of God working in and through us to present everyone fully equipped for life, growing up as God wants for us.”  Then Bill challenged the congregation to build Chris’ spiritual influence by praying for him, build his reputation by speaking well of him, build his spirit and morale by encouraging him and Jo-Anne and their family, build his leadership by cooperating with him and learning together and together keep following the Jesus we seek together to proclaim and exemplify. 

Rev Jonathan Stark, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development with Baptist Union of Victoria, led the induction and family members and people from the congregation came forward and prayed for Chris as he was inducted. "There was a great sense of excitement at both morning services as the seven congregations came together to hear Chris make his promises and to express their own commitment to encourage, support and participate with Chris in advancing the kingdom of God.

Rev Chris Danes then spoke to the congregation, sharing how in midst of his wrestling about whether he would be able to be the kind of leader that Bill was, God gave him a response to the doubts in his mind, "Chris I have not call you to Be Bill Brown. I already have one of those! I have called you to be Chris Danes!" Chris added, "And so I stand before you and say, "I can never be Bill! But I can be Chris! And with God's anointing I think we can accomplish great things together." Chris declared, "I am here today because I love God. I love the people of Syndal Baptist Church. And I believe if we bear Christ together, we can be a light to the world." Chris' name, Christopher, means bearing Christ and he added, "Christ-bearer… that's the measure for me… and I am hoping that as we walk the road together that will be the measure for Syndal Baptist Church. Individually and collectively! 

We celebrate with Syndal Baptist Church as they look forward to all that is ahead!

Source: BUV News

Syndal Baptist Church(SBC) began on October 10, 1954 in the home of Ray and Jean Williams. It was a group of mainly young families. Over the years, prayer has undergirded much of what happens.

Today, the church sees around 1,000 people in worship services on a Sunday. There are 7 services each Sunday – Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean and 3 English.

Our mission is to ‘present Jesus, provide nurture and produce disciples’ and our tag line is ‘Life together is a gift’ i.e. Life together with God, with one another and with those we encounter day to day is a wonderful opportunity to partner with God in his mission. One of the greatest challenges for Syndal and every church is to help every follower of Jesus to know that they represent Jesus and are on mission wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It involves recapturing the secret of Jesus to see where God is at work and join in that mission (see John 5:19). Because the Father is always at work it means every day has opportunities to partner with him.

At our 65th Church Anniversary on October 13th, Rev Chris Danes was inducted as our fourth Senior Pastor. 

Rev Bill Brown, our church’s 3rd Senior Pastor, encouraged Chris from Colossians 1:28-29: “to proclaim Jesus, to do it as a team, through encouragement, prayer, working with God and each other, training, helping people engage with life and learn from it, all the time relying on the Spirit of God working in and through us to present everyone fully equipped for life, growing up as God wants for us.”  Then Bill challenged the congregation to build Chris’ spiritual influence by praying for him, build his reputation by speaking well of him, build his spirit and morale by encouraging him and Jo-Anne and their family, build his leadership by cooperating with him and learning together and together keep following the Jesus we seek together to proclaim and exemplify. 

Rev Jonathan Stark, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development with Baptist Union of Victoria, led the induction and family members and people from the congregation came forward and prayed for Chris as he was inducted. "There was a great sense of excitement at both morning services as the seven congregations came together to hear Chris make his promises and to express their own commitment to encourage, support and participate with Chris in advancing the kingdom of God.

Rev Chris Danes then spoke to the congregation, sharing how in midst of his wrestling about whether he would be able to be the kind of leader that Bill was, God gave him a response to the doubts in his mind, "Chris I have not call you to Be Bill Brown. I already have one of those! I have called you to be Chris Danes!" Chris added, "And so I stand before you and say, "I can never be Bill! But I can be Chris! And with God's anointing I think we can accomplish great things together." Chris declared, "I am here today because I love God. I love the people of Syndal Baptist Church. And I believe if we bear Christ together, we can be a light to the world." Chris' name, Christopher, means bearing Christ and he added, "Christ-bearer… that's the measure for me… and I am hoping that as we walk the road together that will be the measure for Syndal Baptist Church. Individually and collectively! 

We celebrate with Syndal Baptist Church as they look forward to all that is ahead!

Source: BUV News

Before I was 4, I had been exposed to Chinese, Indian, Malay, and colonial English cultures (add war and peace to that, if they are cultures). By the time I was 14 I was enrolled in an International Christian Missionary School with Dutch, German, English, Canadian, USA, South African, Swiss, Australian, and New Zealand children and living in the Japan.

We actively learnt about all these different cultures and customs. Yule logs from England, Christmas trees from Germany, clog shoes from Holland and Christmas carols from everywhere. We learnt lots of different National Anthems. But Australia's was always ‘God save the Queen’.

So… when I arrived at Tekin in Papua New Guinea, and saw the primitive dress, bows and arrows and grass huts, I viewed these were just a variation on the lives of many kinds of people whom I had already learnt about.

By primitive dress I mean clothing made out of local materials and not from cloth imported from half way around the world. This took some getting used to. I was glad that we had been married 6-7 weeks earlier as I was from a family of four girls. However one dear friend from Melbourne, a single, missionary minded young woman whispered to me as she got off her plane "Where do I look?"  I replied "Straight into their eyes and smile."

On special occasions, the men would dress up and wear an extravagant head-dress made of a great flamboyant array of spectacularly coloured feathers. These make a wonderful display when they all dance at a sing-sing (normally connected with initiation ceremonies during spirit worship).

