On a warm summer morning, we meet Pastor Glenn Koh at a ‘building site’. The café down the road is open, but we decide to chat amongst the clamour of hammers and screw drivers, overlooking unfinished surfaces and frequently needing to pause until the saw has done its job. It is the site of Pathway Baptist Church(PBC). It is the site of growth and the evidence of a church that is flourishing together as family. The noise doesn’t deter him. He is an enthusiastic man with kind and wise eyes.

Glenn speaks purposefully with excitement, “I always encourage people to be part of a building project in their church life because you can see God at work.” He is buoyed by the faith of the people around him who are hopeful for the ways that the new PBC extension building will minister to the Bulleen community. This is where Glenn has put down roots and has committed to cultivating the soil. A place completely unknown to Glenn in his formative years, and even unexpected in his adult years.

At the age of seven, Glenn was selling newspapers on the streets of Singapore. Every secondary school holiday, he sold biscuits door-to-door. One particular day he started with his usual line. “I am selling biscuits to help finance my own education.” However, the potential customer immediately responded with, “You wait! You wait!” Glenn stood at the door as the man fetched his own son from within the house. Using Glenn as an example and a moral lesson, he said, “Look at this boy! He has to work!” A packet of biscuits would sell for $3.20, which would earn Glenn 40 cents, but this man handed over ten dollars and said, “I don’t want your biscuits. You keep the ten dollars.” As Glenn recounts the story from his childhood, he laughs, “I will always remember this. I met so many customers, but I only remember him because he was so kind to me. Kindness always leaves a deep impression in people’s lives.” Kindness, as was shown to him is now a mark of his own life and ministry.

Glenn’s buoyant outlook belies a tough childhood. At just 10 months of age, Glenn’s father passed away, leaving his mother, without a welfare safety net, to care for him and his five older siblings. Tragically, his mother passed away when Glenn was nine years old. His older sisters, still teenagers themselves, raised him and his three brothers, while holding the family of six siblings together. In his young years, Glenn’s was exposed to the gospel through church people singing in his housing estate. But, it was through a friend’s invitation to a Scripture Union Camp that fifteen-year-old Glenn first experienced a Christian community. His curiosity at their kindness led him to explore faith more deeply and within six months he had decided to follow Jesus. “If my friend didn’t bring me to church, I might be a drug addict. I was surrounded with good people from a young age and that helped me understand how the Church was such a good environment for me and set me on the right path.”

Soon after his decision to follow Christ, Glenn attended a mission conference. More than 35 years on, Glenn recalls with clarity the challenge delivered to the conference delegates. “The God we worship is worthy to be made known.” This challenge moved Glenn onto the next step of obedience. By his mid-twenties, Glenn was serving through Operation Mobilisation in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Although not knowing it at the time, these two precious years were preparing Glenn for the challenges of cross-cultural ministry that would imbue him as a pastor in Melbourne.

With the support of his home church in Singapore, Glenn began studies at the Bible College of Victoria (now Melbourne School of Theology) in 1996. He then continued in post-graduate studies at Ridley College. His original plan was to return to Singapore, however, Glenn became a youth pastor at Evangelical Community Church in Blackburn South, a role he held for six years. Then, in 2007, Glenn established Sonlife Community Church, which amalgamated with Bulleen Baptist in 2016 to become Pathway Baptist Church – two culturally distinct congregations which have become one family.

Glenn reflects on his life of living in different cultures. While serving with OM, “food wise, there were no challenges. I could sleep anywhere, I could talk to anybody. My OM cross-cultural experience prepared me as a pastor.” However, being Singaporean in Australia, there are deeper and more challenging cultural distinctives. Australians have very firm personal boundaries. But, Asian culture doesn’t say, “It’s your day off, I won’t call you!” Glenn is well suited to this pastoral work, as he is imminently relaxed and prepared to give time to those who need it.

However, this begs the question, how does he find rest and rejuvenation when always on call? Glenn pulls out his watch to reveal his answer. That morning he walked for two hours. In fact, he walks for two hours every morning. On hot days he will head out early. The rain doesn’t deter him. There are no excuses. While walking he spends one-on-one time with God. He listens to sermons, listens to music, formulates sermons. His daily discipline helps him to remain vital in his work. He acknowledges that his leadership of twelve years in the church is at times a struggle, and commitment to the work can be tough. But, he is keen to rebuild an old adage. He says with conviction, “The grass is greener where you water it. Stay put, grow roots and cultivate.”

