Two Penshurst congregations combined to clean up their part of Australia last Sunday.

Penshurst Anglican Church’s English speaking and Chinese congregation members joined forces on Sunday, March 2 to take part in Clean Up Australia Day.

Following a barbeque lunch with 20 other locals, the 36 Penshurst members helped in the Hurstville City Council’s clean-up of Evatt Park, Lugarno.

The rector of Penshurst, the Rev Bart Vanden Hengel says church members were happy to get down and dirty to clean up the local area.

“We went down into mangroves and mudflats and cleaned up a substantial amount of rubbish,” he says.

Mr Vanden Hengel says the Hurstville Council sent out letters to all the local churches asking for assistance on Clean Up Australia Day and was told that his was the only church that responded.

“We have a number of people who are very keen and aware environmentally and when we got the letter they were quick off the mark to be involved in Clean Up Australia Day,” he says.

“It was our first time to take part as a church, so we had a combined church service in the morning then we went out together to help clean up.”

Putting preaching into practice

Mr Vanden Hengel says the afternoon served the dual purposes of bonding the church members and helping the environment.

“Having the Mandarin and English speakers doing something together was a good team building exercise,” he says.

“We have also talked environmental issues as part of our church’s teaching and preaching program so this was a good way to put that into practice.”

Mr Vanden Hengel says events like these are useful for showing that Christians take environmental issues in their local community seriously.

“Jesus is on about the redemption of the entire world. I was just reading Acts 3 this morning and in verse 21 it says that Christ ‘must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything’,” he says.

“Part of the gospel message is having a holistic perspective on what Jesus has done and is doing to restore the whole world. The holistic approach is something our dualist western mind has often ignored.”