Army aims for two training bases in Sydney

Jeremy Halcrow | 27 February 2006

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As Sydney welcomes church planters from interstate, two independent churches begin in NSW. JEREMY HALCROW reports.

Sydney is to welcome with ‘open arms’ young Church Army missionaries from around the nation who will receive ‘in the field’ training by helping to plant at least two churches in the Diocese.

Already two families are moving from country Victoria to kick-start a Base of Evangelism (BOE) in the Blue Mountains village of Lawson, with another one planned for the beachside suburb of Maroubra.

The Bishop of Western Sydney Ivan Lee said he is ‘delighted’ that the Blue Mountains churches will have the support and encouragement of a Church Army training centre nearby.

“Church Army has been blessed with a property where they can train evangelists for the whole Anglican church,” he says. “But they are not just going to teach theory, they are going to reach out to real live unbelievers in the local community. They are not opening a shop front for Christians who are church shopping. I think this is a great encouragement to all the Blue Mountain churches.”

Jon Bennett, along with wife Caroline, has spent the past three years working in youth ministry in the Gippsland parish of Traralgon. God has also called up another Traralgon couple Emma and David Nicholson to support the Bennetts.

Jon sees himself as a missionary and hopes to use his skills as a musician to connect with the local music scene. He will also be supported by Lionel and Judy Murray from Lawson’s Winwood studios – best known for its role in recording Colin Buchanan albums.

The team will meet weekly under Jon’s leadership at the Church Army’s headquarters at the Kihilla conference centre in Lawson, with growth dependent on the team’s ability to build relationships with the non-churched.

“We don’t want people coming from other churches,” Jon says, adding that the team will avoid having a public service. “We want to reach the non-churched.”

Bishop Lee welcomes with ‘open arms any group seeking to reach unbelievers’. “I must admit, I am less concerned with the ‘politics’ than with the fact that over a million people in western Sydney are hurtling towards an appointment with God and an eternity without Christ,” he says. “In principle I support anyone seeking to plant new Bible-based churches that reach out to unbelievers. The harvest field is vast and most of it is still untouched by the gospel. There is more than plenty of room for more church plants in virtually any part of Sydney you care to think of.”

Maroubra

Church Army’s Base of Evangelism (BOE) concept draws is strength from recruiting young people from around the world, who want to spend their gap year between school and university, experiencing a missionary context.

It is this aspect of the strategy that particularly excites the Rev Stephen Bligh, pastor of the Maroubra surfers church, who is negotiating to establish a BOE at Maroubra.

“I believe the BOE initiative is strategic for reaching Sydney’s surfing community,” he says. “Its principles and dynamics help to further develop the Diocesan Mission, and the mission to the surfing community – not only locally, but internationally. This is because BOEs provide a context for training missionaries for our nation and overseas.”

Mr Bligh adds that the ‘missionary’ training aspect dovetails with the existing Christian Surfers movement.

“We are intentional about training missionaries and cranking up a movement that will carry the gospel to the generations to come. The BOE process enhances, and works in partnership with, existing surf mission, including Christian Surfers Australia.”

At Maroubra consultation is currently under way between the local surfing community, Christian Surfers, local churches, and the Diocesan leadership.

The Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, says he welcomes the Base of Evangelism concept, saying its strength is that it not only brings ‘together specialists to experiment and focus on evangelism’ but also ‘is a place of training for others’.

“We can’t afford not to,” says Bishop Forsyth. “We must have as many possible ways of evangelism as we can.”

Church Army’s strategy is premised on the idea that just 40 per cent of Australians have had any meaningful contact with Christianity and are therefore open to traditional church growth and church planting strategies.

In contrast, Church Army believes the bulk of the population can only be reached through a ‘missionary’ mindset rarely seen in our churches outside ethnic ministry.

“Parallel planting – that’s what mixed economy means,” explains Jon Bennett. “Up the road from us you have an Anglican Church reaching the ‘open’ 40 per cent through an attractional model. Down here you have a Base of Evangelism reaching the other 60 per cent in a missionary model. It is not ‘either/or’. It is ‘both/and’.”

Captain Tim Scheuer, Church Army’s National Director, is heartened by the positive response to the Base of Evangelism concept.

“Not only have I been encouraged by Bishops Lee and Forsyth in regards to Lawson and Maroubra but also by positive responses from Bathurst, Tasmania, Melbourne and Brisbane. We are very keen to partner with any diocese or parish in doing pioneering work that reaches non-churched people with the gospel.”

‘New phase’ for NSW

Connan O’Shea can’t hide his joy at witnessing first-hand an extraordinary new phase for gospel outreach in NSW.

Last month two new churches linked with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches opened their doors in regional NSW, bringing the number of churches in the network to 12. One is pastored by Mr O’Shea at Gorokan on the Central Coast. The other pastored by Steve Covetz in Port Macquarie.

Between them, more than 160 people attended the inaugural services at the two churches.

“The 72 adults and 28 kids on the first week was encouraging,” said Mr O’Shea. “Everything went well and people were welcomed brilliantly.”

The Sydney Anglican connection is very strong. Mr O’Shea has spent the past three years as assistant minister at Richmond Anglican Church and Chaplain to UWS Hawkesbury campus. Mr Covetz has been church planting with Rouse Hill Anglican.

Furthermore, Dean Phillip Jensen and Moore College Principal, Dr John Woodhouse, are part of an advisory board for the Northern Lakes church plant. Likewise Moore College lecturer, the Rev Dr Bill Salier, is on the board of The Point Community Church.

Nevertheless, both churches are clearly the initiative of local Christians. Steve Covetz explains that The Point Community Church has grown from a house church that has been meeting in Port Macquarie for two years.

“There has been talk of an evangelical church plant in Port Macquarie for over 10 years now,” he says.

Through mutual friends, Mr Covetz met Steve and Laura Begbie a couple who were part of the house church. “After much prayer and discussion we were convinced God opened the door for us to come and pastor this church plant,” says Mr Covetz.

The Point Community Church is the only church meeting in the southern district of Port Macquarie, called Lighthouse Beach. In the last decade housing estates have gone up in the area and, as a result, there has been a warm response to the decision to plant the new church in the Lighthouse area.

“One of the local Christians in Port called me yesterday afternoon to see how our first meeting went,” said Mr Covetz. “This lady had been asking God to plant a church at Lighthouse Beach for almost two years because she saw the need.”

Meanwhile on the Central Coast, 30 adults from the Lakes Evangelical Church who lived in Gorokan, began to discuss outreach. Wyong Council has embarked on a major development strategy, with a new town centre being built with some 40,000 additional residents. The need for a new church was clear, so discussions with Connan O’Shea were initiated.

After four years thinking about where to church plant, Mr O’Shea says that this was a ‘pretty clear sign’ from God. “It was an obvious place to go and the core group were excellent.”

Like Connan O’Shea, Steve Covetz’s biggest prayer is to see non-Christians become joyful followers of Jesus.

“Last night I spoke with one of our young ladies who is reading the Bible with a non-Christian friend and her fiancé. It sounds like God’s hand is well and truly upon them, and this is only week one!” he said. “Praise God!

To support Point Community Church call on 6582 4395 and Northern Lakes Evangelical Church on 4394 0117.

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