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Building Community in West Melbourne

As it nears its 150th anniversary, the Baptist church in West Melbourne has been re-potted in a new apartment complex.

In the 1860s, when North and West Melbourne were growth suburbs of the city of Melbourne, a large, island allotment bordered by King, Hawke, Curzon and Miller Streets became the base for the Baptists. Those planting the new West Melbourne Baptist Church put up the original bluestone building, about which an observer later wrote: “It was not built for show. Its architecture is extremely severe, designed for use and durability.”

Over the years, the original building was added to and then later demolished and replaced by a small church building that adjoined the manse. All these buildings have now gone.

Winding the calendar forward to 2019 and the West Melbourne Baptist Church (known as the ‘Eighth Day Community’) is now housed on this same land but in a stylish mid-rise apartment complex. The church community, under the former leadership of Gary Heard, completed a development by which 75 apartments have been built on the site in several towers and with communal areas that give it a campus or village feel.

This time, the church has been much more attentive to its architecture and, with the developer and architect, has come up with a design that encourages community. Constructed with a seven-star energy rating from eco-friendly materials and with environmental features including a communal garden courtyard, a sustainable waste system, a compost maker, rainwater tanks and a green rooftop creating a habitat for native birds, these new buildings have people and relationships in mind. Since July 2018, 175-200 people have been making the ‘Hawke and King’ apartment village their home.

The nine apartments, which have been retained by the church, are being used in a variety of ways: a manse for the new pastor and his wife, Geoff and Lyn Pound, affordable housing for people struggling to find private rental homes, an accessibility unit and accommodation for ‘community builders’ both within the complex and the CBD.

On the ground floor at the southern end of the apartment complex is a multipurpose hall and smaller meeting rooms to house church activities and serve as a community centre ‘eight days a week’. No longer is the church separate as it is part of a vibrant apartment village and it is challenged by the question: “How can we as a church help to make North Melbourne, West Melbourne and the Docklands better places for all people?” This question is all the more urgent with the dramatic population changes and growth that are occurring in these suburbs on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD.

The development of the land and the sale of apartments have helped put the church on a more sustainable financial footing and is enabling the Eighth Day Community to be served by a fulltime pastor and a part time Community Centre Manager.

It is striking to see what a small group of people, captured by a God-given vision, has achieved. While new buildings have been designed and created in the last few years, the church is now focused on the design and building of the community.

Come and visit us sometime!
Geoff Pound
Pastor

 

Source: BUV News

Meet our 2019 Ordinands

Yo Shu Johnson
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6shih0W4-IM]

Sean Lee
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU5G4pD0UR4]

Ranel Lamputi
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTi5B1msqfQ]

Pauline Yu
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsFgaShIUZI]

Paul Ryu
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmEL6cjG95Q]

Danny McDowell
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MKclGgl-yg]

Andy Mitchell
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw09ibBxPiM]  

Kate Park
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CU9k8GCh2I]

Source: BUV News

May Gathering All Wrapped Up

Nourish: Sowing into one another

Last Friday, we saw over 190 pastors and leaders gathered together at Nourish where we spent the day hearing from Rev Dr Bill Brown and a panel of leaders on how we can sow into one another, sow into ourselves and sow into younger leaders. 

We also celebrated the Ordination anniversaries of our pastors and congratulated our very own Rev Meewon Yang who has dedicated 20 years of service at BUV. It was a wonderful day of sharing as we gained valuable knowledge and built positive connections with one another.

Speaking about Nourish, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development, Jonathan Stark, encouraged us all to take up the challenge and sow into others:

“I love the way Nourish brings Baptist pastors and spouses together from across Victoria. Hearing how Bill has sown into others over his 40 years of pastoral ministry is something I won’t forget for a long time. He shared vulnerably his joys and challenges in sowing into others. I can’t think of person with more credibility in this area. I’m sure that pastors were so thankful they came.

Bill concluded his talk by cutting an apple in half and asking us if we thought we could count the seeds in the apple. He then answered the question with a quote from Karen Jensen, “You can count the seeds in an apple but you can’t count the apples in a seed.” Bill reminded us that when you sow seeds into another person you never know how many lives you will influence. That seed may become an apple tree that many apples come from. I hope this image will stay with all who were at Nourish and that pastoral leaders will sow thousands of seeds, influencing thousands of lives for good, who in turn might just influence countless more lives.”

Members Dinner
In the evening, over 320 delegates attended the Members Dinner to celebrate our achievements, hear from our 2019 Ordinands, discuss how we can be together on mission and pray for our work for 2019.

The dinner opened with a team from New Vision Church leading us in praise and worship. We also welcomed four new Faith communities into our BUV family: Gospel Baptist Church, Matu Immanuel Church, Werribee Karen Baptist Church and The Vine Church Rutherglen. We celebrated the merger of Beaumaris and Mordialloc Baptist Churches and marked the closure of Sandringham Baptist which has rebirthed as SandyLife Baptist Church.

Our discussion topic was centred around mission with Geoff Maddock, member of our BUV Mission Catalyst Team presenting a perspective on mission that stimulated conversation around the tables: Mission is embodied love for the world. The best way for us to grasp mission is to remember, ‘God so loves the world!’ God’s love for the world reconciles, restores, redeems, and resurrects. Our mission together is to join with God to love the world in these ways.