Glenn is passionate about sowing seeds of the gospel and kindness in people’s lives. But, there are also times Glenn has been able to reap. Recently he baptized an 86-year-old lady. “I cannot imagine getting credit just because I preached one right message. Can you imagine how many people ahead of me have sown seeds in her life?” In this own life, Glenn is keen to acknowledge the kindness that has been sown in his life – those who have gone beyond what is expected. The ones who have taken on the role of nurturer, extended an invitation, given generously and supported his learning.

The diverse family at Pathway is partly a reflection of its pastor. However, for all the training and varied experiences that have helped to shape Glenn, he is quick to acknowledge what draws together God’s people in Bulleen. “We have a 102-year-old and teenagers in our congregation. It is important to always go back to God’s word. Preach God’s word. It is timeless. We don’t have to contextualize until we lose the distinctive truth, as truth is always relevant.” Pastor Glenn is leading his congregation to sow the gospel – a timeless gospel transcending cultures and generations. As he sits amongst the unfinished walls and delights in the progress around him, he offers encouragement to all who are in the midst of this gospel work. “Sow seeds and God will do the work.”

Molestation Insurance

Victorian Baptists are committed to providing safe programmes as an expression of loving our neighbours. As part of this, and in order to continue Molestation Cover with our insurer, churches should ensure that as a minimum they comply with the following policies and procedures:

1. A policy committing the organisation to providing a safe environment for children and vulnerable adults.

2. A Code of Practice covering pastors, employees and volunteers who may come into contact with children and vulnerable adults.

3. A process for screening applicants for ministry, employment and volunteering, including referee checks and working with children/criminal record checks.

4. A process for handling allegations of sexual abuse.

5. A process for complying with mandatory reporting obligations for suspected sexual abuse.

6. Training for pastors, employees and volunteers in the above policies/procedures.

The documents below provide resources to assist churches in these matters.

Declaration for churches to sign and return

Molestation insurance explanatory notes

Sample Flowchart Reporting Process

Sample Church Safety Policy

Sample Molestation Insurance Code of Conduct

Sample Reporting and Handling Allegations of Sexual Abuse

Sample Safe Church Concerns Form Template

Sample Staff and Volunteer Application Screening Form

In the face of coronavirus meeting restrictions, Bacchus Marsh Baptist gave prayerful consideration as to how church should look for them. While they were grateful for the many online worship services being made available from other churches, in Pastor Jeremy Van Langenberg’s words, “we were concerned to maintain a sense of ‘us’ –   our local church community”.  

They began by placing all church attendees including children, youth and young adults into cluster groups. For the first time ever, everyone in the church is in a small group! So far this is working well with groups meeting digitally or by phone.

Sunday sermons are pre-recorded online in a fairly simple fashion and for those without digital access, sermon notes and orders of service are hand delivered (with careful thought to hygiene). A weekly prayer guide is also being provided for the church to pray at the same time each Wednesday.

While church finances were initially struggling in the absence of physically meeting on Sundays, in recent days more church members than ever before have signed on to direct debit giving. While these last few weeks have been challenging and stretching, Jeremy reports the church community are encouraged, thankful and in good spirits.

In the face of coronavirus meeting restrictions, Bacchus Marsh Baptist gave prayerful consideration as to how church should look for them. While they were grateful for the many online worship services being made available from other churches, in Pastor Jeremy Van Langenberg’s words, “we were concerned to maintain a sense of ‘us’ –   our local church community”.  

They began by placing all church attendees including children, youth and young adults into cluster groups. For the first time ever, everyone in the church is in a small group! So far this is working well with groups meeting digitally or by phone.

Sunday sermons are pre-recorded online in a fairly simple fashion and for those without digital access, sermon notes and orders of service are hand delivered (with careful thought to hygiene). A weekly prayer guide is also being provided for the church to pray at the same time each Wednesday.

While church finances were initially struggling in the absence of physically meeting on Sundays, in recent days more church members than ever before have signed on to direct debit giving. While these last few weeks have been challenging and stretching, Jeremy reports the church community are encouraged, thankful and in good spirits.

A  substantial number of our BUV LOTE Churches consist of mostly refugees. Bear in mind that relationship and community are the main factors that glue these churches together; add to that the very limited resources and technical knowledge of how to live stream services, and you have a challenge on your hands  However, despite these difficulties, there have been some very positive results and even some churches who are thriving.  

One issue that many of the LOTE churches have faced for is generational tension – where the perception is that the first generation is still in full control of the church with the second generation sidelined.  Recently while talking to a Pastor from one our churches from the Chin community, this situation has changed. The knowledge and technical abilities of the second generation have made them very useful for the church.  In order to transition the church service to an online service, the first generation (basically, the whole leadership of the church) has handed over the organisation to the second generation. This has been successful and the leadership are very happy with the way the second generation is leading the online service.