But the normal street dress for men was nothing more than a penis sheath. These were made of gourds which as we all know grow in all shapes and sizes. They were held in place by strings attached to circles of thin bamboo (belts) around their waists. Fortunately, only smallish gourds were used in our area. In lrian Jaya, the men wore longer bamboo pipes that could stretch up as high as their heads.

On the other hand, the women only wore the shortest of grass skirts and nothing on top. (I felt this may have been more of a distraction to our 'holy, missionary husbands' than the gourds were to me).

Along with all the cultural differences, we carefully listened to our senior missionaries and tried to fit into the culture where we could, but discarded anything to do with the animistic worship. (Even though it had nothing to do with animistic worship Lindsay did not take to wearing a gourd nor did I start wearing no more than a grass skirt).

In a prayer meeting, I closed my eyes (and still do) so as to be able to concentrate on talking to God.

One day in corporate prayer – when all stood and prayed out loud together – I was distracted and extremely humbled by a dear person praying quietly behind me and thanking God for giving them missionaries who had brought the good news of salvation to them.

Editor’s note: Some questions
How well do we look people in the eye and engage them in conversation when we meet them for the first time? How often do we disengage because of brightly coloured hair, a great flourish of bling, a flashy earring or some audacious tattoos?

Has the time come when we need to accept people who wear something other than a blue rinse, a wedding ring and a few freckles?

Should we ourselves become more engaged with our local cultures and expect to se people at church to wearing footy scarves in winter (other than at a funeral) or our youth workers to wearing slashed jeans and tattoos?

Source: BUV News

Nourish: Imagine

We kicked off October Gathering on 18 October with Nourish where we spent the day with our pastors (and their spouses) to "Imagine” the possibilities and impact of being part of a movement of flourishing churches in Victoria together.

Our BUV Director of Mission & Ministries, Rev Daniel Bullock, led us in opening our minds to new possibilities by dreaming of what our churches might look like if we invited God to inspire those dreams for our Church, and to imagine how the Church might then flourish beyond all expectations.

Daniel said: “I have a dream of flourishing Baptist churches in every corner of Victoria – produce passionate disciples who will bring hope and transformation to our world, and I am looking forward to hearing the great stories of transformed lives and communities and I hope you share my dream, not only for your church but for all churches.”  

Using John 15, Dr Lynn Moresi from Whitley College encouraged us to imagine our churches transformed with Christ-like disciples whose encounters with all those around us were characterised by the love and welcome of Jesus.

Following a tasty and satisfying lunch, and a relaxed opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends, Rev Dr David Talathoti invited us all to imagine our churches filled with people from all cultures who felt a sense of belonging and identity. He used the example of Dandenong Church welcoming members of their local community to weekly events, where many have found acceptance and friendship beyond the limitations of their cultural and religious restrictions.

Rev Carolyn Francis from Collins Street Baptist Church capped off Nourish by inviting us to imagine what it could look like to see a whole society redeemed and transformed by the faithful and genuine witness of all believers to the crucified and risen Christ.

“I valued the reminder that we are witnesses to redemption when, to people living in fear and confusion, we offer our vulnerability, woundedness, and peace.”
– Rev Alison Sampson, Sanctuary Baptist Church

Members' Dinner

In the evening, over 300 delegates attended the Members’ Dinner where we voted for Mick Turnbull to be reappointed as a member of the Union Council for another three years. We also thanked Rev Dr Allan Demond for his six years of service to the BUV as a member of Union Council and we invited nomination for a new Union Council member by Friday, 8^th November.

Debbie Uy, Director of Finance and Administration, presented the proposed 2020 Pastoral Stipends and proposed 2020 Membership Fee. The Assembly accepted both proposals by show of hands.

Rev Daniel Bullock provided an update on the Baptist Identity Project. He thanked churches for their input at the five Consultation Forums and confirmed that the current doctrinal statements and principles and ideals of faith documents will remain with a revision of wording and phrasing using modern language.

Our discussion topic for the evening was centred around Climate Change with Dr Keith Dyer from Whitley College, presenting on the Biblical and theological reflection. He pointed out eschatological misreading on heaven and rapture as not biblical, and stressed the earth needs redemption not annihilation.

We celebrated and welcomed three new constituent churches: Kangaroo Flat Karen Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church of Melbourne and Zomi Mission Church; three faith communities: Melbourne Agape Baptist Church, Ebenezer Karen Baptist Church and Radiant Church; and two new Missional Communities: Sandy Life Baptist Church and Social foundry. We also farewelled Thurgoona Baptist Church.

The evening concluded with Rev Daniel Bullock sharing a new vision for the BUV: “To be a union of flourishing churches with Christlike followers, that redeems society and brings transformation to Victoria.” He encouraged churches to use the Flourishing Church Framework to measure themselves and back up the rating with current stories of transformation.

“I am convinced that every church in our Union has some good news stories of transformation to share, I am convinced that most churches are flourishing in some shape or form. But I am also sure that we are not flourishing to the fullness of God’s intention and I want to make sure we in the Union office are directing our resources to help change that.” 

This framework will be communicated to all churches in 2020 as an assessment tool.

“I found the day both encouraging and inspiring. The BUV’s vision and flourishing church framework resonates well and will help us with our own visioning.”
– Rev Paul Llewellyn, Knox Community Baptist Church

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBBsnhsHlJU]

Nourish photos
Nourish Presentation slides
Members’ Pack
Members' Dinner slides
Minutes from Members' Dinner
Members’ Dinner photos

Source: BUV News