“Members’ Dinners are a terrific expression of ‘together on mission’ and I thank all who came and engaged in the evening.  I encourage all those who were in attendance to feed back to their churches the information and discussion from the Dinner.  A special thanks to Union Council, our BUV Staff, in particular our Comms and Events Team for their organisation and support of the evening.” said Daniel Bullock, Director of Mission and Ministries.

Thank you to all who attended Nourish and Members’ Dinner. We look forward to seeing you at our next gathering on Friday, October 18th.

Nourish photos
Nourish Presentation slides
Members’ Pack
Members' Dinner slides
Minutes from Members' Dinner
Members’ Dinner photos
Meet our 2019 ordinands

For more event updates and good news stories, follow us on Facebook @BaptistUnionVictoria or Instagram @the_BUV, or visit buv.com.au.

 

Source: BUV News

National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

And at the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To foster positive race relations, our relationship must be grounded in a foundation of truth.

The 2019 NRW theme is Grounded in Truth Walk Together with Courage. Whether you’re engaging in challenging conversations or unlearning and relearning what you know, this journey requires all of us to walk together with courage and contribute to our national movement towards a unified future.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OP6oyziabE]

You can also signup to Common Grace's series of daily blog posts and prayers written by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Christians here.

Source: BUV News

Celebrating Cultural Diversity within the BUV family

One of the features and strengths of the Baptist family of Churches in Victoria is our cultural and linguistic diversity. Within the BUV, there are 75+ LOTE (Language Other Than English) Churches – representing one third of the total number of Churches affiliated – and this is consistently growing. This reflects the multi-racial demographics of Victoria and the biblical vision of the Church comprising “a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9).

Hear some stories from Ignite Leaders about their journey of wrestling with culture and faith and looking forward to sharing more at Ignite Conference on 5+6 July! Save the date!

Thanks to Celia Nguyen from Ashburton Baptist Church for this amazing video.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EzzHpZb6W4]

Find out more about Ignite 2019 here

Source: BUV News

Get your Entertainment Book and support RAALS

The brand new Entertainment Book is now in stock – Order NOW to enjoy hundreds of valuable offers until 1 June 2020! The cost of the book is $70.00 (which is amazing value) & you can order a digital version also if you prefer. This year we are fundraising for the BUV's Refugee Airfare loan scheme, providing loans to refugees.

Order yours today and receive these spend and save vouchers!
*Click here for Terms and Conditions

Order today!

Source: BUV News

Kilsyth South Celebrated 30th Anniversary

On Sunday Kilsyth South Baptist Church celebrated their 30th anniversary. Kilsyth South began with the partnership of Heathmont Baptist, BUV and the "Kick Start" funds which were donated by many other Baptist churches.

We are praying that many more partnerships will advance God's kingdom in Victoria this year!

Source: BUV News

Crossway released first EP – My All in All

 

Crossway Worship is excited to have released its first EP featuring four locally-written worship songs. At the heart of the "My All in All" release is the desire to point people to a closer relationship with Jesus.

The EP is now available on all digital platforms! Just search "Crossway Worship" or "My All in All", or follow the following links!

bit.ly/myallinallspotify
bit.ly/myallinallapple
bit.ly/myallinallgoogle

To download the sheet music, follow this link: www.crossway.org.au/my-all-in-all-ep/

CDs are also available. For more information please contact Pastor Tim Kristianto – tim.kristianto@crossway.org.au

We hope these songs bless you!

Source: BUV News

BUV GENERATIONS NETWORK DAY – Healthy, Growing, Impacting

The BUV Generations Network (BGN) is the banner under which we seek to gather all of our Generations Pastors and Leaders from our Baptist family. Our primary areas of focus are on providing training – opportunities for personal and skill development to equip our leaders for mission – and networking – the intentional linking of pastors and leaders with one another for support, accountability, shared resource and collaboration.

On Mar 20 more than 50 pastors and leaders from our Network were hosted at Albert Park Baptist Church for a day to facilitate both of these goals. The chatter of like-minded and similarly engaged people over coffee and lunch and around workshop table discussions was highly energised and beneficial for all.

Our day started with a worship service. So many of our Generations Pastors and Leaders are engaged in roles on Sundays and rarely get to just ‘be’ in a service. A team from Sale Baptist led us in worship.

 

 

 

 

Rev Katrina Lambert an inspiring word about the power of vulnerability – acknowledging the unique burden of ministry and identifying the challenge of holding both life and death, joy and sadness, celebration and disappointment in constant tension. (2 Corinthians 4:7-12) We also shared Communion together. What a gift!
 

 

 

 

 

Our training and workshops focussed on leadership development and team leadership. In the busyness of ‘doing’ ministry we can often overlook the mandate upon us to train up others for ministry (Eph 4). This is an intentional practice that requires a specific set of skills and we all took a step forward in that as we unpacked that for our own contexts.

In Term 2, the BGN will be focussing on gathering in Clusters. Generations Pastors and Leaders are invited to join groups that are formed around similarities (such as location, roles, church size etc) and encourage and resource one another in this unique ministry context. 

Join a Cluster Group 

Feedback from participants:

“I need to develop the leaders around me better and encourage them to flourish.”

“I didn’t know how much I needed the “Leading Teams” session – thank you!”

“I’m challenged to think about running team meetings with clearer purpose.”

“It was lovely to be in a church service without distractions!”

“I’m convicted to focus on the things that only I can do as opposed to releasing the jobs that any helper could do.”

“It was great to chat with other Youth & Young Adult Pastors. I’m encouraged to increase my connectivity to other churches.”

Source: BUV News