A similar development in the relationship between leadership and the next generation is happening in other churches.  One Senior Pastor, traditionally considered to be one who would not be able to learn any new tricks, is delivering his weekly sermon through videoconferencing.  A younger member of the church successfully trained their Pastor to use technology to deliver his sermons online from his home.  I am sure this church’s leaders are appreciating input from the younger generation.

We heard from another church that is relatively small in terms of numbers, that has seen more than a five-fold increase in the number of people joining their online service – not only here in Australia but worldwide!  Relatives and friends in Myanmar heard about this church having an online service and due to restrictions in Myanmar also causing quite an impact on churches, many are joining their services online.  Since the language is not a problem, it has attracted a significant audience from overseas.

How about the financial situation in some of these churches?  Online giving is on the increase but there is still a substantial number of attendees who cannot do this.  Just prior to being unable to meet on church premises, one Pastor thought about the best way to collect the offering.  He decided to make a container / box for each household, with a slot at the top.  During the online service, there is an offering time when the attendees are invited to place their offering in the box, which will be collected once the restrictions are lifted.

Some churches have seen their offering more than doubled.  In one particular case, church attendees were encouraged to give through online bank transfer and if they needed assistance the church leaders were able to provide help   So, many members of the church are now set up and are regularly giving online and … to the church’s surprise, the attendees are being more generous online.

Another church is encouraging their members to join their online Sunday Service an hour before it starts so that they can have a chat with each other.     The online meeting is left open for another hour after the service so they can continue their connection with each other.

So, while it has been very difficult for LOTE churches to adapt to the current situation, it’s been good to hear the success stories. Many are doing just fine and some, even thriving.  They are being very creative and are getting more and more familiar with using a variety of technical tools while at the same time breaking down age old generational barriers.

Rev Marc Chan

BUV Multicultural Consultant 

Check out this article from the local paper on Hamilton Baptist’s Interim Pastor Bob Fergie and this great community engagement initiative.

In the middle of January his year, as part of a discussion about how to use for mission, the musical talents and gifts of church members, the Melbourne Bangjoo Church Leaders had the idea of conducting a praise school.

Since February, Byungsuk Lee has undertaken general planning, and been in charge of the proceedings and publicity to prepare the praise school. In March, he was able to promote the school of praise through various routes. 

The Praise School was aimed at children who had no experience of faith, or those who had been brought up in Christian families but were not living in faith. The intent was to make it possible for the children who participated to meet God naturally through praise and music.

The children participated in one of four Praise School programs:

Praise and dance Class for Prep

Rhythm Class for grade 1 ~ 3

Band Class for Grade 4 ~ 5

Choir Class for all children combined

Byungsuk Lee shared his excitement that he couldn't believe they could do so much in such a short time, '' but God was finally praised through the lips of the children. Hallelujah!"

When asked about his new role with Global Interaction Australia, Geoff Maddock prefers to offer an analogy rather than a title. He likens the role of State Director to that of connective tissue – connecting the movement of Victorian Baptist churches with international cross-cultural work. By extending the analogy, this is work that requires agility and connection – both of which have been forged in Geoff throughout his life.

‘Mission’ is Geoff’s passion and first love, and yet he is quick to admit that he wrestles with the term. Previous ideas about mission are being forced to adapt to the new world in which we find ourselves. With experts forecasting that most of the world’s populations will be living in cities by 2050, missional ideas limited to socio-economic groupings, or isolated geographies must be stretched and changed to adapt. “Mission is now from everywhere to everywhere. This definition frees us up to participate in mission wherever we are. There is no privileged location … As I step into this role with Global Interaction, I’m energised by the conviction that incarnational mission done well is the same across the street and across the world – two organisations but one missiology”

Having been brought up in Yackandandah, Victoria, Geoff moved to the USA to undertake his Masters in Intercultural Studies. However, his study was not limited to theological insights within classroom walls. In 1999, Geoff and his wife Sherry moved into an under-served African-American neighbourhood in Kentucky, while both still undertaking study. “We learned our missiology by doing it. The feedback of action and reflection in community fuelled a sharp learning curve.” Geoff realised that in his Kentucky neighbourhood, God was already present; already at work. The way neighbours loved one another, cared for their families and appreciated beauty were evidence of the presence of God in the community. “It is clear that God is close to the broken-hearted. There was also a lot of hurt [in the neighbourhood] because of the legacy of slavery. There were a lot of wounds still bleeding out.” For the Maddock family, at the heart of mission is being credible witnesses of shalom in the neighbourhood. “We should inhabit the kind of world that we tell people about – one of forgiveness, love, justice and welcome.”

After 18 years of loving and serving his neighbourhood, Geoff returned to Australia, bringing with him a lived-experience of mission that remains agile. His family moved from a community with an urban farm that fed the neighbours, to vertical living in Melbourne’s CBD, with no soil in sight. Their apartment building, owned by Collins St Baptist Church,  includes a ‘House of Hope’ which provides accommodation for asylum seekers at risk of homelessness. Geoff’s practice of mission across the world has been brought into Melbourne’s CBD, where mission is evidently from everywhere to everywhere.

It was not long before Geoff and his wife Sherry started a social enterprise, ‘Planted Places’, the first indoor garden in Melbourne’s CBD. Planted Places centres on closing the distance between people and plants. They have installed multiple gardens at Baptcare facilities where single men who are asylum seekers are housed. They have also been using The Green Room (Collins Street Baptist’s basement converted into an indoor garden) to connect with neighbours.

Geoff says, “Caring for even a small house plant transports us to our first human vocation – to tend and to keep. It restores us to the Creator’s design.” Those keeping plants in their homes are shown to benefit in many ways including improved mental health, lowered blood pressure and improved air quality.

During this COVID-19 crisis, Geoff and his wife Sherry continue to seek out people of peace in their neighbourhood. Without the clutter of one million people daily descending on the city, their neighbours are less obscured. However, the isolation experienced by many living in the city is a great challenge. Geoff and Sherry are currently in conversation with the City of Melbourne to identify people who are vulnerable in isolation – students, the single, older people and asylum seekers – and work out how to distribute plants to those cooped up.

Recently a collection of 75 easy-to-care-for indoor plants were distributed through Baptcare to the residences of people seeking asylum. Sherry says, “[The plants] did what we couldn’t, that is to become physically close companions in a time of isolation. Plants were received by families and children with joy. We heard reports of delight and ‘lit up faces.’ While also collecting weekly food supplies, men from Baptcare’s Sanctuary program were able to choose a plant and they did so with ‘great care.’ At this time of collective restriction and enforced isolation indoors, interior green space and plants as companions become essential. As essential as the clean air they bring.”

The current COVID-19 climate again calls Geoff and his family to adapt – to be agile and to connect with God and people. And in this mission, God is already present and at work. Geoff sees this presence in the forced Sabbath from busyness, which is creating conditions to hear God in a way that would otherwise be drowned out. “Part of what I see in Australia is that people are acknowledging how grateful they are to be here. Gratefulness is an antidote to anxiety. Gratitude opens the door to a generous God.”

From Yackandandah to Kentucky to Melbourne’s CBD, Geoff, along with his family, has needed to adapt to vastly different circumstances and surroundings. And yet the mission continues to be one that joins in where a loving God is already at work, while being a credible witness of shalom to the neighbourhood.

In announcing this new role, Geoff says, “I’m excited about the fact that God is already at work from Camberwell to Cambodia and from Traralgon to Thailand and we have the joyful opportunity to join in.”

To connect with Geoff Maddock, Global Interaction State Director (Vic and Tas), email: victas@globalinteraction.org.au

It all started with a friendship—with a Syrian woman I met in Shepparton in December 2017. When I asked her how I could help her and other Syrians recently arrived in Shepparton, she said they needed help practicing conversational English.

From that I began to teach classes, creating a program called Thrive Shepparton, with a plan for a creative expansion called Shepparton Story House. When students began to ask for writing and grammar alongside conversation, I knew it was time for Story House to begin.

Only it didn’t begin right away. Unable to secure a new working visa, I went home to the U.S. for nearly a year, during which time Rev Richard Horton at Shepparton Baptist Church contacted me. He’d read my plans for the Story House program and he wanted me to return to Shepparton to begin this program at his church.

In the year and a half since he contacted me, Shepparton Baptist Church has become home to two Congolese fellowships, an Indonesian fellowship, and continues to have an English service each Sunday and a Chinese service fortnightly. In mid-2018, Thrive Friendship Café launched at Shepparton Baptist Church, and friendships began to form between volunteers and close to a dozen Syrian families in our neighbourhood.

My working visa to begin Shepparton Story House at this already diverse church arrived the same week as COVID-19 restrictions. Not wanting to let down our expectant students, in term two we launched our three levels of English classes online, as well as our Bible Story & Chat program and Creative Writing Hub. With God’s grace, these programs have all continued through the past three months, growing despite launching online. Now we’ve also launched our program’s Story Platform with an online storytelling series: “Coming to Australia” which aims to show the diversity of migrants in our city and pave the way for our future story platform program at the church.

These programs aren’t just for our Syrian friends, but for those in our own church and all of those in the community around us who are learning English. So far our program participants have been from over a dozen countries.

It all started with a friendship— and as we hear and tell our own stories through our programs, we are blessed with many friendships across our beautifully diverse community.